Once I acquired a Texas flag brooch designed by Ann Hand as a present many moons in the past, I used to be launched to a model that embodies delight and patriotism. The enameled flag was superbly made and got here in a present field worthy of any high quality jewellery I’ve ever owned. Questioning why Texas appears to be the one particular person state represented on Hand’s web site amongst a sea of American-themed jewellery, I needed to dig deeper. Because it seems, her Texas designs characterize her residence state. Ann Hand grew up in Houston and attended the College of Texas—a fellow Houstonian and Longhorn identical to me!
With that tidbit of data tucked away, I knew I needed to study extra about this girl and all the jewellery she’s marketed over the previous a number of a long time. Her items embody many distinctive kinds and all the standard representations of the American spirit you’d count on from “the nation’s jeweler.”
No matter an individual’s occasion affiliation, it’s onerous to not respect the sentiment behind this jewellery and the heritage that influenced the creation of every piece. Some spectacular people have worn them, too. And, sure, the well-made costume jewellery branded Ann Hand is actually value looking ahead to if you’re buying property gross sales and thrift shops.
Ann Hand: The Girl Behind the Jewellery
Anytime I hear a couple of girl founding her personal firm (particularly one associated to jewellery!) and making an actual go of it, that success at all times makes me perform a little pleased dance for her. On the subject of those that began understanding of their properties till they acquired their footing, that makes me doubly happy with their efforts. Hand is a type of girls.
Much more spectacular, no less than to me, is that she began at 53 as an empty nester. After taking a touring jewellery design class supplied by the Gemological Institute of America, she arrange slightly workshop in a small, prefabricated backyard cottage on her property in Washington, D.C., within the late Nineteen Eighties. Her first creations have been beads constructed from newspapers taken from The Washington Put up and hand-decorated with imitation stones. She offered a pair of earrings for $10, and that’s all it took to get her enterprise off the bottom.
Since her husband had been working within the Washington, D.C., political area for many years, she’d gotten to know many people occupied with jewellery with a patriotic spin. When Senator Sam Nunn’s spouse requested her to design a pin honoring the refurbishment of the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the U.S. Capitol constructing, all of the company on the unveiling occasion acquired one. Even the First Woman donned the pin, which was Hand’s large break.
Jewellery Sends a Message
“I feel I take a look at myself as a storyteller as a result of most of my jewellery has a message. That’s what I need to do for America as an alternative of portray photos that you just’ll see on the wall, I would like you to put on it and be capable to discuss what it represents,” Hand remarked in a podcast episode of Our City with Andy Ockershausen.
Many people have advised tales with Hand’s jewellery, together with the late Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who famously wore brooches to ship messages to dignitaries she met. The Madeleine Albright Assortment has a number of Ann Hand pins, together with Hand’s favourite design, the Liberty Eagle.
Extra About Ann Hand Jewellery
Along with the best-selling Liberty Eagle, which is a stately gold-plated hen perched atop a fake pearl, Hand has designed many different avian kinds. Doves, as symbols of hope and peace, have made their manner into Ann Hand designs as effectively.
A few of the eagles are harking back to rhinestone-encrusted items produced in the course of the World Struggle II period, whereas others are surrounded by enameled flags. Bigger variations of those brooches can promote secondhand within the $100-200 vary when discovered within the authentic field. That’s not too stunning since I’ve discovered classic eagle pins at all times to be good sellers.
Patriotic pins promote effectively total, as many individuals gather them. Hand has marketed a big selection, together with purple, white, and blue enameled flags and bows. Her enterprise has additionally offered many pins associated to navy service. The patriotic items usually promote within the $50-100 vary, whereas the navy pins can go for a lot much less. Wanting on the Worthpoint Worth Information in your smartphone as you’re thrifting may help you determine which of them are good bets for flipping for a revenue.
You may even discover items associated to American presidents sometimes since Hand produced commemorative objects associated to every marketing campaign since she’s been in enterprise, whatever the occasion affiliation. These have confirmed to be good sellers round inauguration time, regardless of who America’s chosen candidate is.
Many Democrats and Republicans have additionally bought Ann Hand pins to indicate their occasion allegiance. Smaller gold-plated variations often promote for much less secondhand than these extra elaborately embellished with rhinestones.
After many affluent years providing jewellery that tells tales of delight and patriotism in her Washington-based store on Prospect Road, Ann Hand’s enterprise is now run solely on-line. Hand celebrated her ninetieth birthday in 2023, and her household is holding her namesake enterprise going so followers of her designs worldwide can nonetheless buy a variety of them on the Ann Hand web site.
Pamela Siegel is a contract author and creator who has been educating collectors for greater than 20 years. Along with three books on matters referring to antiques and collectibles, she incessantly shares her experience via on-line writing and articles for print-based publications. Pamela can be the co-founder of Costume Jewellery Collectors Int’l (CJCI) and the proprietor of Stylish Antiques by Pamela.
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