Each cabochon onyx surmount extending a pendent line of old-cut diamonds within millegrain settings, suspending an annular onyx pendant embellished to the centre with a old brilliant-cut diamond from a rose-cut diamond section, circa 1929, maker's mark for Henri Picq, French assay mark for platinum. Together with the original invoice from Henri Picq dated 1929 and stating that the two centre diamonds total 0.71 carats.

Henri Picq's atelier was one of the most respected in Paris at the turn of the 20th Century, and is most famously known as having been one of Cartier's main suppliers for over 40 years (although the atelier made for other Parisian houses) and was the reason Cartier was known as having the best platinum alloy in town. In 1911 they made the first of Cartier's tiaras set atop with swinging pendant drops..using the similar "swing-set" motif as in the centre of these earrings. It is interesting to see them acting as retailers in their own right. A source of income that some of the larger ateliers are known to have enjoyed but little proof of it remains.

There is something so wonderful about original documents and it is so rare that families are fastidious enough in their paperwork archiving that such details of a jewel's history survives....and yet it is of course how later generations can piece together what they have and how we can piece together the workings of the houses that supplied them.

Evidence of deterioration, incidental wear and use, commensurate with age, and materials.