The Edwardian Age was a time of handsome style, great socio-political rumblings, and the last few years of innocence before The Great War and the turbulent decades to follow. This week, we'd like to share a few offerings from the Edwardian cufflink collection at LEO Design.
La Belle Époque spread to North America where sometimes it was called "The Gilded Age." In America, this was a period of tremendous growth, industry and invention. But, like elsewhere, the financial fruits of this boom were concentrated near the top—amongst the "Robber Barons." In my old home of New York City, the beneficiaries of the Industrial Revolution had names like Astor, Morgan and Vanderbilt. They controlled transport, banking and various lucrative trades. In my new home of Pittsburgh (a real heavy-hitter during The Gilded Age) names like Carnegie, Frick, Mellon or Schwab might ring a bell, even today. It has been argued that Pittsburgh "built America" during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In fact, one neighborhood in Pittsburgh was the wealthiest in the world in the 1890's. Let's not forget that these great advances (and profits) came from the toil of hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers (in dangerous and awful work conditions). Consider, too, the environmental destruction of the times. (Even today, 100 years later, I grow my summer tomatoes in a raised bed with fresh, safe soil.)
But, the grinding wheels of industry supported a boom in the arts and architecture, and, importantly, the rise of a middle class which could afford to purchase more than just what they needed. For the first time, people outside the aristocracy had a little "disposable income"—an important social development for a family or a community.
The best of the industrialists left behind them a legacy of lifting-up their communities. Andrew Carnegie, who, reportedly, could be a single-minded, money-driven bastard, also advised his heirs that they should brace themselves for a modest inheritance. Instead, he left his money to the arts, over 1600 public libraries across America, and even a Carnegie Foundation (founded in 1903, in the Netherlands) to study and promote world peace. Carnegie's ruthless accumulation of wealth continues to benefit "regular people" to this day.
The gold-filled cufflinks shown here were made in North Attleboro, Massachusetts in the 1910's. They were made by William G. Clark, a jewelry firm founded in 1872. Because America now had middle managers—increasing their own families' wealth—in Carnegie's steel mills in Pittsburgh, people like William G. Clark could produce semi-luxurious "objets desire" like these cufflinks. They have a classic, Beaux Arts "shield-form" upon which a "fish scale" pattern has been engraved with "machine-turning." Please click on the photo above to learn more about them.
More Edwardian cufflinks tomorrow.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Pittsburgh's historic "Strip District" at Mahla & Co. Antiques (www.mahlaantiques.com) or in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248