A Jewelry Story by Julia C. Carroll

This is the story of Zamir Naadir Gajendra. In English his name means: brave, rare, and king of the elephants. In 2011, I rescued this wonderful piece from a bin of broken and unloved jewelry. I gave him a new home, and a proud name to honor his place in jewelry history.

Zamir came into my life almost by accident. As I was leaving a local flea market, I saw a basket of old jewelry. Although I was tired and ready to go home, I decided to stay a few more minutes to dig through the tangled pile of beads and broken jewelry bits dumped into the basket. My fingers, deep into the pile, felt rather than saw, Zamir.  They recognized the softness and the distinctive weight of old sterling.

As I pulled Zamir free, I could see he was a well-sculpted, circus elephant pin with jewel tone cabochon stones. However, the poor critter was a terrible mess!  A few of the crystal stones were missing. The upturned trunk decoration was also missing. The howdah was partially detached, and the vermeil gold plating was black with tarnish. I turned him over and found an intriguing, unreadable signature. I knew then that this piece was coming home with me. He was fifty cents.

At home as I polished him with a silver cloth (possibly his first bath in decades) three marks emerged: Trifari, Sterling, and DES. PAT. NO. 130,154. A quick patent search revealed that design patent 130,145 was issued to D. MIR for Trifari on October 28, 1941.

Armed with this information I searched the internet for a photograph of this David Mir pin. When I could not find one, I knew Zamir was extraordinarily rare and, despite his condition, could be valuable.

Curious to see what he looked like in good condition, I searched for Zamir in my library of jewelry books, but I couldn’t find him. So, sadly, I put him in a box. He stayed there, untouched, for two years until in 2013, I stumbled across a photograph of Zamir on page 159 in the 1994 Second Edition of Costume Jewelry by Harrice Simons Miller. Collectors will understand the JOY I felt at finally finding a photo of Zamir.

The photo shows a highly decorated elephant with a black enamel body. The upturned trunk is decorated with a half-drilled pearl.

I placed Zamir next to this photo and compared the two. Except for Zamir’s sad condition, the pins were the same design. As I compared the two pins, one in beautiful condition and one in sad condition, I started to consider restoring Zamir.

Should I restore him knowing that restoring him would alter him, or should I keep him in “as found” condition?

To help with the decision I made a list of the repairs that would be needed.

• Zamir had a damaged gold vermeil finish with remnants of pearlized enamel on the howdah.  There were no remnants of black enamel. I suspected he was a variation of the book piece and never had black enamel. The vermeil was unsalvageable. He would need to be professionally enameled to match the book photo.
• Some crystal stones needed replacing but most of the jewel tone cabochon and baguette stones were intact. This was fortunate since the black and white photograph did not show the stone colors.
• One of the two pins holding the howdah needed to be repaired.
• The half-drilled pearl needed to be replaced. I hoped to be able to order a new pearl in the correct size and color.

To further help with the restoration decision, I made a list of pros and cons.

Cons:

• Zamir is a rare old piece. It would be wrong to destroy the patina and history in his “as found” condition.
• It will be challenging to find the resources to do a quality restoration. A poor job will ruin the piece.
• The restoration must be fully documented and always remain with Zamir. A restored piece must not be mistaken for, or sold as, an original condition piece.

Pros:

• Zamir will be wearable again and not live out his days in a drawer.
• David Mir’s original design concept will come to life.
• A good restoration will halt the ravages of time, so he will not deteriorate further.
• Directing his restoration will be a fun, challenging project.

The decision:

My final decision was to restore Zamir while preserving as many original components as possible. I decided that time, and lack of care, has already altered him. At least with a careful restoration, he would be useful and wearable again. The decision was made not to restore the back of the pin. This way the “as found” condition is visible, documented, and stays as permanent reminder of Zamir’s history. I photographed each step of the restoration and created a binder of information to be kept with the pin.

The gorgeous enameling was done by professional jewelry restoration artist Rosanna Polizzotto. Her website at www.enamelrestoration.com details her amazing background and experience as an artist. She accepts all types of antique enameled pieces including high-end costume jewelry designs. As you can see by the photo, her work is impeccable.

Zamir is delighted with his new look and proud to share the photos of his transformation. He is much loved in the Carroll household, and I hope you love him, too!

Update: In 2017 I found an eBay auction for the David Mir elephant. The elephant had damaged rose gold plating, like Zamir, but no other significant damage. It sold for $2,950.00!