Lot Essay
Edwin W. Streeter is described by John Culme as "one of the London jewelry retail trade's more colorful characters". He began his career with Harry Emanuel and after setting up on his own account shortly after, he succeeded in taking over his former employer's business in 1873. He appears to have specialized in novelty jewelry and gem stones as well as ornamental silver, and his links with France go back to the 1870s, when one of his typically flamboyant advertisements announced "that he has secured the Exclusive Services of M. Emile Phillippe, the Eminent Artist of Paris (holding Gold Medal 1867, 1872 and the Vienna Gold Medal), And Has Now On View Specimen Works Of This Great Designer In Arabesque, Persian, and Renaissance Jewelry." Also perhaps of relevance to the present piece is the fact that A. Dumoret, jeweler of the Rue de la Paix, Paris, was reported in 1891 to have received the finishing touches to his business training at Streeter's firm. [The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, Jewellers & Allied Traders,