David Webb Azurmalachite, Ruby and Diamond Maltese Cross Brooch
This stylized Maltese Cross from David Webb is composed of four reeded azurmalachite elements surrounding a central cabochon ruby highlighted by round diamonds in a radiating design.
- Approximately 2 5/8 in diameter
- Approximately 6.50 carats of diamonds
- Central cabochon ruby approximately 9.0mm
- 18k yellow gold
- Platinum
- Signed Webb
David Webb was probably drawn to the stone given his natural attraction to the less common materials, among them coral, lapis, turquoise, and jade. He played with kunzite, tourmaline, rubellite, feldspar, and moonstone. He liked color, and it’s fair to wager that he looked at azurmalachite and figured he got two stones for the price of one. But then life stepped in, he became ill, and never saw the fruition of pieces made with the stone that he added to his working inventory prior to his death in 1975.
It seems the earliest pieces of azurmalachite made at David Webb were circa 1980. Indeed, the whole of that decade produced easily a score or more of different designs using the hard stone, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, rings, even cuff links. Diamonds were the most common accent, and when a precious stone was added, throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, it was the ruby.
Ruth Peltason