The noble ring of Victor Meyer

The rings and pendants of the German Maison Victor Mayer ♦

For two decades (1989-2009), the renowned German jewelry company Victor Mayer has been authorized to create Fabergé jewelry under exclusive worldwide license. This is to say that the goldsmith’s expertise of the Pforzheim brand crosses national borders. The company has an ancient history and it is not surprising that in its catalog it also has a collection called Chevalière. The jewelry line is based on the classic ring that traditionally bears the noble seal. The ring also served (in the past) to imprint their signature on the sealing wax with which the letters were sealed. The nobility, in fact, was often illiterate and the emblem was an elegant substitute for the signature.

Over the centuries, the chevalière ring was then worn simply for elegance, often on the little finger or index finger, even by those without blue blood. He was snobbish or, if you prefer, cool. The fact is that it has been re-evaluated, as in the case of the Victor Mayer collection. The rings are unisex and available in two sizes. The characteristic of these rings is the guilloché processing: it is a type of repetitive design, in this case also on lacquer, with engraved lines, linear or wavy, surrounded by a crown of diamonds. In addition to the rings Victor Mayer also offers cufflinks for men and also for women. Recently the Maison has also proposed a series of opening medallions, always made with the same goldsmith’s technique.

Two words (but you could write a novel) on the German brand. It was founded by Victor Mayer (1857-1946), artist and art lover (it is now owned by Marcus Oliver Mohr). After training as an engraver on metal plates, Mayer in 1877 was one of the first students of the new Grand-Ducal school of Arts and Crafts. He spent three years in Vienna as an engraver, where he learned the guilloche and enamelling technique. Back in Baden Baden, he founded his own jewelry factory. The German spa town, the summer capital of Europe during the Belle Epoque, launched it definitively. After the difficult tests of the First and Second World War, the survivors of the family had the strength to start off again.