Arthur King Jewelry
Self-taught American jeweler Arthur King worked with baroque pearls, geodes, and raw semi-precious gemstones to create distinctive modernist jewelry during the mid-20th century.
Like many of the accessories that populate our jewelry boxes, the forms of King’s provocative vintage brooches, necklaces, rings and other jewels were inspired by the natural world, but the pieces’ metalwork is sculptural and shapely, resembling gnarled tree branches or the surface of an elm’s aging trunk.
King was born in New Jersey in 1921. He became interested in art at a young age and was fascinated with the lost-wax casting technique practiced by some sculptors. King taught himself the process using scrap metals, and his jewelry and objets d’art would come to share common ground with abstract art in the years to come.
While stationed overseas in the Merchant Marines in World War II, King began to work with metal and dabble in jewelry making, integrating sharks’ teeth, white scrap metal and whatever else he could find into his modest “art jewelry,” a term that has been used to describe adornments created by Alexander Calder, pioneering African American studio jeweler Art Smith, Andrew Grima and others over the years. Upon returning from the war, King continued to develop his skills — eventually opening his first shop in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood.
King truly distinguished himself from other jewelers of the time — at his workbench, he shaped the brass and silver settings for his often unpolished, chunky stones that featured asymmetrical cuts and employed the age-old technique of lost-wax casting, which sees objects cast from wax models. His early pieces mainly featured silver settings, but his popularity soared once he began to craft jewelry in gold.
In 1961, King's work was exhibited at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London as part of the “International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery” and a year later, he opened his flagship store on Madison Avenue. His success allowed him to open more locations in London, Cape Cod, Havana, Miami and elsewhere.
King used a dizzying array of gems and other materials in his unconventional pieces. And as much as the jewelry of the 1960s featured eye-catching candy-colored stones, it was also an era of new textures and freeform gold settings, and King was at the forefront, creating audacious designs that contrasted sharply with the work of the world’s leading luxury houses.
King’s work has been celebrated at a range of institutions over the years including the Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Arts and Design), the Cultured Pearl Association of Japan, the Victoria and Albert Museum and more. His jewelry was exhibited at the Cincinnati Art Museum’s “Simply Brilliant: Artist-Jewelers of the 1960s and 1970s,” which opened in 2021.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Arthur King brooches, rings, necklaces and more.
20th Century American Modernist Arthur King Jewelry
Bronze
20th Century American Arthur King Jewelry
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Late 20th Century Unknown Contemporary Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, White Diamond, Pearl, Cultured Pearl, Gold, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s North American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Emerald, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold, Gold
Late 20th Century Arthur King Jewelry
Emerald, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Turquoise, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1960s British Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Pearl, 18k Gold
1960s American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Coral, Diamond, Turquoise, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Emerald, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Pearl, Gold, 14k Gold
1970s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Coral, Diamond, Turquoise, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
Mid-20th Century American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Quartz, Ruby, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
19th Century Antique Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Pearl, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s British Baroque Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Brown Diamond, South Sea Pearl, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1960s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
18k Gold
Mid-20th Century American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Coral, Emerald, Jade, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modernist Arthur King Jewelry
Bronze
1970s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
South Sea Pearl, Yellow Diamond, Diamond, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold, W...
Late 20th Century American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Aquamarine, Diamond, Freshwater Pearl, Peridot, Ruby, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1960s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Sapphire, Natural Pearl, Diamond, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s American Romantic Arthur King Jewelry
Opal, Ruby, Brass, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary American Contemporary Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Emerald, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s American Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Pearl, Black Pearl, 18k Gold, White Gold
Late 20th Century Italian Retro Arthur King Jewelry
Emerald, 14k Gold
1950s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
1950s Italian Retro Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Amethyst, Pearl, Silver
2010s American Arthur King Jewelry
18k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Citrine, Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Emerald, Pearl, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
2010s American Arthur King Jewelry
Yellow Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Pearl, 14k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Arthur King Jewelry
Amethyst, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
20th Century American Modernist Arthur King Jewelry
Bronze
1960s Contemporary Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Gold, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Jade, Pearl, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
1970s American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Rock Crystal, Silver
1960s American Modernist Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Pearl, Sapphire, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
19th Century Antique Arthur King Jewelry
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Modern Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, Emerald, Pearl, 18k Gold, Gold, Yellow Gold
1960s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Modern Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Diamond, South Sea Pearl, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Modern Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Opal, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
1970s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Onyx, Rock Crystal, Yellow Gold, Gold, 18k Gold
1970s American Vintage Arthur King Jewelry
Citrine, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold