Ziething
"Bull's Eye" cufflinks circa 1925.
Ziething &
Company is one of the lesser known makers of fine cufflinks
from the first half of the 20th century. The firm
created intricately engraved cuff jewels with beautifully
engine-turned centers often surrounded by boldly
engraved white gold borders. When brightly polished
these elegant cufflinks literally dazzle and shimmer with
reflected light.
Ziething "Jungle Sapphire" cufflink circa 1925
Ziething & Co. was based in Newark, New Jersey and
specialized in creating 10kt and 14kt gold jewelry. The
style and linkage of the firm's cufflinks suggests they were
created mostly during the 1920s and early 1930s. I
suspect Ziething, like a number of the other cufflink makers
in the early 20th century, did not survive the Great
Depression of the 1930s.
The maker's mark for Ziething & Co. is the letter "Z" in a diamond-shaped surround. The maker's mark is usually found stamped in the middle of the bridge. The other side of the bridge is stamped with the gold purity mark, "10K". The Ziething maker's mark is sometimes misidentified as an "N" in an elongated diamond.
Ziething
"Spider Web" cufflinks, circa 1925.Several years ago a reader of the original blog post for this article kindly provided the following background information about Ziething & Co. and its eponymous founder:
"It's
good to see the cufflinks by Ziething & Co. The
business was started by my Gt Gt Gt uncle William Henry
Ziething (1875-1944) who was brought to America by his father
Henry Ziething in about 1884. William was born in
Portsmouth UK. Henry did not get on with his wife and told her
that he was taking William & his sister Ada for a holiday
to Germany. They actually went to Newark, New Jersey
where they settled. William & Ada's mother Amelia
never knew what happened to the family and assumed that they
had drowned on there way to Germany."
More elegant examples of cufflinks created by Ziething & Co. can be found on the Antique Cufflink Gallery.
