You are likely to find exactly the piece of vintage yurman jewelry you’re looking for on 1stDibs, as there is a broad range for sale. Each design created in this style — which was crafted with great care and often made from
gold,
silver and
sterling silver — can elevate any look. You can easily find a 186 antique edition and 98 modern creations to choose from as well. Finding the perfect item from our selection of vintage yurman jewelry may mean sifting through those created during different time periods — you can find an early version that dates to the 19th Century and a newer variation that were made as recently as the 21st Century. Take a look at a choice in our collection of vintage yurman jewelry featuring
diamond from our inventory today to add the perfect touch to your look. See these pages for a
round cut iteration of this accessory, while there are also
cushion cut cut and
brilliant cut cut versions available here, too. Most of our vintage yurman jewelry for sale are for
women, but there are 123 pieces available to browse for
men.
Prices for a piece of vintage yurman jewelry can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, these accessories begin at $125 and can go as high as $20,850, while this accessory, on average, fetches $863.
Perhaps the ultimate artistic couple, sculptor David Yurman (b. 1942) and his wife, painter Sybil Kleinrock (b. 1942), couldn’t have imagined they’d build an internationally renowned fine jewelry empire when they met in 1969 at a sculpture studio in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
Eleven years later, in 1980, the duo established the David Yurman brand and it boomed almost instantly, a by-product of the pair’s love for and commitment to making art. (They’ve been known to call their business as well as their relationship “one big art project.”) In fact, Yurman’s most recognizable piece, the Cable bracelet, was inspired by his background in metalworking and direct welding, skills he learned when he was just a teenager. It is a marvelously modern accessory rooted in everything from jewelry motifs of ancient Syria to the natural formations of tree branches that would yield the Cable ring, earrings and other items.
When Long Island, New York–born Yurman was in high school, he spent a summer visiting his sister in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he met Cuban sculptor Ernesto González, who taught him how to heat and fuse metals. After that fateful summer, Yurman experimented feverishly with bronze sculpture and, eventually, minimalist jewelry design.
Yurman studied briefly at New York University, opting to drop out after a year to hitchhike across the United States, ending up in an artist colony on California’s Big Sur coastline. The bustling artists’ scene in New York during the 1960s eventually drew him back to the East Coast. There, he trained under Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, and, by 1969, he was a foreman in sculptor Hans Van de Bovenkamp’s Greenwich Village studio. It was in the studio that he met Kleinrock.
Kleinrock and Yurman began a romantic relationship, and he designed her a sculptural welded bronze necklace to wear to an art gallery opening. The gallery owner was so enchanted by the design — Yurman called it the Dante — that she wanted to buy it on the spot. Yurman refused because he considered the gift too personal, but his partner left it with the dealer. Within hours, four necklaces were sold and a brand was born.
A year after the two married in 1979 — the ceremony included simple gold rings Yurman had soldered from gold in his workshop — they officially launched David Yurman. Three years later, one of his most popular designs, the Cable bracelet, hit the market.
Today, David Yurman engagement rings, bracelets, rings, necklaces and earrings are widely treasured, distinctive works of American jewelry design.