Vintage Stuart NYE Sterling Silver Leaf Brooch Circa 1930s

Delicious little sterling silver leaf brooch signed NYE Sterling. Hand-wrought delicate vintage leaf measures 1.3". Looking closely you can see the leaf veins and fringe around the borders of the leaf.

Stuart Nye Jewelry was founded in 1933 by Stuart Nye, a patient at the Veterans Hospital in Oteen, NC, who began creating jewelry as part of craft therapy. Style: Hand-wrought, nature-inspired, and often, though not always, featuring flora from the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Motifs: Popular designs include dogwood flowers, maple leaves, pine cones, willow leaves, and pansies.

Materials: Primarily sterling silver 925 Authentic pieces are usually stamped "NYE" or "STERLING NYE". A native of Brooklyn, New York, Stuart Nye arrived in Asheville in the 1920s as a patient at the Veterans Hospital in Oteen in east Asheville where he participated in craft therapy, working with his hands. In the depths of the Great Depression, he bought second-hand tools and a small bit of silver. Inspired by blooms outside his window, Stuart Nye made his first sterling silver dogwood pin in 1933, completely by hand. Through trial and error, he fashioned silver into the leaves and flowers that grow in the southern Appalachians. Although the original work was accomplished in sterling, copper was added during the metal shortages of World War II. Both metals have remained popular and Nye’s original designs have become nationally known and loved.