Andrew Grima Kennedy tribute brooch soars at auction

Andrew Grima turned national mourning into a compact jewel: a yellow gold and diamond brooch, made circa 1963, that spelled out “JK” and sold for £4,445 including buyer’s premium at Woolley & Wallis. The brooch, listed as Lot 421 in Fine Jewellery - Day Two on 29 January 2026, translated Kennedy-era politics into wearable form with textured gold and a round brilliant-cut diamond crowning the “J.”

The design’s force lies in its restraint. Rather than a literal portrait, flag, or memorial device, Grima used initials, surface texture, and a single brilliant-cut diamond to make the tribute legible only to those who knew the reference. John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, was assassinated in 1963, the same year attached to the brooch, giving the jewel a sharper historical charge than a conventional signed midcentury pin.

For collectors, the mark of importance was not just authorship but documentation. Woolley & Wallis identified the piece with the maker’s mark H.J & CO. for Haller Jewellery Company Ltd., alongside London hallmarks, details that matter when judging whether a jewel can be placed confidently in Grima’s output. A signed or attributable brooch from this period carries more weight than an anonymous design, especially when the subject matter is as specific as a tribute to Kennedy.

Grima’s name alone can lift a vintage jewel, but his biography explains why his work remains so closely watched. Phillips describes him as born in Rome in 1921 into a prosperous Maltese-Italian family, the oldest of nine children, while Lyon & Turnbull calls him “arguably one of the foremost post-war British jewellers.” That pedigree matters in the auction room because Grima’s pieces sit at the intersection of sculptural modernism and marketable rarity.

The estimate of £1,000 to £2,000 proved conservative once the symbolism was understood. Tribute jewels from the midcentury period tend to draw the strongest interest when they combine clear authorship, period hallmarks, and a subject with real cultural resonance. In this case, the initials “JK” turned a small brooch into a dated political artifact, and that combination sent the lot well beyond its guide price.