TC001 Toni Catanzaro sterling silver Modernist handmade necklace, circa-1960s, $900
Origin:  Buffalo, NY
Dimensions:  16.75”L; center panel 2”W x 1.75”T; all other panels approximately 1.25”W x 1.25”T; 101.2 gm
Condition: Very Cool Excellent

Antoinette ‘Toni’ Catanzaro (d. 2003) was an amazing self-taught, award-winning artist.  Toni’s family came from Sicily to settle in Buffalo, NY in 1912.  Toni left high school early during the Depression and later went back to attain her GED.  Always actively interested in the arts, Toni and her sister, the late Josephine ‘Jo’ Catanzaro, learned metalworking and began creating jewelry in the 1950s.  Toni’s original jewelry designs in silver and gold won many prizes, including numerous Court of Honor awards at the Upstate Craftsmen show in Ithaca.  Toni’s work was also exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution (in a national traveling show), America House in New York City and Boston Arts and Crafts in Boston.  Toni and her sister Jo co-owned House of Crafts, one of the first stores to feature the work of local and national craftsmen. The shop, in Buffalo’s Elmwood business district, was open from 1959 to 1987.  Toni also taught metalworking at the Buffalo Museum of Science and in a Niagara Falls adult education program.

This is a fabulous, labor intensive necklace made of seven sterling triangular platforms with applied silver that appears to be remnants from various other jewelry creations.   Entirely handmade, including the chain, this fascinatingly tactile collar invites close inspection.  Each applied piece of silver has been masterfully balanced to the entire piece to enhance both visual effect and wearability.  A very clever work of wearable art, this necklace literally carries the “essence” of the artist and so many of her works.