Woolley and Wallis http://www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/
A sale at Woolley and Wallis, Thursday 28 January 2010, saw a pair of Arts and Crafts brooches in the style of Dorrie Nossiter come up for auction.
The fan shaped brooches are set with lines of cabochon emeralds, half pearls, and larger aquamarines in silver. One brooch missing catch. 4.5cm wide. The brooch is clearly by Dorrie in style and form but also leads to the conclusion, along with other pieces, that Dorrie definitely had an Art Deco phase just as her style changed in the 1940s and 1950s. As although these pieces clearly hark back to Arts and Crafts these are more geometric in form but still retaining Dorrie's use of colour in facetted gems and pearls but as a pair almost individual butterfly wings as fans especially if worn close together as shown in the catalogue photograph. Although mainly creating floral designs Dorrie has also developed designs based on peacock feathers and placed an insect onto a floral piece.
The piece above also sold by Woolley and Wallis is more classically floral and shows Dorrie's designs moving towards more floral sprays in the 1940s and 1950s. The sprays of her later work have bows integral to the spray whereas this one is likely to be earlier.