Vintage Ring Designers Part 4 – Ostby and Barton

A very special vintage ring can be yours if you are able to find one from this company. The founder of Ostby and Barton, Engelhart Otsby was actually travelling with a bag of gems for his jewelry designs aboard the Titanic in 1912. He perished on that trip, but his daughter survived. Much of the jewelry is yet to be discovered.

Before coming to America, Ostby studied at the Royal School of Arts in Oslo. Here he also apprenticed as a jeweler. He immigrated to Providence in 1869 and worked for several jewelry firms before starting his own in 1879. Even though this is an earlier time period than is usually discussed within the topic of vintage rings and other jewelry, the company lasted well into the mid 1950s. Ostby and Barton are still well known in Providence to this day.

Ostby and Barton is one of the most well known vintage jewelry design companies, emerging during the Art Nouveau period and lasting through to the Art Deco period of the 1930s. The company was actually founded by Engelhart Ostby, and survived within the family until about 1950. The company became very famous for their line of gold rings.

Ostby and Barton were designers of genuine, high quality pieces. They worked almost exclusively in yellow gold. Much of the work was filigree and genuine seed pearls, topaz and citrine were popular choices. Many of the pieces also include very high quality enamel work.

Ostby and Barton genuine pieces are stamped with the letters OB. It is believed that most pieces were signed.

While research does indicate that the designs of this company were of the highest quality, the historical element seems to add a considerable worth to collectors items such as vintage rings and other vintage jewelry.