MUNICH.- Are tiepins a useless gadget which only serve male amour-propre? By no means! During the 17th and 18th century bulky plastrons or somptious shawls had to be fixed by spits of all shapes and all sizes. In our days they are much more a sign of the owners personality, a symbol of social affiliation and taste. Quite often they are presents to honour an achievement.​ But even as a niche-jewel tiepins are a welcome décor and will continue to remain a fascinating objet d'art in the future.

But tiepins were not meant for gentlemen only. Ladies used to wear them on their hats and were thrilled to be given a matching brooche, as shown by a number of examples in the exhibit.

The show of more than 2000 tiepins is designed to convey the feeling of walking through a forest of fantasy created by genial goldsmiths who have produced these tiny masterpieces with incredible patience and quite often with a certain humouristic touch.

It is not only the impressive volume of the collection, which seems to be the biggest of it's kind, it is the quality and variety of objects and topics which make the show so particular. In essence, it reflects "en miniature" the entire developent of jewellery over the past three hundred years.

Beautiful things only develop their beauty in the eye of the spectator and that is why they deserve an adquate presentation. Weishaupt, the oldest goldsmith and jeweller of Germany, a family business since 1692, feels itself strongly committed to this objective. We therefore will carry on hosting presentations of rare subjects like the tiepins, masterpieces of the past which are more update than ever before.

The exhibition is open until December 20 at Promenadepl. 13 in Munich. Mon - Sat 11.00-18.00