Auguste Bonaz Black Celluloid Faceted French Jet Comb

Ref: AB-0905-001

We tend to think of large and impressive Spanish style combs when we think of Bonaz. However the workshop turned out hair accessories of all shapes and sizes during its long career.

Here we see a back comb of black celluloid. These combs are appropriately named because they are intended to be worn at the back of the dressing and are curved to fit the skull. This handsome example is decorated with five large faceted circular disks of French jet, a glittering form of black glass much favoured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The final picture shows a beautiful and stylish magazine ad for Maison Bonaz illustrating a similar comb type.

Size: 5 x 3 ¾ ins (approx 12.5 x 7.5 cms)

£100.00

Auguste Bonaz Gilded and Rhinestone Spiky Design Comb

Ref: AB-0905-006

This small gilded hair comb with its distinctive spiky design and rhinestone trim dates from the 1950s. We know this because an identical comb type is illustrated in the final picture, which is an ad for Bonaz combs dated 1952.

The pony tail hair style first became popular in this decade when it was universally associated with teenagers and rock n roll. The comb is signed on the back of the heading.

Size: 2 ¼ x 2 ins (approx 5.5 x 5 ins)

£30.00

Francois Huchard Faux Tortoiseshell Hair Comb

Ref: AB-0905-009

This pretty little horn hair comb is signed by Francois Huchard, a contemporary of Auguste Bonaz working in Oyonnox. His workshop produced fine hair accessories for the first four decades of the 20th century and his works are always signed on the back.

This pretty faux tortoiseshell hair comb has three large split prongs and an openwork pierced design suggestive of foliage in a rather stiff and geometric way. It probably dates from the 1940s and can be compared with the example in the final illustration which shows hair combs from the Bonaz workshop of similar classic design.

Size: 5 x 2 ¾ ins (approx 12.5 x 7 cms)

£25.00

Auguste Bonaz Signed French Ivory Mantilla Style Hair Comb

Ref: AB-1401-006

This is a very beautiful mantilla style hair comb in French ivory by the House of Bonaz. The characteristic signature of the designer can be seen in illustration four.

The comb has a very tall wedge shaped heading, having a narrow border of scroll work all around the outer edge.  This very tall wedge shape is an iconic one of the Art Deco period. We can see the same design echoed in the comb worn by the sitter in the final illustration. This is taken from an advertisement for hair combs by the Bonaz atelier in a French magazine called “Claude”.

Size: 6½ ins h x 4 ins w (16.5 x 10 cms)

£100.00