The simple elegance of the starfish brooch conceals complex construction that combines form and function. At four inches long it is roughly the size of an outstretched palm and features 71 collet-set rubies and 665 pavé-set amethysts. Drawn from the Asterias vulgaris, a common sea star native to the North Atlantic, the brooch has dozens of sophisticated joints that allow movement in three directions (up and down, side to side, and around). The legs flex and drape with the same wave-like motion as the marine creature it represents. Initially designed in 1935, the starfish took years to perfect. In 1938, while traveling in Paris, American actress Claudette Colbert purchased the brooch. Even if she had seen the brooch illustrated in Vogue (1937) or photographed in Harper’s Bazaar (1938), it would have done little to prepare her for its sensual nature. Colbert had a lifelong love of the ocean, so it’s easy to imagine her delight when she was presented with the brooch at Boivin’s atelier on Avenue de l’Opera. After carefully lifting the starfish from the fitted box, at the moment when its heft sank into her palm and its articulated legs wrapped around her fingers, she must have been truly dazzled.