Art buyers are worried that paintings by modern and contemporary artists aren't selling. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) sold well at a Sotheby's recent Contemporary Art Day auction. This silver Calder bracelet from the early 1940s sold for $110,500.

A new type of jewelry, often made of silver or brass, was created beginning in the 1940s. Alexander Calder was one of the pioneering craftspeople in New York City who began, in the 1940s, to create avant-garde designs that were very different from commercial jewelry. It became popular with women who wanted something "different."

Read more about modernist jewelry in Kovels' American Collectibles, 1900-2000. Find more jewelry prices online at Kovels.com.