Do you know there's an actual lyrebird? It's a ground-dwelling bird that lives in Australia and is well-known for a superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from its environment. The male lyrebird is also notable for the striking beauty of its huge tail that fans out during courtship.

It is the male lyrebird that seems to be the inspiration for one of Marcel Boucher's iconic bird masterpieces, presented here in all its graceful, lyrical beauty (we also found a picture of the actual bird, last picture, for comparison).

This 1948 lyrebird brooch is featured in Carla and Roberto Brunialti's "American Costume Jewelry: Art & Industry", and is rated "five-star" by the authors for its importance and rarity among Boucher's designs.

It is hard not to fall in love with such a distinguished-looking creature, depicted by Boucher in gilded and rhodium-plated metal, with faux diamond rhinestone pavé and faux pearl accents.

The bird, perched on a branch, is clutching a faux pearl in its beak, its long tail standing tall and wings stretched upward, as if helping it to balance on the branch. At the same time, the pose displays the tail's fantastic long feathers that curve gracefully and crisscross, and the slatted design on the wings.

The long tail feathers are paved with rhinestones, as are the front portion of the wings. These two areas are also set on a silvertone backdrop, even as the rest of the bird is goldtone.

The lyrebird's head and body are also encrusted with rhinestones. It has a tiny emerald green crystal eye and a silver beak.

In the beak is a creamy faux pearl. There is also a cluster of faux pearl buds on a sprig next to the bird. The sprig has a pair of curly rhinestone pavé-on-silvertone leaves at the base.

The brooch is a huge 3 3/4" tall x 2 1/2" wide. It has a two-tone riveted construction, which is found in early, high end costume jewelry.

It has a vertical c-clasp. Marked with Boucher's early Phrygian cap atop the initials "MB", as well as "Pat. Pend." and "2633". The patent for this was approved in October, 1948, so our brooch precedes the granting of the patent.

In overall very good condition. All the rhinestones are glittery and intact, though a bit uneven in the coloring, with some darker than others, but all are still glitzy. (Our camera actually picks up more of the variations than the eye does. In person, and viewed just by the naked eye, the rhinestone hues look more uniform. The faux pearls have great luster and have the nacre mostly intact. The rhodium and gold plating are also mostly intact.