August 24th, 2008 at 3:57am |
Seldom properly valued by laymen, but an inexhaustible source of wonderful delight to collectors, are the chrysoberyls. Little known, jealously hoarded by the earth and only yielded up in parsimonious numbers, they are assured of a prominent place among the gemstones. Their great rarity, combined with their three varieties, completely different from one another, has [...]
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August 8th, 2008 at 10:41pm |
In jade is sealed the alliance between man and gemstone through thousands of years. Its use was not confined only to man’s ornamental and protective needs in the form of jewelry and amulets, but also served him in the early Stone Age as one of the elementary implements of his culture—as tools for hammering, splitting, [...]
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July 25th, 2008 at 5:41am |
Very quickly novelty and trinket manufacturers began to produce copies of couturier costume pieces, which developed the market for fashion jewelry. America, in particular, was well placed to apply the new manufacturing techniques to the jewelry field, and where Paris had led the trend for costume jewelry, it was America that chiefly propagated it. Less [...]
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July 25th, 2008 at 5:38am |
In the 1930s, the glamour and extravagance of the twenties gave way, particularly in America, to increasing economic hardship and to the Depression. This had a number of different effects on the jewelry trade. On the one hand, people were less able to afford expensive jewelry, and so the costume jewelry market was comparatively thriving, [...]
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:24am |
The most sophisticated and chic Art Deco jewelry of the period was made in France, using combinations of materials such as coral and jade, and Japanese-inspired black enamel and marcasite. The most outstanding of the French artist-jewelers included Georges Fouquet, Raymond Templier, Gerard Sandoz, Jean Despres and Jean Dunand. There were also a number of [...]
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:22am |
The world of the twenties was changed dramatically from that of the prewar period. New technologies and materials developed during the war had changed the very nature of the manufacturing industries. The fashion industry in particular took off, and it was catering for women whose role had been changed by the war. No longer were [...]
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July 16th, 2008 at 6:10am |
Jewelry in Britain at the turn of the century differed from the French because it was more backward-looking and still owed much to the Arts and Crafts. The British decorative motifs featured primeval figures and floral tributes combined with interlace patterns of Celtic origin. These pieces were made in finely crafted silver enriched with polished [...]
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June 15th, 2008 at 7:10pm |
The design sources of many of the jewellers whose work is illustrated are as diverse as can be, but their inspirations derive from four broad categories: the materials they use; historical influences; looking at what is around them with an open mind; or a strong commitment to a concept that they want to encapsulate in [...]
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June 10th, 2008 at 5:31am |
Flowers make ideal subjects for clay jewelry. Their delicate and fragile structure can, with a little practice, be fashioned into delicate pieces to be fitted onto brooch mounts or on a smaller scale onto ear-ring or ring mounts. Make them to match fashion’s romantic mood of the moment and to complement your prettiest clothes.
The rose [...]
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