A Treasury Feature

Today one of our sterling silver carnelian rings was featured in an Etsy treasury.  The treasury is called "Renaissance and elven jewelry"  Here is the link for all those who would like to check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d55e75a69cd8eef55212f73/renaissance-and-elven-jewelry

Toadstone

Have you  ever heard of Toadstone?  To the Tudors and Jacobeans it was something sought after and to be worn in amulet and jewelry.  This amazing “stone” desirability goes as far back as the days of ancient Rome.  This stone had such a reputation that even royalty wore them.  It was told that toadstone came from the head of toads and that it had miracleous power!  Toadstone was said to cure many ailments and offered protection against many diseases among which included, kidney diseases, protection for newborns, protection from epilepsy, palsy, counteract all kinds of poisons, cures fever, cures sores and bowl problems,  it was also helped to ease the pain of childbirth. Amazing!
Most often it was placed into an open bezel ring (twin bezels if you needed extra strength) the toadstone was thought to give off heat to the finger on which it was worn if the presence of poison were detected. Think of all the toads that had to die in order for people to feel protected!
In reality toadstone are the button-shaped fossil teeth of the fish Lepidotes.  In folklore they were once thought to have come from the heads of living toads.

Diamonds - A Short History

Diamonds have a long history.  As early as the sixth century in India there is a description of the perfect diamond.  It was said that it should have six sharp points, 8 very flat and similar sides and twelve straight and sharp edges.  Even though the perfect diamond was described it was very rarely found.  In India only the Brahmins were allowed to possess colorless diamonds.  Only a few good quality diamonds made it out of India prior to 1000 A.D.  After sixteen hundred years of operation the Indian diamond mines finally dried up. The Chinese were not interested in diamonds for esthetic qualities only in their usefulness as a cutting tool and for their mystical qualities. It was not until the fifteenth century that gemstone faceting was perfected.  

In 1730 an alternate source for diamonds was found in Brazil.  It only took about 135 years for the Brazilian mines to dry up and it did not take long for entrepreneurs to discover the much sought after gemstone in South Africa in 1867. Today South African mines produces about 97% of the world’s diamond supply.

The Folklore of Pearls

Pearls, cultured or freshwater, are considered to hold the power of love, money, protection, and luck. Pearls are thought to give wisdom through experience, to hasten karma and to bond engagements and love relationships.  The Greeks believed that wearing pearls would promote marital bliss and prevent newlywed women from crying.
Early Chinese myths told of pearls falling from the sky when dragons fought against each other.  Other ancient legends say that pearls are the tears of the gods.

Gemstone Folklore - Garnets

Gemstone Folklore: In ancient times, garnets were exchanged as gifts between friends to show their mutual affection for each other and to insure that they meet again. Garnet’s powers are said to include healing, strength, and protection and it is often worn to relieve inflammations of the skin. It is also thought to regulate the heart and blood flow as well as curing depression.

A Gemstone Tale

One of the London’s Natural History Museum great treasures is the Heron-Allen Amethyst also known as the Delhi Purple Sapphire.  This infamous stone has quite the spooky tale.

Some 37 years ago Peter Tandy, a young curator at the Natural History Museum, happened upon a jewel while working among the vast treasures of the museum. From a scientific perspective, the stone was nothing special, though its setting was rather bizarre, bound by a silver ring decorated with astrological symbols and mystical words with two scarab-carved gems attached. It was a typewritten note that was with the jewel, that caught Tandy’s eye. 

The note said “This stone is trebly accursed and is stained with the blood, and the dishonour of everyone who has ever owned it,” which had been written by Edward Heron-Allen, a scientist and the amethyst’s last owner.  

According to the Heron-Allen family, the Delhi Purple Sapphire had been brought to the United Kingdom by a Bengal cavalryman Colonel W. Ferris. He had recovered the amethyst in India, after it had been looted from the Temple of Indra in Cawnpore during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Ferris and his son both lost all their money and their health after owning the jewel. A family friend committed suicide after possessing it for a short time. 

Heron-Allen when took possession of the amethyst in 1890 he was immediately struck with bad luck and misfortune. He gave the jewel away twice – both friends were consequently fraught with disasters. He tried to throw the amethyst into the Regent’s Canal to be rid of the cursed jewel. The Delhi Purple Sapphire was returned to him only  three months by a jeweler who had purchased it from a dredger.

By 1904, he had it locked away until after his death. However, even after the amethyst passed into the hands of the museum, it is still exerting a baleful presence on any that touched the jewel.

John Whittaker, the museum’s former head of micropaleontology, took the amethyst to the first symposium of the Heron-Allen Society. He encountered the most horrific thunderstorm he had ever experienced on the way home. The night before the second annual symposium he became violently ill with stomach flu and he didn’t make the third symposium due to a sudden kidney stone.

This interesting stone as of 2007 is now on display (for anyone who dares) a the London Natural History Museum What do you make of this?  Cursed or luck of the draw? Would you touch the Delhi Purple Sapphire?

Romano-British Dragonesque Brooch

This brooch is patterned after the dragonesque (also known as “S” brooches)brooches found in the UK dating back to 100 A.D. in the Romano-British period. Most of the samples found to date are made of bronze enameled in colors of blue, red, green and white. Some have stones in the eyes and other do not. These popular dragonesque brooches were not only decorative, but highly functional fasteners with a strongly-curved pin that would have held a thick fold of cloth.  http://www.etsy.com/listing/55228220/celtic-sterling-silver-dragonesque-s

Black Orlov Diamond

The Black Orlov diamond also known as “the Eye of Brahma,” was discovered in India in the early 1800’s. According to legend the 195-carat black diamond was allegedly found in a Hindu idol at a shrine near Pondicherry, India, where it was stolen by a Hindu monk. The theft of the diamond supposedly summoned a malicious spirit to embrace the Eye and the Eye’s owners.

The “cursed” jewel took its name from Princess Nadia Vyegin-Orlov in the late 1800’s. Coincidentally, the diamond was named the Black Orlov because of its “natural fancy black color but also to differentiate it from the Orlov Diamond, a 189.6 carat white diamond with its own storied past.

According to an Associated Press article, Princess Nadia Orlov leapt from a building in an apparent suicide in Rome, Italy, on Dec. 2, 1947, after fleeing during the Russian Revolution and selling her family jewels.

Russian Princess Leonila Galitsine-Bariatinsky also previously owned the Black Orlov. In a disturbing coincidence in November 1947, Galitsine-Bariatinsky also committed suicide by leaping from a building.

Some fifteen years earlier, J.W. Paris imported the Black Orlov into the United States and after securing the sale of the diamond also leapt to his death on April 7, 1932. After the two Russian princesses committed suicide, supposedly the curse was broken when Charles S. Winson, another jeweler in New York, purchased the Black Orlov on Friday, May 13, 1949.

Just another “cursed” gemstone.  If I were a treasure hunter, I would leave the gemstones.

Treasury Feature

Today one of our dragonesque brooches was featured in a new Etsy.com treasury!  The treasury features pieces of jewelry that have January's birthstone, garnets.  Take a look!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d212ed93c2b6d91ba1875cc/januarys-fire

Gold Part 3

The “Gold of Troy” treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the wide range of intricate gold work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. This was a time when gold was highly valued, but had not yet begun to be used as money itself. Rather, it was owned by the powerful and well-connected, made into objects of worship, or used to decorate sacred places. 

Heinrich Schliemann, a famous archeologist during the later half of the 19th century claimed to have found “Priam’s Treasure”.  During two excavations in the 1870’s at Hissarlik, a hill in the then Ottoman Empire near the town of Chanak in north western Anatolia, Schliemann along with his team uncovered a rich Trojan treasure that includes beautiful pieces gold, silver, jewels, ivories, and the like.

Gemstone Classification

What makes a gemstone precious or semi-precious?  Mostly the classification between the two are for convience and in the past they were loosely based on the hardness of the stone although this system has many errors.  Now classification is more determined by fashion and rarity.  This is also inconsistent as rarity can also fluctuate with the finding of new mines or deposits.  Opal by definition of rarity could be labeled as precious even though by most it is considered semi-precious.  Other than the obvious diamond, rubies, emeralds and sapphires are considered precious.  Rubies are of the most rare and hold world wide acclaim.  Curiously though emeralds are priced about three times higher due to the naturally occurring chemical color-changing factors.  

Semi-precious stones are considered everything else that someone might deem to be pretty.  The precious stones seem to be a pretty elite group.

Origins of the Cameo

Cameos are precious or semi-precious gemstones on which a relief has been carved.  The cameo has no other function than being purely decorative, therefore, these beautiful pieces did not arrive on the jewelry scene until the Hellenistic period (about the third century BC).  The emergence of the cameo in Greek society followed the vast conquest of Alexander the Great which suggests to scholars the cameo, in part, was influenced by treasure sent back from various parts of the conquered Persian Empire.  At this time the Greeks started to follow the Oriental fashion of mounting precious stones in their jewelry.  Onyx and Sardonyx were already widely used and these stones were well suited for cameo treatment since both stones have stratified layers of dark and light.  The opportunity to create ornamentation in miniture would have well suited the Greek’s tastes in fashion, thereby, accounting for the blossoming of the cameo as an art form in the Hellenistic Age.

A History of Charm Bracelets, Part 5

The beautiful bracelets of Queen Victoria ignited the next big wave of charm wearing in the early 20th century. It was at this stage that charms had a dramatic change of purpose. They went from being practical tools of protection and power and symbols of status to become decorative fashion jewelry. Small lockets, glass beads and family crests that hung on bracelets and necklaces were all the rage.

A History of Charm Bracelets, Part 4

Let us fast forward through history to the dark days of the Middle Ages a time of knights, castles and many daring fights.  We find that charms and amulets were put to use by knights and kings extensively for protection and a wide assortment of other usage. They were most often used with incantations to wreak havoc on the occupants of enemy castles and protect warriors in battle. Charms were also worn on belts to represent family origin, political standing and profession.

A History of Charm Bracelets, Part 3

During the Roman Empire Christians would wear a charm to identify themselves to other Christians.  To gain entry into secret, forbidden worship activities they would pull the “ichthys” (fish) charm from underneath their garments thereby identifying as a fellow Christian.

A Jewish scholar of that same time period would write passages from Jewish law on tiny slips of parchment and carefully insert the slips into a small, golden amulet that was worn around his neck. This of act reverence and piety was meant to keep the law close to the heart.

A History of Charm Bracelets, Part 2

In Grecian times bracelets were popular with men and soldiers wore defensive bands of leather, often decorated with gold, silver and or gemstones, on their forearms. They were known as ‘Bracels,’ from the Latin Brachium, meaning, ‘arm.’ When women caught on that these Bracels would look great on them, Not to be out done by the men they started wearing smaller versions, called little Bracels…or ‘Bracel-ets.’ 

The History of Charm Bracelets, Part 1

The citizens of ancient Egypt, like people of many ancient civilizations, lived very short lives by today’s standard, from 30 to 40 years on average. With so little time on earth, they prepared for a prosperous life after death. Charm bracelets played a significant role in the preparation process. Charm bracelets were not only used as protective amulets and signs of status in society, they were also worn as type of ID tags to help the Gods guide the wearer and his/her possessions to the proper status level in the afterlife. Kind of an “if found, please return to” note from home.

Moonstone Folklore

Moonstone was used in jewelry by the Romans who believed that the stone was formed from the light of the moon. In India moonstone is considered a sacred stone. It is believed to bring good fortune, to enhance passion, and balance the yin and yang and is said to protect women and children. In early times, it was believed that one could see the future if the stone was held in the mouth during a full moon. According to legend, moonstone will ensure abundant crops

Moonstone is also thought to have healing properties.  Moonstone is said to promote healthy digestion, to protect against epilepsy, to calm emotions, cure headaches and nose bleeds, and protect against sun stroke.

The Legend of Amethyst

The origin of amethyst is told to us by Greek myths. Dionysius, the god of intoxication, was angered one day by an insult from a mortal. He swore revenge on the next mortal that crossed his path.  To carry out his rash oath he created some fierce tigers. Along came Amethyst, an beautiful unsuspecting young maiden on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Diana. Diana saw what was about to happen and turned Amethyst into a stature of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws. Seeing the error of his anger Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his action at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god’s tears stained the quartz purple, creating the gemstone we know today as Amethyst. 

Egyptian Fish Amulets

Egyptian Fish Amulets or nekhau were worn for protection from drowning.  These amulets were given especially to children as a bulwark in their watery environment next to the Nile river. Common during the Middle Kingdom ( c. 1900-1800 BC) these nekhau were pendants made out of gold often with green felspar inlay.  It was thought that the amulet allowed the wearer to acquire fish abilities, which meant survival, if a child happen to fall into the water.