Light of the Silvery Moon

New Etsy.com treasury I put together.  There are some amazing products in this list.  Take a look!

Light of the Silvery Moon

    

    

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.

Diamonds

What is a diamond?  A fine diamond with desired fire and clarity is 100 percent pure carbon.  Only one atom of nitrogen in a hundred thousand atoms of carbon can give off a yellowish tinge to the stone making it less valuable. Most diamonds are so small that the off color is barely noticeable.  A truly flawless diamond is rare, about 1 in 800.

It was not until diamonds were faceted that they were considered more valuable then rubies and emeralds.  Diamonds are the hardest of all natural substances and is the only gemstone that can be used as a cutting tool, making it more useful then any other gemstone.

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

New Etsy Treasury

Tonight I felt inspired and put together a new Etsy.com treasury.  It is called "A Modern Romance".  The pictures are set in a sequence that tells a story.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d251a05b0f06d9105f0e52c/a-modern-romance

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 5

Prospecting for gold was a worldwide effort going back thousands of years, even before the first money in the form of gold coins appeared about 700 B.C. 

Early miners would use water power to propel gold-bearing sand over the hide of a sheep, which would trap the tiny, but heavy, flakes of gold. When the fleece had absorbed all it could hold, this ‘golden fleece’ was hung up to dry, and when dry would be beaten gently so that the gold would fall off and be recovered.

This primitive form of hydraulic mining began thousands of years ago, and was still being used by some miners as recently as the California gold rush of 1849. 

Treasury Features

I have been fortunate to be featured in two Etsy treasuries today!  Check out the great savings and items to be had:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d1ba198a3916d914d8f0de8/more-end-of-year-after-christmas-ring-in

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d1b4dedc3fe6d910d2a9b86/awesome-clearance-items

Gold Part 2

Gold is one of the easiest metals to work. It occurs naturally in a virtually pure and workable state, whereas most other metals tend to be found in ore-bodies that pose some difficulty in smelting. Gold’s early uses were ornamental evident by the many brilliant examples found at archeological digs around the globe. Gold has always been a substance of power. The earliest history of human interaction with gold is long lost, but its association with the gods, immortality, and with wealth itself are common themes in many cultures throughout the world. Early civilization equated gold with gods and rulers. Gold was sought in their name and dedicated to their glorification. Humans almost intuitively place a high value on gold, equating it with power, beauty, and the cultural elite. Since gold in its natural state is widely found all over the globe, we find the same ideology about gold throughout ancient and modern civilizations everywhere. Gold, beauty, and power have always gone together. Gold in ancient times was made into shrines and statues, plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds, and of course, jewelry for personal adornment.

Gold Part 1

Gold, who on this planet does not innately treasure this sought after material. Gold was first discovered in its natural state as shining, yellow nuggets, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids. As a result of being found all over the world, gold became a part of every human culture. Nearly every civilization that found gold was impressed with the shiny metal. Its brilliance, luster, and natural aesthetic beauty coupled with its great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable for metal smiths to work and create with. Gold was the first metal widely known to and worked with in cultures around the globe. Historically, we consider the development of working with iron and copper as the greatest contributions to civilizations economic and cultural advancement, which is certainly true; but working with gold came first. 

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.

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 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 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.