Trend Watch: Honoring the Sentiment: Vintage & Antique Jewelry

This past Friday, January 23, 2009, on The View on ABC-TV, to the delight of the viewing audience, Barbara Walters talked a bit about her jewelry. She is well-known for wearing some extraordinary pieces, and Friday’s choices did not disappoint.

The subject of her jewelry came up because earlier in the week, she had lost the top of an antique ring from the 1800’s, a favorite ring that she professed to wearing all the time. When she got home one day, she found she was inexplicably wearing a flat, ugly ring, and it was only when she returned to the television studio and found the dazzling top of the ring sitting on the edge of a dressing table that she realized her ring had come apart and some thoughtful individual had set the ring top on the table rather than pocketing it. This goes into the category of “people are good,” noted Walters.

Read the whole story at: www.jckonline.com

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Elton John Sells His J Brooch

Sir Elton John is a notably famous musician, whose fortune has led him to acquire a large collection of jewelry including a sizable number of diamond pieces. Those who know anything about Elton John know that he does not endorse subtlety in either fashion or jewelry. His pieces are large, beautiful and expensive.Elton sold his famous “J” brooch along with some other pieces at Bonhams Auction House on the 25th of September, 2008. The brooch was made famous when it was worn in the 1988 music video “I Don’t Wanna Go on With You Like That.” The song fared well in the United States reaching a Billboard number 2 spot. Elton John fans across the globe are familiar with the stunning J shaped brooch. But for those interested in buying the jewel who aren’t so familiar, a photo showing Elton John wearing the brooch will accompany its sale. This also serves as proof of authenticity for the future sales of the piece.

The 1930’s era Art Deco brooch has brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds with oval-cut and circular-cut sapphires. It was created in 1935 and has an estimated value of between $22 and $27 thousand. The brooch is truly an exquisite piece of jewelry that is both valuable for the jewels that comprise it, as well as for its story. The piece is entirely unique, and its new owner will own a beautiful piece of music history.

Read the whole story at: www.abazias.com

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Go For Something Different - Antique Engagement Rings

A wedding castle is a perfect venue to show off an antique engagement ring. Feel like a princess from a bygone era at your fairytale castle wedding. A destination wedding castle is a wonderful venue for today’s discerning bride with refined taste and cultivation.

Old antique engagement rings are those classic style rings that bring back the charm and history of an era gone by. Many couples enjoy the nostalgic feel of something their grandparents may have worn. Others simply like the idea of old-fashioned quality styling and workmanship.

The Internet and online auctions in general have brought the world of antique wedding rings into our home. You can shop at Antwerps mega diamond dealers or a village charity shop all from your home computer. If you like to shop closer to home where you can touch and feel the rings and try them on for size and style, then there are other great sources for vintage engagement rings. Estate sales and flea marketsare great sources for authentic vintage jewellery including diamond or sapphire jewelry in gold or silver.

An antique engagement ring is like a fine wine or work of art; it speaks of the refined taste and cultivation of its owner. It is a showpiece of superb old-world craftsmanship, in contrast to the plain bands and prong settings of most modern rings. Because it is too costly to reproduce such intricate detail nowadays, antique rings will continue to appreciate in value over time.

The most desirable estate engagement rings on the market today date from the late Victorian era (turn of the century) through the 1940s. Such rings reflect the popular tastes of their time; therefore, rings from different eras have very different characteristics.


Read the whole story at: www.marriage-and-families.com

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Tacoma Museum Exhibits Ornament As Art

‘Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry’ is the name of an exhibition of works from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection prepared to be displayed at Tacoma Art Museum, Washington from June 6 to September 13, 2009.

Ornament as Art is the first major exhibition of contemporary jewelry to fully explore its impact as a global art form.

Drawing from the highly regarded collection of jewelry expert, gallerist, and educator Helen Williams Drutt, the exhibition examines the art and design of contemporary jewelry, placing it firmly within the artistic movements of the 20th century.

Beginning with jewelry made in the 1960s, when a dramatic shift occurred in how ornament and jewelry were perceived, and continuing through to works made in the 1980s and 1990s, the exhibition explores the avant-garde nature of the works, the artist’s sometimes controversial use of scale and form, as well as the value placed on concepts and ideas rather than precious materials.

From: www.tacomaartmuseum.org

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Valentine's day

(there are more things in the air but love)


Click here to get to the descriptive page of this pendant.

The origin of Valentine's day

The popular customs connected with Saint Valentine's Day's probably originated in medieval England and France. The most likely origin of the habits of Valentine's day is the old belief that birds starting to mate at February 14th. Specially in the Middle Ages, when "courtly love" was in flower, this belief was widely spread.

This belief about "love-birds" is probably the reason Saint Valentine's feast day came to be seen as specially consecrated to lovers, and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lover's tokens. English and French literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth-century contain allusions to this practice.

In the 14th Century the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer writes in his "Parliament of Foules":

For this was sent of Seynt Valentine's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

Either the bird in the picture above is a Bird of Paradise or a rather feathery dove. One or the other, both could be considered Valentine's love symbolisms par-excellence. The Bird of Paradise represents (not surprisingly) paradise and doves in Victorian poetic terms are the symbol of love...

So why say it with flowers if you can say it with birds?

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

See our:


jewelry with bird motives
love token jewelry
latest acquisitions
complete inventory

or read our:
explanation on Valentine
explanation on love token jewelry
extensive antique jewelry glossary
antique jewelry style overview

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Jewelry and makeup in ancient Persia

By Hedieh Ghavidel, Press TV, Tehran

Acheamenid Jewelry

Archaeological finds in Iran show that women and men applied makeup and arrayed themselves with ornaments approximately 10,000 years ago, a trend which began from religious convictions rather than mere beautification motivations.



Archaeologists have discovered various instruments of make-up and ornamental items in the Burnt City, which date back to the third millennium BCE.

The caves of the Bakhtiari region, where the first hunter-gatherers settled at the end of the ice age, have yielded not only stone tools, daggers and grindstones but also several stones covered with red ocher.

Parthian goat-shaped vessel

As no cave paintings have been found in this area, researchers believe the people of this era bepainted their faces and bodies with ocher.

Other caves in Kermanshah have also yielded several samples of animal bones with traces of paint. Again, as the cave walls are undecorated, it can be inferred that the residents used these bones as ornaments.

The tombs found in Kerman have all yielded white powder made of lead or silver suggesting the people of this region were the first to use white powder for beautification purposes.

Jewelry found in the Burnt City, Iran

Archaeologists also believe that both women and men used a red powder found inside small saucer-like vessels unearthed in some tombs to redden their cheeks.

The masks and statues unearthed at Haft Tappeh in Khuzestan, show the people of the time blackened and extended their eyebrows, reddened their lips and cheeks and lined their eyes up to the eyebrows.

Archaeological finds dating back to the first millennium BCE, show the diversity and abundance of cosmetics and ornaments in this period, suggesting that this era was the peak of the art of decoration and makeup in Iran.

A Parthian Gold Bead

Ten thousand year old discoveries from a number of caves, especially Mazandaran's Huto and Kamarband caves and Kermanshah's Bisotoun Cave, reveal that women and men adorned themselves with pelts, shells, colorful stones and the teeth and bones of hunted animals.

Metal, bone, shell, stone and glass rings, bracelets, armlets, anklets, hair and dress pins, circlets, chokers, ornamental buttons, various ear and fingernail cleaning tools are among the frequent finds from this era.

Achaemenid gold necklace with seal

Agate, pearls and other semi-precious stones have been discovered in the Burnt City, and the quantity of unearthed necklaces, bracelets and rings show that the inhabitants were fully aware of the value of ornaments and their application.

Archaeological excavations in central Iran at Tappeh Si Arg in Kashan and Tappeh Hessar in Damghan have unveiled the same extent of makeup materials and ornamental ware.

Decorative beads made from pearl, turquoise, copper, silver, gold and unbaked or baked lime from 4,600 BCE to 1,800 BCE are the most frequent finds at these sites.

Achaemenid jewelry

Rings, necklaces, crowns, earrings, foot ornaments, bracelets and even metal beads adorned with what is thought to be family insignia all testify to the mastery of their artisans.

Tappeh Hessar graves, even those belonging to children, all contain an array of such objects.

Cave dwellers used water as the first mirror. Gradually as man learned to melt and polish metals, he crafted mirrors.

A pair of Gold Earrings ( 500-300 BCE)

The oldest man-made mirrors discovered, which date back 4500 years, have been found mostly in Ilam, Luristan and Azarbaijan and are ornamented with mythological figures carved into their handles and backs.

In the excavation of the Sassanid tombs of Azarbaijan, two sheets of glass with tar and silver-coated backs were discovered, which archaeologists believe were used like modern mirrors.

These sheets of glass/ancient mirrors like many other Iranian treasures from the past have been housed in the British Museum.

An Achaemenid seal housed in the Louvre depicts a fully made-up aristocratic woman looking at her reflection in a mirror while a maid presents her with a hairpiece.

The first combs found in Burnt City excavations are as old as 4,700 years and are mostly wooden with embossed decorations.

Studies suggest the women of Sistan used combs for both decoration and functional means.

Persepolis image

One ancient statue shows a queen with her hair collected behind her head in a crescent.

Archaeologists believe women used the various springs found in the tombs in Ilam's Poshtkoh cemetery to wrap their hair. Hair wrappers with a bejeweled middle or outside rod have also been discovered in Ilam's Chenar graveyard.

Persepolis images suggest kings and soldiers used extensions in their beards and hair.

Achaemenid white agate bead necklace ( 550-330 BCE)

Parthians wore pendants, tiny pins, rings, circlets, perfume, precious stones and clay or glass beads to banish ill omens.

Sassanid women were so attached to makeup and ornaments that they were often buried with them. In this era, the use of semi-precious ornamental objects became popular, an example of which is the belt buckle adorned with pink agate which is housed at the Wisebaden Museum.

Sassanid carnelian stamp seal

Achaemenid jewelry was decorated with mythological, plant and animal shapes. For example, bracelets were thin and the two ends were adorned by lion, ram, goose, deer or snake heads.

The intricacy of some of the jewelry unearthed still amazes archaeologists as to how people from ancient times designed and produced ornaments of such delicacy.

From: www.presstv.ir


See Adin's ancient jewelry or antique jewelry

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The Hessen Affair (movie)

The winner takes it all... and more

At the end of World War II, the biggest jewel theft in history turns into a bloodbath when thieves fall out in a thriller with echoes of DOUBLE INDEMNITY and BODY HEAT.

1945 - Castle Kronberg, outside Frankfurt, is turned into a ‘country club’ for victorious American officers. Outside, the country is starving, but within the castle walls, young Americans who have never been away from ordinary homes and jobs, find themselves jitterbugging the nights away in a palace where they are the conquerors ...

Princess Sophie of Hesse, the castle’s owner, fled hours before the arrival of the Yanks. She didn’t have time to move or conceal all the castle’s treasures. Most of the dazzled young officers confine themselves to swiping the silverware ...

But two, smarter and more determined than the rest – the cynical COLONEL JACK DURANT and the dazzling beautiful LIEUTENANT KATHLEEN NASH – have other ideas. While Glenn Miller foxtrots thump overhead in the ballroom, Durant and Nash bump into each other in the basement, armed with pickaxes and a mutual curiosity to find whatever else the princess might have left behind ...

And they do ...

Nash and Durant uncover the crown jewels of Germany – more diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls than are gathered in any one place outside the Tower of London. The value is beyond anyone’s ability to compute. The discovery ignites a sexual frenzy between Nash and Durant, who decide to steal the jewels – to the victors go the spoils.

Nash and Durant manage to get the gems to New York, where they must deal with gangsters to fence the loot. They are out of their league and must use their wits when dealing with someone like Ben Cassidy, builder of the new Las Vegas and owner of the New York Yankees.

But Cassidy and his cronies have never been presented with such a hoard as this. And it isn’t long before everyone gets greedy. The body count begins to mount around Nash and Durant.

To make matters worse for the two renegade officers, Princess Sophie discovers the theft of her jewels and complains to American army headquarters. It now turns out that her brother fought for the Allies and is about to marry the future Queen of England, Elizabeth! That’s right, Sophie’s brother is Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The army is now compelled to go after Nash and Durant.

With double-crossing gangland figures trying to control the gems and the army closing in on them, will Kathy Nash and Jack Durant stay true to one other and their plan?

Or will one sell the other out ?

Read more about this movie at www.thehessenaffair.com

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