Nothing is more universal and timeless than pearls. Wander through any major art museum and you’ll find them on everyone from maharajahs to lowly servants. There’s Rembrandt’s “Weighing of Pearls,” Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”—which inspired a Hollywood movie—and nary a portrait of Queen Elizabeth where she isn’t dripping with them. Leonardo da Vinci even had his own recipe for making a small pearl into a large fake, according to Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect…
When you’re shopping for turquoise, it’s wise to inquire about treatments and—if you’re paying a significant price—request a guarantee of quality and origin. I learned this the hard way many years ago when I bought a pair of “turquoise” earrings with large stones of a deep, classic turquoise blue webbed with convincing black veins. The stones (or whatever they were) faded to almost white within a year. To be fair, I paid very little for them. These days, I’d look…
Eight historic jewels were stolen from the Louvre on Sunday, October 19. Media outlets are scrambling to place a value on these priceless treasures. The value of one is pretty clear, though. Here’s what we know about the diamond brooch that belonged to Empress Eugenie, which entered the Louvre amid high drama in 2008 and has now vanished the same way. Empress Eugenie’s diamond bow brooch was made in 1855 of old mine and old European-cut diamonds — lots of…
You may be surprised who pulls out the skull rings and cross pendants on weekends. Seems everybody wants to be a rock star. Just ask Gerard Marti, owner of Célèbrités galleries in Maui. His customers include Steven Tyler, Tommy Lee and Paris Hilton, as well as the co-founder of MySpace.
If you're in the market for rubies, read this. There's an interloper among those red beauties - and it's been spotted at mainstream retailers, priced well above its true value.
If you think building a career as a jewelry designer is challenging today, imagine what it was like 50 years ago, when the women’s movement was just catching fire – or a century ago when the suffragettes were battling in the streets for our right to vote. Yet jewelry is an art form women have always had a natural affinity for. We’re the primary wearers, after all, and jewelry is often closely connected to fashion. Designing and making jewelry is a craft that…
