The Beading Gem

Kundan jewelry is the oldest form of jewelry in India. This traditional technique involves gem setting with gold foil. The technique originated in Rajasthan and Gujarat for the royal courts. It is most closely associated with jeweled arts of the Mughal emperors (1526-1857) where their royal goldsmiths first combined enameling techniques (probably introduced from Europe) with historic kundan work.  Today, it is still part of a traditional Indian bride's wedding trousseau.

It was good timing and not planning that we were recently in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,  just at the start of a fabulous Faberge exhibition (June 14 - October 5, 2014) at the Museum of Fine Arts. We didn't know it was on until we checked out the museum website!  It is an exclusive exhibition in Canada of the largest public collection of Faberge art outside of Russia.

The Cheapside Hoard,he greatest Elizabethan and early Stuart era jewelry collection was discovered a century ago. In 1912, workmen demolishing a building in Cheapside, a busy part of the City of London, came across a 17th century jewelr's buried stash when they were digging in the cellar.

Colombian emerald, diamond and enamel salamander brooch

I previously wrote about the extraordinary skill of the Huichol  or Wixáritari of West Mexico turning beads and skulls into works of art. Now eight of these artisans from the communities of Nayarit and Jalisco are showcasing their amazing bead work on an entire car!

Giant Fountain by Heureux

Are you a Swarovski fan? Then you might like to know there is a bling theme park just for you! It's the Swarvoski Crystal Worlds or Swarvoski Kristallwelten in Wattens near Innsbruck, Austria. It opened in 1995 to mark the 100th anniversary of the company's founding.

The museum and gardens are beautifully set in the mountains.  It looks like a magical place from the outside. A hillside giant with crystal eyes spouts water marks the entrance to the museum.

Emperor’s winter robe Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum of Design in London has an amazing exhibition on Imperial Chinese Robes  on right now until February 27, 2011. It's like the emperor's old clothes only better.

Lucky visitors get to see the splendor of the Manchu Imperial court dress, shoes and bejeweled hats. The Manchu or Qing dynasty (1644 -1912) was the last to rule China until the revolution in 1912 got rid of the final boy emperor.

One of the most extraordinary gem collections in the world is at the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian has recently unveiled their new jewelry line inspired by their gem collections produced in an exclusive partnership with QVC, the TV shopping channel. The lovely gemstone pieces are mounted in sterling silver and gold and range from $65- $950.

If you are headed anywhere near the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History from now until August, there is a treat in store if you care to visit. Exhibited next to the famous Hope diamond,the museum's star gem, is the elusive Wittelsbach-Graff diamond. It's not been seen in public for over 50 years!

A remarkable exhibition of Afghanistan's Hidden Treasures from the National Museum in Kabul has been touring for the past few years. The exhibition is now at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in Ottawa until March 28, 2010. The introductory National Geographic trailer here is well worth the view as it puts into context the significance of these archaeological finds. The cultural history of a people is indeed the very soul of a nation.

The former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright is famous of her extensive personal collection of pins. You can now see some 200 of them at the Museum of Art and Design in New York . The exhibition runs until January 31, 2010.

The exhibition also coincides with the launch of her latest book Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box.Albright said, "I try to talk about foreign policy in a way that people find interesting. I thought this was the ultimate way -- to use the pins to tell the stories."

British Raj in India Part 1 of 2
If you live anywhere close to London, England or are visiting, the Victoria and Albert Museum has a fantastic Maharaja exhibition: The Splendor of Indian Royal Courts on right now until January 17, 2010. It will then go to Munich, Germany from February to May. Why am I so enthusiastic? If you are talking about royal splendor, unimaginable wealth and oodles of gemstones and jewelry, you cannot beat the Maharajas and their courts in their heyday.

The Smithsonian is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its acquisition of the legendary Hope Diamond in a novel way - letting the public see it in a modern (but temporary) setting. Not only that, until September 7, everyone is invited to cast their vote for one of three possible designs (the link for actual voting doesn't seem to be working but you can see the new designs). They are also planning a documentary "Mystery of the Hope Diamond" for the spring.

The settings were naturally designed by Harry Winston jewelers because the person who donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian was the flamboyant and gemstone obsessed Harry Winston (1896-1978) himself.

He was the third son of Ukrainian immigrants who owned a modest jewelry and repair store in New York. A high school dropout with no formal training in gemology, Harry Winston learned his trade the hard way. In addition he possessed the passion, a keen aesthetic sense, showmanship and an intuitive feel for the gemstones he so loved.

He often told the story of how, at age 12, he bought a 25 cent green stone ring from a pawn shop. After a good cleaning, his astonished father sold the 2 carat emerald for $800 a couple of days later. He grew up to be a wonderful storyteller sharing tales about gemstones, rulers and the celebrities he knew. He said, "I love the diamond business. It's a Cinderella world. It has everything! People! Drama! Romance! Excitement!".

During his career he often purchased estate jewelry from the rich and famous. He successfully outbid his rivals by simply offering more money (usually works) and by appraising much more quickly than they did. His philosophy was simple - "Always buy the stones, never the mounts." He had an uncanny ability to see each gemstone's potential beyond the sometimes outdated or unattractive settings they were in.

One early acquisition was the estate jewelry of Arabella Huntington, the wife of the railroad magnate, Collis P. Huntington. She spent over a million dollars on her famous 60 inch pearl necklace which Harry Winston later divided into pearl necklaces for "at least two dozen women" around the world.

His obsession about collecting as many of the world's legendary diamonds as he could fulfilled his father's prophecy, "Someday your jewels will possess you and master you." They certainly loomed large in his life as his wife discovered. Harry dearly loved Edna who was his confidant and model but diamonds were his mistresses. Edna sighed, " Harry just can't forget a diamond once he's made up his mind he wants it."

Harry Winston' s historic jewel collection was to become the second largest after the British Royal Family's according to Life Magazine in 1952. This list here documents of some of the 60 odd major gemstones which passed through his hands. Pictures of a few of these legendary gemstones can be seen here.


Harry Winston bought the Hope from the estate of heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean. The famous flawless blue diamond originally from India, made him both happy and sad. He was elated to finally own the stone but the last recutting the gemstone endured sometime in the past 200 years made it slightly lopsided. It affected its symmetry and its ability to refract light or sparkle and that bothered him.

Harry said, "A great diamond should live, it should talk to you." I wonder if the gemstone did for he boldly made the decision to slightly recut it at the culet (bottom facet). It was a small change but we're talking about a historic gemstone here! He also never believed in the curse of the Hope diamond - there are a number of gemstones with supposedly bad karma (see my post on the "cursed' Black Orlov). Instead, the Hope brought him fame, customers and plenty of publicity. But ever the showman, he got his PR people to embellish on the curse!

For a number of years, the Hope and his other jewels toured as the Court of Jewels raising a lot of money for charity and indirectly publicity for his store. He also generously lent out the Hope for several years after the Court of Jewels got too expensive to do.

Harry Winston never did sell the Hope. He said, "I could have sold it many times for a profit but I don't know what its value is." There is no other gemstone to compare it to. He decided to donate it to the Smithsonian in 1958 as payback for a country that had been good to him and with a hope that other rich Americans would be inspired to donate their own magnificent jewels. His secret ambition was apparently to make the Smithsonian's then very modest gem collection rival that of Britain's housed in the Tower of London.

Harry had had the Hope insured for $1,000,000 dollars with Lloyd's of London. But other than that, it cost $3.35 to register the Hope package, $2.44 in first class stamps and a surcharge of $139.50 for person-person handling to send this diamond to the Smithsonian by US mail!

My favorite Harry Winston quotation is worth remembering, "People will stare. Make it worth their while." Got it.

Related Posts
Madame de Pompadour's Jewels
Empress Eugenie's Diamond Obsession

References
Marian Fowler :Hope: Adventures of a Diamond
Wikipedia : Harry Winston
Publicity picture of Harry Winston by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Picture source

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips 

What I did on my summer vacation
Part 3 of 3
The multi-million dollar William and Judith Bollinger Jewelry Gallery of the Victoria of Albert Museum is a wonderful way to appreciate and be inspired by 800 years of mostly European history of jewelry design. The gallery is beautiful and had to be to really showcase the jewelry. I thought the glass spiral staircase going up to the second floor was neat, as it did seem to be a crystal walkway.

Some of their past exhibitions featured special jewelry from their collection and others. One spectacular one was on the Style and Splendour of Queen Maud. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria who became the Queen Consort of Norway and a well known fashionista of her day. Shown above is her choker style pearl and diamond necklace on the mannequin bearing her coronation robes. That style of necklace was popular during her time as you can see from an old photo of her below. (Aren't you glad we don't have to wear corsets anymore?)

Another of their past exhibitions was just on tiaras - 200 of them in the largest collection ever put together.

The famous Manchester tiara was on permanent display so I got to see it. If you remember the bejewelled biography series post I wrote about the American Dollar Princesses and their jewels, the Dukes of Manchester were wastrels. No wonder this tiara (below) was given to the British government in lieu of back taxes. Even the aristocracy used fake gems - the "diamonds" at the back of the tiara were paste (glass).

What I did for my summer holiday
Part 2 of 3
I have always loved design. Not just jewelry but everything that involves design - architecture, furniture, clothing even garden design.

So for years I hankered for an opportunity to visit the world's greatest homage to design - the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I finally got my chance even it was for a few fleeting hours - you really need days to explore this vast place. It was everything I thought it would be. Fabulous. The entrance fee for a phenomenal amount of inspiration? Free!

The V&A as it is affectionately known celebrates 3000 years of design from many different cultures. The comprehensive collections number over 4.5 million objects covering fashion, ceramics, glass, metalwork, sculpture, textiles, prints and yes, jewelry too. A whole gallery of it.

Built in 1852, the museum itself is gorgeous combining the best of classical and modern designs. To do the place justice, I have relied on abler and generous photographers who took these beautiful shots and shared them via Creative Commons licences on Flickr (photo credits below).









Amongst the most bizarre exhibit areas is the Cast Collection. These are realistic plaster cast reproductions of famous sculptures, architectural columns and even tomb effigies. They were made in vast quantities in the 19th century for museums because few people could afford to travel in those days.

Image via Wikipedia

The museum constantly holds exhibitions. Some past exhibitions I wished I could have seen were the ones on hats, the Golden Age of Couture (shown below), the Magnificience of the Tsars, Art Deco, Fashioning Kimonos and naturally Tiaras. Upcoming exhibitions include Quilts and Maharaja :the Splendour of India's Royal Courts.



I do take credit for the photo below - the beautiful courtyard where visitors could rest and get some refreshments. And so can you as I will continue with the jewelry collection at the V&A in tomorrow's post.



Photo credits
Exterior : Wallyg on Flickr
Interior: Nick Garrod's V&A Museum set

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The Beading Gem's Journal

Dark Side of Black
Part 2 of 2
London’s Wallace Collection is currently displaying until mid-May one of the most moving and touching exhibitions of 14th century jewelry and other treasures. If you are lucky enough to live near London or are planning to visit soon, this exhibition is worth a visit to see what medieval fashion jewelry was like and the skill of the craftsmen of the time. But much more than that, to also appreciate a different perspective of the medieval period.

These artifacts were from the time of the Black Death, when mankind's deadliest pandemic killed an estimated 75 million people worldwide. About 50% of Europe`s population, some 25-50 million people, perished.

Bubonic plague terrified medieval populations. The bacterium Yersinia pestis was transmitted via flea bites. The fleas were in turn spread by rats. Populations who lived closer together were naturally at greater risk. The disease is an infection of the lymphatic system resulting in gland swellings called buboes which could lead to septicemia (blood poisoning) if the buboes hemorrhaged and pneumonic plague if it spread to the lungs. Half the victims were dead in 4-7 days. It was an agonising way to die.

With no knowledge of what actually caused the disease nor access to modern antibiotics, people desperately sought scapegoats and solutions. Minorities such as Jews, foreigners and the unfortunate dregs of society like lepers and beggars were all targeted. Some solutions were bizarre. For example, a recent archaelogical dig in Italy (a fascinating read if you're not squeamish) revealed the remains of a 16th century female plague victim buried with a brick stuck in her mouth to prevent her from becoming a vampire or "shroud-eater".

The treasures from the Wallace collection were found in two separate hoards, one in Colmar, France and the other in Erfurt, Germany, near the 11th century synagogue, the oldest in Europe (below).



Some of the highlights of the exhibition are the most personal of items like the exquisitely crafted gold Jewish wedding ring (below) engraved with the words mazel tov or good fortune. The house design symbolised both the marital home and the Temple of Jerusalem. It is one of the earliest Jewish wedding rings ever found.

Some time in early 1349, the unknown owner of this ring buried her precious jewelry and valuables. The Black Death had became a doubly perilous time for Jews because they were collectively accused of poisoning wells. On March 2 that same year, this woman and her family were amongst the 1000 innocent Jews killed in Erfurt by ignorant mobs. Such hoards were thus never recovered by their owners.


This beautiful Colmar brooch was adorned with sapphires, rubies, garnets and pearls :



This is a toilet set complete with bottle and cosmetic accessories:



Images By Kind permission of the Trustees of the Wallace Collection.

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips