Jewels of the rich & famous, and the past
The word 'jewelry' comes from the ancient French, "joaillerie", meaning JOY and
GLADNESS - this information is posted & dedicated to my wonderful friend Audry, of
'JOY Jewels by Audrey.Etsy.com'
Queen Elizabeth II: she has so much jewelry that she has a special room to keep it in
about the size of an ice rink, and situated 40 feet beneath Buckingham Palace. That
does not even include the British Crown Jewels which are kept in the Tower of London.
The Queen's personal jewelry is conservatively valued at $57 million and most of it
was received as gifts.
Semi-precious stones were used during the Victorian era to keep jewelry affordable.
The most popular stones were garnet, amethyst, coral, turquoise, seed pearls, and opals.
Marlene Dietrich once accidentally baked her own 37.4 carat emerald ring inside a
cake, where it was discovered during dessert!
In the early days of cinema, many movie stars wore their own jewels in their movies.
Some of the stars sporting their very own rocks "on stage" were Merle Oberon, Marlene
Dietrich, and Gloria Swanson.
Legend has it Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl, at the time worth five million sesterces
(about $12,500), in soup and drank it, just to win a bet with Marc Antony.
Tradition holds that if you wear a sapphire on Fridays, you'll be lucky in love.
According to Arthur Hardy, the "Voice of Mardi Gras," the tradition of tossing bead
necklaces from Mardi Gras parade floats originated in the early 1870's, by the Twelfth
Night Revelers.
Jewelry and keepsakes made of human hair were popular during the Victorian era.
Some were mourning pieces or “momento mori;” others were made as love tokens from
sweethearts, family members, and cherished friends. Many pieces of jewelry had
hidden compartments to hold human hair.
Porphyrophobia is defined as "a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of
the color purple," so amethyst jewelry would be a really bad gift for someone who had
it!
Men were the first to wear jewelry as a status symbol
and as good luck amulets to aid them in battle.
Bakelite, an early plastic, was used for the imitation of a number of different
substances. From the 1920s on, it could be produced in a variety of colors.
Aaron, first high priest of the Hebrews, wore 12 gemstones
(representing the 12 tribes of Israel) in his silver breastplate.
Queen Victoria established strict rules of etiquette for wearing jewelry. Diamonds
could only be worn with evening wear, and only by married women, since diamonds
were customarily gifts to a wife from a husband. A single woman wearing diamonds
was considered to be flaunting inherited wealth, which was considered vulgar, or
wearing a gift from a lover, which was considered immoral.
The first wrist watch was made in 1868. These “wristlets” were made for women and
were considered a passing fad.
Couturier Coco Chanel introduced the term “junk jewelry” in the 1920s.
Hat pins were used from the 1850s to the 1930s to secure hats to women's heads. They
were also seen as “lethal weapons” and symbols of equality for women.
The invention of the sewing machine allowed both home sewers and factory workers to
easily create a wider variety of costumes in the 1860s. This variety called for more and
varied accessories: clasps, brooches, beaded purses, fans, and combs.
In 1955, and working with Christian Dior, Swarovski presented an innovation that
took the world by storm, the 'Aurora Borealis,' a coated crystal stone flashing with
rainbow colored lights.
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