There's nothing better than a shiny bauble to soothe LadyShea's chatroom-fevered mind, so here are a few stunners from a New York exhibit of Van Cleef & Arpels' most extravagant pieces.
This is a necklace that you can change into a bracelet by removing the backing and literally zipping it up. Wallis Simpson gave the designer the idea for it.
This is the one piece from the entire exhibit that I would select for my mother. It's also one of the oldest ones on display, made in 1915.
Here's one for wei yau:
Yes, that is a coolie hat necklace, and made for the 1931 Exposition Coloniale in Paris, no less. Oh, and there's a ring, bracelet and earrings to match, too.
And now for the money shot. Prepare yourself, Shea.
Dilemma for jew Liv: what about a giant golden cross encrusted with diamonds, rubies, and finely cut sapphire gems? Do you salivate over the jewels or do you grow fangs at the cross shape itself?
^18K bi-color (yellow and white) gold, 19 rose cut diamonds, 24 rubies (verneuil ruby) - Dimensions: approximate height 4.70 cm (1.85 inch), width 2.35 cm (0.93 inch) Weight: 6.00 gram (3.86 dwt). €1650
Still looking for the one I've had in mind...
OK, out of sensitivity to our Christ-killer employees, I'll try to post fewer crosses. (At least after I find that gigantic golden jewel-encrusted Crusader Cross I've had in mind...)
Speaking of Wallis Simpson, many of the Duchess of Windsor's famed jewels were recently auctioned at Sotheby's bringing record prices. My favorite piece is a spectacular diamond and onyx Cartier panther bracelet with emerald eyes. It's so delicately articulated that it can lie flat or drape over the wrist completely smoothly.
Four bidders vied for it. Eventually it went for 4.5 million pounds to an anonymous buyer. Rumor has it said anonymous buyer was Madonna.
Oh okay, Yb. Here's a little something that'll make you happy. It's a rock crystal memento mori ring from the mid-17th century with an enamel skull decoration. It's dedicated to the memory of poor, beheaded King Charles I. There's a lock of hair inside that is supposed to be the king's but who knows if that's true.
I suspect Ashkenazim have a genetic predisposition toward compulsive attraction to shiny objects. Now we just need to find some more Ashkenazi identical and fraternal twins for a twin study. I've been meaning to do some more research on Ashkenazi traditionalism and correlates (e.g., Y chromosomal Aaron ancestry, Talmudic knowledge scores, falsification (Lie) scores, experience in patent vs. criminal vs. civil law, etc., etc.) so that ought to work out nicely.
There's a skull and skeleton mourning fob here (the pic is too long to be in thread)
Handsome. Do you know what period it dates to?
According to the site 1830-50. It's a neat piece.
Mourning jewelery with hairwork is mostly Victorian, because they did a lot of weird death stuff them Victorians, but there are cool examples from most any era.
I designed a shallow cylinder out of a wedding band and gold discs for a guy, we encased some of his wife's ashes in it.
That's a wee gilt silver boar discovered at the site of the Battle of Bosworth. The boar was Richard II's emblem and the quality of the piece suggests it belonged to one of his retinue who lost it while his boss was offering his kingdom in exchange for a horse.