Could you please elaborate on fine jewellery? Boucheron, opinion on Boodles, De Beers? I am on the market for a new ring or necklace, turned off Tiffany or VC&A - too trendy/common on Instagram imo
You’ve just dragged the girls back to school because, ladies, it’s time for our Tattle free online finishing school.
Bastine’s corner.
Masterclass: Jewelry/ Haute-Joaillerie
Darlings, if you have money to spend for
Haute-Joaillerie, or a man willing to pay a big sum for a piece of jewelry, there are no good or bad brands, everything could be beautiful, it depends on your taste. From what I've observed, the feminine taste follows
grosso-modo two tendencies :
-women who prefer the geometrical design (based on geometrical forms)
-women (probably very romantic), who prefer vegetal motifs and volutes (the typical customer of Van Cleef&Arpels in the good old days, today they prefer
Ole Lynggaard).
As I said, if today the high society prefers Cartier for watches, it doesn’t mean they don’t have Cartier jewels. But they are coming from old collections not from the new ones (Bvlgari and many others, the same case). For exemple, the Panther brooch is very frequent but the ancient model not the new one. In general, it might be interesting for you to buy an old model of
Haute-Joaillerie than a new one, stones were of better quality also the artisanal manufacture is incomparable. Have a look in your local antique shop or follow the auctions in your town because, due to the large number of items, you can buy directly a jewel at a fixed price, without attending the auction. Always inform yourself about the historical collections (read the ancient catalogues), you’ll understand better how less glamour everything is today.
New jewels no longer have a real resale value, only the stones have. Of course there are exceptions but I shall never advice you to put the price of an appartment in a jewel, just in case, one day…
So here some tips from Bastine to see more clearly in the world of the jewelry.
First of all
If you want Him (or the seller) to drop dead of admiration, learn the international language of jewelry which is…. surprise, surprise, French.
Second of all
In life, you don’t really need to have jewels except for :
-pearls, yeah, yeah, yeah pearls ! (earrings + necklace) : only the pearls, without any other motif or metal in it ; little pearls don’t age you. What is ageing you is the lenght of the necklace (go for the
ras-de-cou, 40-42cm,
not for the
princesse, 45-50cm ; other lenghts are the
sautoir, 70cm and the
Coco, more than 1m)
-a pair of earrings with round little diamonds (the
brilliant cut)
-a brooch (you don’t see why now, trust me you will see it in the future)
-the wedding band
-optional : a pair of simple gold earrings
For the rest, it’s according with your own fantasy and your own needs.
Why little Pearls and little diamonds on the ears ? Because they have specific properties related to the reflection of the light so they bring light & life to your face. This is the reason why Coco Chanel was wearing her long necklaces combining real and fake pearls. She used to say that after 35 years à woman needs a source of additional light to enhance her figure. She is right.
In the domain of jewelry reigns the same rule as when it comes to clothing : « dress appropriately » becomes « wear jewels appropriately ». A little parenthesis : dress appropriately it’s not so much « dress according to your size » or « go to the tailor to fit your clothes » (it’s a little more than that, maybe a theme for another Masterclass in the future).
« Wear jewels appropriately » is for exemple :
- when to wear your big diamonds, big jewels (after 16h – but the little earrings you can wear it whenever you want) ; know what your life is before buying big stuff, if you don’t go to the opera
premières, galas, balls, etc. you don’t need to spend your money on jewelry.
-what to wear (never an Opal when you are in the presence of French traders -they consider it bad luck for the business ; never a Jade with Asians – Jade is good luck for… Asians, only).
-know and accept the shape of your fingers : rings, especially some models, are not for everyone ; the only shape which compliments every finger without making a sausage from it, is the high classical claw setting (
serti griffes), especially the
emerald/poire/marquise cut.
Etc, etc, etc.
Regardless of your interest in jewelry, there are things to know, because at least once in a lifetime you will be confronted with the necessity to buy something. As far as it concerns women in the high society, they are true experts of the following categories. You can elaborate afterwards with your own research on Internet.
1.Precious metals : silver (don’t wear silver if you take medication, it becomes black) ; gold (don’t be fool by the actual trade which is trying to sell the 9k and the 14k ; jewels must be in 18k or, very rare nowadays, 22k ; pure gold is 24k) ; platinium (very rare, very hard to work, very expensive).
Jewels in white gold are splendid but the maintenance is expensive in the long run (when the brilliance fades the jewel needs a layer of rhodium, expensive). Know what an
alliage means.
Know how to recognize a specific mesh of a bracelet :
polonaise, fer à cheval, forçat, grain-de-café, américaine,
jaseron,
torsade, etc.
2. Stones : I can’t detail everything, I am only giving you some useful or unknown indications. It is very important to know the name of the shapes (attention, the name may vary in your country) : brilliant cut, emerald cut,
poire, cœur, marquise, etc ; know how to identify the parts of a cut
(facette,
culasse, couronne, etc.). A very facetted stone is a very brilliant stone.
Diamond : you need to understand the 4C (carat, cut, clarity, colour)
-you may be disappointing but the diamond is no longer an exclusive and rare stone, actually it was demonetized since 2010 when DeBeers, who used to have an exclusive monopoly on the diamond market, left the boat. Today the trade is very democratized (that’s why you see all those Insta girls with big diamonds) and the resale value of the diamond dropped dramatically.
Saphire : the most exquisite and expensive one is the Ceylan Saphire. Today the mines are empty, there are no more Ceylan saphires extracted so if you want to have one it’s only on the antique market or in some very important jewelry. The stone has a particularity : its
inclusion (impurity
) which has the shape of a butterfly wing. This is an investment piece but very hard to find.
Ruby : the most wanted is the
sang de pigeon ("pigeon blood" or "pigeon heart" in some countries). Often people buy the
spinelle thinking is a ruby.
Emerald : the most wanted, the Colombian one, has a very deep green colour. The emerald is very fragile (7 on the Mohs scale – learn the Mohs scale for precious stones), it can’t be cut with many facettes, that’s why the emerald cut exists. It may have a lot of
inclusions (impurities) but don’t be affraid to buy a less clear stone because what is exactly the impurity ? It’s a comeback in time, it’s a witness of the ancient time of the mineral growth, which could go back to millions of years, it could be a dust from that Time, an air bubble, a drop of water captured by the mineral in its growth.
Aquamarine : what you need to know is that the stone is almost depleted, so it was substituted by jewellers with the azure topaz which is not a real stone. I mean, it’s a real topaz, but the azure topazes are very rare so the azure topaz you can see in jewelry stores are yellowish topazes which were radiated in order to obtain to azure nuance. Don’t worry, no harm for your health, it's a very soft atomic radiation.
Amethyst : the stone for Wicca girls . Why ???? Since the begining of Time, amethyst was always associated with the power of communication with the Divin. That’s why the rings of the Pope and of the Bishops are in amethyst (more precisely were in amethyst before the council Vatican II , 1962). It comes from ancient Roman traditions and beliefs. But here is the funny thing. Amethyst is actually a Beryl which is the main mineral composing our actual wireless communication instruments like Internet for exemple which is the quintessential of the divine communication, isn't it? There must be some true in our old traditions…
There are many, many, many stones outhere, with very interesting properties but I shall finish with my favorite one : the Tourmaline, extraordinary in all its nuances !
3. Assemblages =
les sertissages ; know how to recognize them :
serti griffes, serti clos, pavage, serti rail, serti barrette, etc. The safest for your stone : the
serti griffes.
4. Fakes : this is a very large category especially because nowadays they can make synthetic precious stones. The fake diamond it’s the easyest one to spot but for the saphire, ruby and emerald there are some nasty fakes called
doublons composed by a real
couronne and a fake/other stone
culasse. If the stone is
sertie in a jewel, you can’t see it, only a trained eye can detect it.
My dear
@maria99 I am not sure I've been of big help. But I hope you had some answers. Ask me if you want to know other specific details.
Recreation for everybody!
I'm truly impressed
.
you are not going out to the world to "flex", you don't need to.
