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Weekly Antique Jewelry Herald (archive 2015)
The entire Adin team wishes you
A Happy New Year!
And may all our children have happy, healthy and rich parents.
 Click the picture to see the antique jewelry our team has gathered. |
Treasures found in The Garden of Adin:
Victorian Love Bangle
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In this 14K pink gold love Victorian bangle, a playful ribbon encrusted with 42 rose cut diamonds ties together two hearts, which radiate from old brilliant cut diamonds each centring one of circa 0.90 carat. As a result of the collision of the two bound hearts, a central lucid pink ruby emerges and blasts over the ten brilliant cut diamonds in each of the two shoulders of the jewel. As two hearts become one in this antique bangle, it symbolises a declaration of love lasting over all eras.
To our esteemed clientele:
A special discount on all our jewelry
for just a limited time!
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Echoing Amazon's secret project where drones will fly packages directly to your doorstep in 30 minutes, Adin has developed its own revolutionair delivery system: "The Adin Footstep Saver" (patent pending). To celebrate this happy event Adin is offering its esteemed clientele an extraordinairy discount on all its inventory, even on the already discounted!
Use code: XMASRUSHSPECIAL
This offer is valid till Friday December 25th, 2015.
Orders placed before or on December 21st will be delivered in time for Christmas.
Free Christmas gift wrapping and insured shipping on all orders!
restrictions may apply, click here for the conditions
Once In A Fancy Color Moon
(Antique brooch with fancy color diamonds)
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Architectural Jewelry
(Hide and seek in the Garden of Adin)
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Hide, seek and find
in The Garden of Adin
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Let us color your day!
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This week's floral suggestion
from The Garden of Adin
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How to prepare for a white Christmas!
(Some - more or less - unbiased advice)
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It might be too early and yet it might not. As we carry only unique pieces your perfect present could get sold to someone else. So you might not want to wait too long with ordering. And with so many diamond set pieces of antique jewelry, you can create your own white Christmas.
Tulip time in the Garden of Adin
(A flower a day keeps the marriage counselor away)
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The word tulip, first mentioned in western Europe in or around 1554 first appeared in English as tulipa or tulipant, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend. This name being applied because of a perceived resemblance of the shape of a tulip flower to that of a turban. This may have been due to a translation error in early times, when it was fashionable in the Ottoman Empire to wear tulips on turbans. The translator possibly confused the flower for the turban.
Harvest Time!
Always a wonderful time in The Garden of Adin
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Van Cleef & Arpels
The Invisible or Mystery Setting
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Van Cleef & Arpels is a leading French jewelry firm founded in 1906 by Julien, Louis, and Charles Arpels and their brother-in-law Alfred van Cleef, all descendants of jewellers and diamond dealers. Its main shop is at 22 Place Vendôme, Paris, and it has branches in London, New York City, and fashionable resorts, catering for a clientele seeking jewelry of original design and high quality.
On 2 December 1933, Van Cleef & Arpels received the French Patent for a proprietary gem setting style that it called Serti Mysterieux, or "Mystery Setting". The Mystery Setting is a technique employing a setting where the prongs are invisible. Each stone is faceted onto gold rails less than two-tenths of a millimeter thick. The technique can require 300 hours of work per piece or more, and only a few are produced each year.
Always wondered how we get such big pieces of antique jewelry?
The Garden of Adin reveales its Secret!
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Bioscientists at The Garden of Adin have developed a new bioactive fertilizer so powerful, so effective in its ability to grow small antique jewelry into large antique jewelry that it has virtually eliminated the need for other chemical fertilizers.
News of this amazing natural fertilizer for antique jewelry is sweeping across the country. The product is totally harmless for the environment. In fact, modern jewelry can also be turned into antique jewelry just by spraying this super fertilizer for barely 100 years.
Jewelry from the time when....
people knew how to eat medlars.
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Mentioned in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as well as in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, the medlar is a large shrub or small tree and also the name of the fruit of this tree. The fruit has been cultivated since Roman times, is usual available in winter and being eaten when bletted.
It was a very important fruit during the Roman Empire and Middle Ages before the introduction of other fruits in Western Europe. During the Middle Ages it was planted mainly in monastery gardens.
In our days, medlars can be occasionally found at specialized markets and greengrocers... and in the Garden of Adin of course, together with other beauties from the old days.
Jewelry from the time when....
Every household had a package of starch in the closet.
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Diamond Encrusted Bird Of Paradise
Where else than in the Garden of Adin?
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18th Century Cameo Gem Set Ring
depicting Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
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Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette got married in 1770, reigned in France between 1774 and 1789, the year when the French Revolution started. They got executed on the guillotine in 1793. During their reign, they got frequently portrayed in miniatures, ceramics and hardstone cameos. As in our days one would receive a signed photograph of a famous person, in those days works with their faces on jewelry would be given to their friends, political and diplomatic allies and courtiers. Most of the portraits were just of either the king or queen and double portraits of this kind are therefore rare.
Some experts claim that rings like this one (we know of the world-wide existence of three similar rings) were made specially with the birth of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette's eldest child Marie Thérèse of France in 1778. Another factor that could have influenced the scarcity of such rings is that after the Revolution possession of such jewelry would have been regarded as evidence of treason.
When you check the describing page of this royal ring you will not only find more pictures and even a movie of this ring but you will also find a copy of their last letters before being beheaded by the guillotine, plus a translation of these letters.
Adin Antique Jewelry First Aid Love Kit
(patent pending)
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The Adin First Love Aid Kit features not only all the essential first aid supplies for all romantic and unpainful love situations but now also for minor love aches and injuries. Adin First Aid Love Supplies are easy to offer in patent pending, antique jewelry boxes.
The Bare Necessities
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The Bare Necessities
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old mother nature's recipes
That bring the bare necessities of life
From "The Jungle Book"
Composed by Terry Gilkyson
Du bist mein und bist so zierlich
"You’re mine and so dainty"
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832)
Du bist mein und bist so zierlich,
Du bist mein und so manierlich,
Aber etwas fehlt dir noch:
Küssest mit so spitzen Lippen,
Wie die Tauben Wasser nippen;
Allzu zierlich bist du doch.
You’re mine and so dainty,
You’re mine and so mannerly,
Yet still though you lack something:
You kiss now with such pointed lips,
Like a dove, when drinking it sips:
You’re really too dainty a thing.
Recipes d'Amour:
Café à l'Adin
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"La nouvelle cuisine d'Adin"
proudly presents:
Café à l'Adin
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup of coffee
2 sugar lumps
some coffee cream
1 piece of Adin antique jewelry (for example the ring as pictured)
Method:
- make coffee as usual
- draw the Adin logo in the foam of the coffee
- add the sugar lumbs on the saucer
- poor the cream in a can
- place the antique jewel next to the saucer
- serve with a smile
Success guaranteed.
Adiniana Jones
and The Lost Secret Of The Cameos
(Antique Action Adventure)
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Who thinks antique jewelry is boring couldn't be more wrong! It can be a thrill to find out the lost history behind jewelry. Sometimes it can take us days of studying to understand what it is we have in our hands. Of course the longer one does this, the quicker it goes. But still we can be surprised when a piece reveals us its history. For example the necklace with cameos we show here.
A French antique necklace with no less than 12 high quality engraved cameos. All the scenes refer to ancient Greek and Roman mythology. It was not uncommon to jewelers in the 19th Century (nor is it to jewelers in our days) to make mountings for already carved cameos. Normally these cameos came from Italy where the craftsmen had a rich source of inspiration in the old sculptures, reliefs, paintings and mosaics.
When visiting Rome during the Mid-Nineteenth Century, one of the things international sightseers considered a must-have Grand Tour souvenir were cameos with mythological scenes. A fashion that was ignited by Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais who were avid collectors of cameos. Their love for cameos was trendsetting for the fashionists of that era.Surprisingly enough, most of the original works used as source of inspiration by the cameo engraver are not Italian. The creator of the original works, reliefs and statues, can be traced back to Danmark. To be more precise, the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844).
But what is the link between Danmark and Italy one could wonder. Well, Thorvaldsen spent much of his career in Rome and his bas reliefs in a classical style were widely replicated. Among others, by the Italian cameo carving atelier Saulini. Tomasso Saulini (1793-1864) was a pupil of Thorvaldsen and Saulini copied many of Thorvaldsen bas-reliefs and sculptures in his cameo works. Also Luigi Saulini, son and partner of Tomasso, used Thorvaldsen work.
So it is probable that the cameos were purchased in Italy, by either a French tourist or a jeweller, to be mounted by a French jeweler as the Saulinis did not do goldsmithing. The reason why we think it must have been a French tourist or jeweler purchasing these cameos, is because the necklace carries a French hallmark that was in use since 1838.
Works of Saulini can be found in many important cameo collections around the world, like the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
When you visit the describing page of this necklace you'll see that we were able to trace back almost all of the original works used as inspiration for this necklace
Ruby
Birthstone Of July
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There’s no better way to demonstrate your love than by giving a ruby in celebration of a July birthday. Rubies are considered the king of gems and represent Love, Health and Wisdom. Click the pictures to get to each ring or here for all our ruby jewelry.
Romance In France
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Oh la la, the French. They have such eloquent way of expressing their romantic feelings for each other. Take a look at this pendant where we see a woman sitting at the shore waving at a boat. The scene, that also has a flying swallow and is framed by roses, has the text: "Elle emporte vers vous mon baiser d'amour" which is French for "She brings to you my kisses of love".
Does one need to say more?
It's Charleston Time!
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The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade. Runnin' Wild ran from 29 October 1923 through 28 June 1924. The peak year for the Charleston as a dance by the public was mid-1926 to 1927.
Antique Peep Show
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Peep show, children’s toy and scientific curiosity, usually consisting of a box with an eyehole through which the viewer sees a miniature scene or stage setting, painted or constructed in perspective. Peep shows of an earlier time are often the only accurate representation of the stage design and scenery of the period.
The earliest known peep shows are the perspective views said to have been painted in transparent colours on glass and lighted from behind for various effects, from sunshine to moonlight, by Leon Battista Alberti in 1437. Later models (some preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna) have designs that are apparently patterned on Renaissance court masques and pageants, such as that of the discovery of Diana by Actaeon, with fully modelled figures set against a background painted in careful perspective.
In the 17th century, peep shows in their cabinets were often exhibited in the streets by itinerant showmen, and the device became a popular children’s toy. Some, equipped with movable scenery and wooden or cardboard figures, developed into the juvenile theatres of the 19th century (see toy theatre). The peep show was also the precursor of many types of optical toys, including the stereoscope and the magic lantern. (Source: www.britannica.com)
Extra Discounted Vintage Jewelry
ONLY TILL JULY 4TH !
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Born in 1755
A Touch Of History
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Marie Antoinette (Austria 1755 - Paris 1793), became the wife of Louis XVI and thus Queen of France. She supported the American Revolution in 1776 and the American Revolutionary War, and helped inspire a conservative reaction in France after 1791, which saw its greatest manifestation in the War in the Vendée which led, several years after the death of the queen, to the end of the Revolution and to the return of conservative and religious ideas in France and in Europe.
She was beheaded on the guillotine on 16 October 1793. The note we show is supposed to be her last note. These heartbreaking words - the last that Marie Antoinette had written in her cell and the traces of her tears make it even more moving - were found on the first page of her prayer book:
4h in the morning...
My God have mercy on me!
My eyes have no more tears to cry for you my poor children;
farewell
farewell !
Marie Antoinette
Also "born" in 1755 is the depicted ring. It was made in Amsterdam and on its journey trough time with layover at Adin it has been exhibited together with Dutch Royal Jewelry in 1962. Just imagine the stories we would hear if our antique jewelry could speak.
Snake hunting in The Garden of Adin
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The serpent is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. Considerable overlap exists in the symbolic values that serpents represent in various cultures. Some such overlap is due to the common historical ancestry of contemporary symbols. Much of the overlap, however, is traceable to the common biological characteristics of snakes.
A lot can be said about snakes and serpents. They have been worshipped since the Dark Ages and are a powerful religious symbol with many different meanings, like death and resurrection, while they have also been associated with healing and rivergods and also denote fertility, wisdom and the ability to cure.
Dropped in The Garden of Adin
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Magical Feathers in The Garden of Adin
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The Adin Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts
cautiously brings you:
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New proof of theory of evolution?
The crow and the fox
Important Background Information brought to you by
The Adin Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts
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We all know the fable by Aesop (620–564 BC) in which a crow has found a piece of cheese and retired to a branch to eat it. A fox, wanting it for himself, flatters the crow, calling it beautiful and wondering whether its voice is as sweet to match. When it lets out a caw, the cheese falls and is devoured by the fox.
What is not known to many people is that later the crow sold the story to Aesop and from the royalties the crow bought himself a nice bar brooch with the head of the fox depicted on it.
It is with great pride that The Adin Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts is able to present you the evidence to this story by showing you a picture of the crow wearing the specific bar brooch. And - oh the coincidence! - this specific brooch happens to be in the Adin collection.
The Garden of Adin presents you:
Relaxation in the Roaring Twenties
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Abstract motives and geometrical forms are quite typical for the Art Deco period. Art Deco moved away from the soft pastels and organic forms of its style predecessor, Art Nouveau, and embraced influences from many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, and Futurism.
Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
Road works in The Garden of Adin
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
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All foolishness with our weekly pictures aside, we at Adin take our job as antique jewelers serious. It is our goal to make our collection of antique jewelry as interesting for you as possible. Hence this brooch by the famous 19th Century jeweler Castellani. Famous for recreating jewelry in ancient styles, particularly Etruscan, his work became fashionable and much wanted in 19th Century Europe and America. Castellani, a name to be found at the top of the wish list of every avid antique jewelry collector.
Easter at The Garden of Adin:
Who says you need to be Fabergé to decorate an egg?
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The Garden of Adin
"The land flowing with milk and jewelry"
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Out of the Blue:
Aquamarine Ring!
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Newsflash from The Garden of Adin:
Easter Bunny takes rest in anticipation of upcoming stirr
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The Adin museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts
proudly presents:
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The original Frog Prince bracelet !
Many of us know the fairy tale of the princess kissing a frog, who than magically transformed into a handsome prince.
For a long time the existence of an image capturing the moment of their first encounter has been a source of dispute between leading historians around the world. It's only shortly that Mr. Elkan Wijnberg, chief conservator of the Adin Antique Jewelry Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts, revealed that the museum had found the original picture! Even more (and totally coincidentally!), the bracelet the princess is wearing on the picture happens to be in Adin's museum collection too!
Variation to the theme 'tennis bracelet'
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Normally a tennis bracelet is an in-line diamond bracelet or a bracelet that that features a symmetrical pattern of diamonds. Tennis bracelets exist much longer then the term used for them.
In 1987 Chris Evert, the former World No. 1 woman tennis player, was playing in the U.S. Open. She was wearing an elegant, light in-line diamond bracelet, which accidentally broke and the match was interrupted to allow Chris to recover her precious diamonds. The "tennis bracelet" incident sparked a new name for the item and sparked a huge jewelry trend.
Tennis bracelets continued to be worn by various tennis stars like Serena Williams and Gabriela Sabatini, and Diana Kerrison. Before this, they were just called rivière- or inline bracelets.
A picture is worth a thousand words
(a small history lesson)
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It is believed that in 1911, around the period that this ring was made, the expression "Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words." was used for the first time. It appeared in an article in the New York newspaper The Post-Standard quoting newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane discussing journalism and publicity.
Why celebrate your love with a red heart?
Don't be yellow... go for yellow!
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And our Valentine surprise for you:
To help you celebrate Valentine in an even more joyous way,
we offer 10% discount on all your Valentine purchases with Adin.
Use coupon code:
VALENTINESPECIAL
This coupon is valid till February 16th, 2015
on all our jewelry (even the already discounted!)
but not valid in combination with other actions.
To celebrate my love for you,
I will gather these jewels of dew.
Happy Valentine!
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And our Valentine surprise for you:
To help you celebrate Valentine in an even more joyous way,
we offer 10% discount on all your Valentine purchases with Adin.
Use coupon code:
VALENTINESPECIAL
This coupon is valid till February 16th, 2015
on all our jewelry (even the already discounted!)
but not valid in combination with other actions.
Antique jewelry...
so much to wonder about....
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Baroque rose cut diamond ear jewels
About 350 years old!
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Three graduating teardrop shaped high domed rose cut diamonds surmounted by three rose cut diamonds diamonds in a V-shape with additional scrolling, attached to a larger round high domed rose cut diamond. The diamonds are set in a closed silver setting and the edges are decorated with a small lobed border. The pair of earrings is finished with a gold backing, a popular method for this time as the silver made sure the natural sparkle of the diamond is optimized and the gold layer prevents the silver tarnishing the skin. This particular gold backing is rather special because a second decorative border of delicate striations is added.
The additional scrolling on the connecting part, the height of the rose cut diamonds and the double layer of decorative applications to the earrings ensure us that only the highest level of materials and craftsmanship were used in fashioning this pair of earrings. That they stood the test of time in such a good condition is a testimony to this level of excellence.
Victorian gold bracelet
with Japanese sceneries in damascene technique
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First thing noticeable of this magnificent bracelet is the high quality craftsmanship needed to craft the lovely sceneries of each link. Eight little pieces of art, each telling their own story in low relief in various colors of gold.
We have a strong feeling that these scenes refer to one or more (Japanese?) stories or fairy tales, but we were unable to trace back more information on it.
The technique used here is called "Damascening", "zougan" or "shakudo" which is the art of inlaying different metals into one another. The technique has a long history in Japan, where it was used to decorate sword fittings.
A bee or not a bee...
That's the question!
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This Victorian insect brooch we believe to be representing a bumble bee. Made in, most probably, Belgium around 1880. Bees are a symbol for diligence and indefatigable effort. Set with Verneuil rubies and half seed pearls this brooch makes a cute shoulder decoration.
Oh My!
We almost forgot to wish you a Happy New Year!
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So, Happy New Year
and thank you for having the good taste
to call upon our antique jewelry expertise.
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