book review – Page 12

Book Review: Christie’s: The Jewellery Archives Revealed (2016)

12.06.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Christie’s: The Jewellery Archives Revealed (Photo: The Court Jeweller)

When a major new book on historical jewelry is due to be published right before your birthday, you know that the fates are smiling on you. To celebrate my birthday today, I’m going to give all of you a peek inside Vincent Meylan’s stunning new book, Christie’s: The Jewellery Archives Revealed!

As the title suggests, Meylan has been granted access to the archives of one of the most famous auction houses in the world, and he’s produced a beautiful book detailing many of the fabulous jewelry sales that happened inside their auction rooms. From royals to aristocrats to movie stars, the book covers a range of jewelry auctions at Christie’s from the past two and a half centuries.

Photo: The Court Jeweller

The text is divided into themed sections (like “The French Court,” “Gems from the East,” and even, yikes, “Murdered Queens”) and then into smaller “chapters” on the jewels belonging to a specific woman or group of women. The book is thoroughly illustrated, both with large, detailed photographs and with pages from auction catalogues, many of which are marked with pencil notations. Above, you get a peek inside a section on auctioned jewels with links to Josephine de Beauharnais. (I know you’ll recognize that tiara!)

For devoted royal jewel lovers, the book covers well-known auctions, like the sales of the French and Russian crown jewels. The cover of the book features another well-known royal jewel: the original Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, which was auctioned by Christie’s in 1981. But we also get small tidbits of information that help flesh out our knowledge of various pieces. I was intrigued, for example, by the discussion of a 1937 auction of one of the fleur-de-lys elements that once sat atop Norway’s Maltese Circlet.

Photo: The Court Jeweller

And here’s a glimpse of one of my favorite sections, which discusses jewels worn by Queen Victoria’s granddaughters. Meylan has matched up a photograph of the royal box at the 1937 coronation with records from the archives, and he details precisely which jewels were later sold at Christie’s. It’s completely fascinating. Another favorite feature: the appendix which lists, by date, auctions at which jewels with prominent provenances were sold.

The book is expensive — definitely a gift purchase rather than something you’d buy on a lark. (Though Amazon is currently selling it for 25% off the advertised retail price!) But for your money, you get a large, weighty coffee-table sized tome. The paper is good quality, and the book feels expensive when you read it. The book was published by the Antique Collectors’ Club, which was also responsible for royal jewelry books like Geoffrey Munn’s Tiaras: A History of Splendour and Meylan’s 2014 book on Van Cleef and Arpels. This would be a perfect holiday present for someone who loves jewelry, history, and beautiful things. If you read this blog regularly, I can guarantee that you’d love it. I’m still having fun savoring it!

Christie’s: The Jewellery Archives Revealed is available at Amazon.com (and other retailers)

Note: I purchased this book using revenue that I received from the Amazon affiliate links on this site. (So, really, it came from all of you: thank you!) I put all money that I receive from these affiliate links back into materials for review on the blog, so if you want to read more reviews, consider purchasing items through the links on this site. Thanks, everybody!

Book Review: Brilliance and Fire (2016)

10.27.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Diamonds weren’t always forever. The sparkling gemstones occupy a very specific place in our culture today: they’re symbols of commitment, of wealth, of belonging. But that didn’t happen by chance. The myth of the diamond has been carefully crafted and constructed over the course of the past century, and the history of the gemstone itself is much more fraught. That’s the overarching story told in Rachelle Bergstein’s new book, Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds.

Bergstein’s book is precisely what it says it is: a lengthy look into the way that diamonds have captivated Western culture from the late nineteenth century until now. The book spends much of its time untangling the intricate ways that diamonds have been discovered, mined, and marketed to the public. If you’re looking for a visual guide or a book primarily about jewels worn by royals, this is something a bit different. But if you’re fascinated by the complicated ways that gemstones are sourced and sold, I think you’ll enjoy it.

As with almost any book about diamonds, though, there is some content about royalty. There’s a chapter on Wallis Simpson’s jewelry, and other royal diamond owners are mentioned, too. There’s also a tantalizing, fleeting mention of paste diamonds in royal jewelry in the chapter on Madame Wellington’s faux diamonds. There’s so much information out there about royal diamonds, and I think this part of the book definitely could have been expanded. One of my only critiques of the book is that Bergstein was maybe a little too ambitious in her scope — she tries to cover so much complicated, interesting content that some of it ends up being glossed over a bit. Ultimately, I wanted more!

But as I spend more and more time immersed in the world of royalty, I grow increasingly fascinated with the crafty PR campaign that transformed rocks unearthed in Africa into sparkling status symbols worldwide. The last chapter of the book, which discusses the way that diamonds have been used as tools of oppression and subjugation, digs into the not-so-pleasant story behind some of these glittering gems. Diamonds are always going to be a paradox: they’re beautiful objects to be admired, but the getting and the selling of them has led to some truly ruthless and despicable behavior. Brilliance and Fire lets the reader delve into the duality while still marveling at the sparkle and shine.

Brilliance and Fire is available now at Amazon.com (and other retailers)

Note: I purchased this book myself — more specifically, I bought it with the proceeds from Amazon affiliate advertising on this website. If you click through one of our Amazon ads (or on one of the links in this post) to buy a product , I receive a small amount in return, which I then use to purchase materials to review here. Keep on buying, and I’ll keep on reviewing. 😉

Book Review: Stoned (2015)

09.06.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Just like most of you, I’m a magpie. I am distracted by shiny, beautiful things — that’s why I write a blog about jewelry, of course. But even more than the beauty of the pieces we discuss here, I love history, and therefore, I love a piece of jewelry with a good story. (Or a good story that involves a piece of jewelry, naturally.) So I pretty much already knew that I was going to love Aja Raden’s Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World (2015) before I even cracked the spine.

Raden’s book is about pretty things and the way that we see them. Why are some stones “rocks” and others “gems”? How do we decide what’s valuable? Why are we so drawn to possess, collect, and wear jewelry?

To get to the heart of some of these questions, Raden delves deeply into a number of important moments in the history of jewelry. From the beads that the Dutch used to buy Manhattan to the cultured pearls that helped create modern Japan, she examines the baubles that became crucial cultural, political, and historical touchstones. Even better, she uses these stories as a way to examine the very human motivations and emotions that drive our need to own, capture, and possess all of the exquisite clutter that jewelry and precious gemstones.

I loved the detailed, engaging, witty histories that Raden presents around famous jewels like La Peregrina, the Romanov imperial eggs, and the necklace that sank Marie Antoinette’s reputation. She’s a capable storyteller, and she relates complicated narratives in a way that feels effortless and even fun. But she’s also careful to look at each story through economic and psychological lenses, helping us to understand why we value, admire, and covet jewelry just as our more famous ancestors did.

Raden’s own experiences as a historian and as a jeweler help to give her a unique perspective on these fascinating tales, and that viewpoint makes the book even more enjoyable to read. She confidently delivers incisive critiques of the monopolies within the diamond industry or the historical exploitation of colonialism, for example, but she does so in a way that’s also accessible and captivating. I wasn’t bored once.

I read a lot of books about royalty and about jewelry, but I can’t think of one in recent memory that I’ve enjoyed as thoroughly as this one. If you like reading this blog, I can’t help but think you’ll like reading Stoned, too.

Stoned is available now at Amazon.com and other retailers

Note: I purchased this book myself — more specifically, I bought it with the proceeds from Amazon affiliate advertising on this website. If you click through one of our Amazon ads to buy a product, I receive a small amount in return, which I then use to purchase materials to review here. Keep on buying, and I’ll keep on reviewing. 😉