Antique Jewelry

You have your heart set on an estate opal ring or a vintage opal ring surrounded by diamonds.  To follow is information about this luxury stone, the white opal. The background of your white opal ring would be translucent white to gray in color that shows a play of color when tilted back and forth. Commercial grade opal will look “pale and cloudy                ...

A cameo brooch is an ornamental piece of jewelry that is attached to clothing or worn as a pendant.  Most brooches had a fixture in the back making it possible to wear it as a brooch or pendant.  Brooches were and are normally made of metals like gold and silver. Cameo brooches have been popular from ancient to current times. They were made out of shell or hardstone such as...

So you love estate jade rings, vintage jade pendants and bangle bracelets? Then you will want to know a little something about jadeite. China is jadeites main center for polishing.  Many jadeite cutters from Hpakan, Lonkin, Mogaung and Mandalay still cut the “ancient way using a hollow bamboo lathe treated with sand and water”. Producers of jadeite cut it into regular decorative jewelry forms such as bangles, jade rings, pendants...

If you love alexandrite rings, estate necklaces and vintage bracelets you’ll want to know a little something about alexandrite itself. There is nothing like the color changing alexandrite found 200 years ago in the Ural Mountains.  Those fine stones can be found in estate jewelry, museums and with private collectors. Now, Sri Lanka is one of the major sources of alexandrite and can be larger in size than the Russian...