Late Georgian Jewelry

The Hope diamond currently in the Smithsonian Museum, weighs 45.52 carats, is VS1 in clarity and is a natural fancy deep grayish blue color. This fantastic stone has had a mysterious, ever changing and cursed history as described below. The first recorded finding of the diamond was in the late 1600’s when Jean Baptiste either stole the diamond from a slave he later murdered or it was purchased for an...

The Orlov diamond, originally 300 carats, has a bluish green color with exceptional clarity. Its weight today is believed to be 189.62 carats and was cut in the shape of half an egg. There are many stories surrounding the Orlov diamond. At one time, it was believed to have been in the innermost shrine in a sacred temple in Sriangam, India where a person could only pass through four of...

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...

If a diamond engagement ring fluoresces “faint” or “weak” the effect on the diamond color grade or value is negligible.  If it is graded as “more intense” or “very strong” fluorescence, it will affect the value negatively. If a diamond engagement ring has “medium” fluorescence, it can change the body color grade ½ to 1 color grade different than its actual color; if “strong” by 1-2 color grades and if “very...