Jewellery Collection Journals

Can you believe it is already August? I thought it was because I was getting older that the time seems to be going fast, but even our young customers and friends say they’re not sure where the year has gone.

Although the weather has been really cold, we all know spring is not far away and a gemstone that always reminds me of the bright fresh green spring growth is Peridot, the birthstone for August.

The colour is absolutely amazing and has changed a bit over the years since I have known it. As an apprentice jeweller, I loved it but the stones available were more of a yellow green and a lot of people disliked its yellow undertone against their skin.

The colour of material now is much more vibrant and is richer and brighter. One of the most beautiful stones we have seen recently is a cut of stone known as a checkerboard, faceted, oval cushion cut – meaning it is a soft square/oval shape and has small square facets all over the top surface, which increases its brilliance, and this happens because the table faceting allows the light to be reflected throughout the entire stone.

Our customer Jane treasures the stone in its simple and stunning white gold setting, says it always looks amazing and it gives her so much pleasure. She mentioned that whenever she wears it she gets many comments and this has a lot to do with the beautiful rich green colour. If peridot happens to be your birthstone and you’ve never been sure if you like the colour, come in and let me show you some of the recent material available, you may change your mind!

Jewellery Collection Journals

Now, something very exciting has been happening at the Highgate studio, and it is a concept I have not been involved in before.

A very good client and friend has asked me to document all her jewellery so that when the time arrives for her to pass it on to family, the collection will be easy to identify and its provenance and history will be remembered.

Obviously I am honoured, and I am in the process of photographing all the pieces and will be presenting it in a book complete with its own presentation box – the contents will be laid out in the following way:

 Opening preface:

A series of comments by me on the collection of jewellery and its origin and why it has so such meaning for my client.

Companies and designers page:

Description of each designer and company world-wide with their own story, and a reference to a page or pages further on in the book.

Item description:

A title of the jewellery item including the designer or company (some of the pieces are now very emotional for my client as one of the designers has recently passed away, and this is a way of remembering the journey and occasions relating to the individual items). Within these designer pages there is credit if any of the items have ‘Collection’ titles or provenance etc., and facing this description page is a full page colour photograph of the jewellery item.

To close the book, I have left some plain pages for any further jewellery items collected or remodelled, and a page for credits.

I love the idea of this journal and rather than valuations for each piece, which is a rather cold way of presenting the details, this is more a story of my client’s love for beautiful jewellery and her collection over the years.

All the items mean a lot and the way in which I am presenting this history will be so valuable for future generations. How often do we say when wanting to remember important details of the past – ‘if only I had asked her to write it down’ – well, with her permission I am doing it for her!

I will be able to show you more information in my next blog, but in the meantime if you are interested, just call me and I can give you costings and examples of my ‘Book of Jewellery Collections for Loved Ones’.

In closing, I recently read about the SA Museum’s latest acquisition of the most valuable opal seen in this state. It is the ‘Rainbow Virgin’ and it is the most unique and fascinating examples of opal seen and is worth more than a million dollars. I had the fortunate job of displaying this amazing piece of opal at a function held in Adelaide recently, representing the National Council of Jewellery Valuers (SA branch).  The opal is absolutely beautiful and it’s hard to conceive that nature could produce such an incredible item. It is definitely worth a look. Read more here

Cheers for now

Nicholas