Victorian Garnets .. the jewels of January

This most fabulous necklace probably was worn to many balls and fancy parties during the 1880's ( victorian period). This incredible old necklace is made of a chain of individual five rose cut garnet rose bud shaped links that lead to beautiful starbursts of gorgeous garnets. 

Additional rose cut garnets suspend from the starbursts and are also graduated in size.The the open back setting is a great way to help identify this as a period piece. Back in the day, Garnets were mounted in low and higher karat yellow gold, gold plate and mixed metal settings. I am fairly certain this is not solid gold so that eliminates one of the types of setting. 

Folkfore had is that Garnets were thought to be a cure for blood disorders or anger. And Victorians were quick to follow folklore and snake oil elixers. They were thought to be lucky talismans, thought to help bring victory.

Garnets have adorned many a royal garment, including those of Queen Victoria, Mary Queen of Scots and the wives of the Russian Tsars.worn as an adornment on the garments of royalty. Garnet is the stone for those born under the signs of Capricorn and Aquarius (official birthstone for January). The deep red color also resonates with the passionate nature of Scorpio and the fiery nature of Aries.


Bohemian Garnets are real garnets (often reproduced as glass) that were mined from a certain mountain region in Bohemia, now long exhausted of its garnets, never to be found again. They are characterized by their intensely rich deep red color. These are deep blood red and are all hand cut. 

This necklace also has a garnet flower shaped hidden slide in clasp. The wearable length of this most desirable piece of jewelry is 18" with the longest drop being 1 1/2" long. 

This has never been offered for sale before and has been in my private collection for well over 30 years. I can guarantee this is an antique and not a reproduction.

Gold Quartz you say????

In 1896 the discovery of gold along the valleys of the Yukon and Klondike rivers launched a great stampede of prospectors north to Alaska and the Yukon territory of Canada. BEing very rare and highly collectible this is one of the most fabulous pieces I have ever seen. The era of gold quartz came to an end around 1906, undoubtedly precipitated by the great San Francisco earthquake which destroyed most of the city.

Gold in quartz pieces gained popularity during the old gold rush days in California starting in 1849.Now, in 1848, they came to California to mine gold. Now, when they would mine gold, they would take it out of veins in mountains and they would take it out of the rock and purify it. But sometimes they would have a vein of quartz and there would be not enough gold to mine out, but enough gold to make jewelry, and that's called quartz-gold jewelry. I have seen a necklace and earrings appraised at $5000.00 with much less gold content and not near enough the size of gold quart. 


And actually, there's quite a bit of gold in here. THis one weighs 8.6 grams of 14 kt gold with genuine seed pearls in the center. IT measures 1 1/2" wide.You can see the fisures on one side of this. Don't miss out on this fantastic piece because it has never been offered for sale and probably won't last long.

PASTE? GLASS? rhinestones? What in the world???

I was reading an article in Vogue about "The Brilliant Impressions: Antique Paste and other Jewellery" exhibition in London and was really amazed at the prices these antique paste pieces were getting.

Needless to say when I saw this one in my collection I was truly intrigued!

According to Norton ( of S. J.  Phillips) , He  prices then from $20,000  ( yes THOUSAND) and up. According to Norton an 1820 "emerald and diamond" ( faux) necklace would be $21,000 as compared to the same date non imitation could brush the ONE MILLION dollar mark. 

 And the way they describe how people call them fakes was to visibly flinch and tell them "Please don't use that word. These are so beautiful and rare in their own right".