VINTAGE - Cameos

1880 - 1890 Amethyst Cameo with 14K Bezel by Carl Faberge - Asking price $5,900

Museum quality high relief coral cameo from Cobblestone Gallery. Asking price $2,895

BEFORE BUYING CAMEO JEWELRY AS AN INVESTMENT

1. Be sure to know the difference between plastic and stone or shell.

2. A stress line is ok but a crack in the shell can hurt the retail price of your investment.

3. An art cameo of full bodied people or several people well carved is known as an art cameo and will usually appreciate much faster and higher than a regular one profile person. Not always but usually.

4. The finest cameo jewelry is hardstone, a term that refers to a wide range of semi-precious and stone materials. Agate is the most popular.

5. Cameos carved from colored stones such as opal, lapis, emerald, amethyst and ruby will satisfy those with a taste for the exotic. However, these are even rarer and can be much more expensive.

6. Whether you're looking for earrings, broaches or rings, always look for an original setting.

VINTAGE - Parure

This Victorian Garnet Parure in Original Box sold at Aspire Auctions for $2,185.

The versatility of these sets allowed women to wear the smaller studs during the day for a more modest look and add the pear shaped drops for a more formal, evening look. 

An antique parure still in its case is twice as valuable as a parure without one—the cases are often as opulent and elaborate as the jewelry they contained. It’s extremely rare to find a parure from the 18th century in good condition, while 19th-century sets are slightly more common.

This rare pressed blue glass cameo parure sold at Christie's for $15,687

A parure is a set of various items of matching jewelry, which rose to popularity in 17th century Europe. Beyond various items of matching jewelry, a parure is an entire wardrobe, or suite, of matching jewelry. Reserved for royalty and the wealthier classes, no woman was considered socially acceptable without a complete wardrobe of jewelry that defined her status, strength and political power. The parure was not static but modular and could be remade into more fashionable jewelry in order to stay au courant in the court and fashion-forward for the times. Members of court and higher social ranks vied for the best jewelers to create the most imaginative and elaborate collections that would astound one another and increase their status. Some necklaces could be worn intact or temporarily disassembled into bracelets, pendants, hair ornaments or brooches with smart interchangeable components and locking systems. From Old French, parure means adornment, from the verbparer, to adorn.

VINTAGE - Coro

Coro, a partnership between Emanuel Cohn (the "Co") and Gerald Rosenberg (the "ro"), began producing jewelry in New York in 1901 and continued through the 1970s under the marks Coro, Coro Craft (later Corocraft), and Vendome, among others. Although Vendome was the company's high-end line, some of the most sought-after pieces today are the Coro pieces, especially the Duettes, the company produced in the 1930s and 1940s. Among the most collectible vintage Coro pieces today are the Coro Duettes from 1931 to the 1950s. The Duettes utilized a frame based on one designed by Cartier in 1927. Like the Cartier frame, the Coro version had two openings in it, one for each pin. Pins could be attached to the frame to be worn as a set, or detached from the frame to be worn individually.

Shop Opulent Style for the most beautiful, ornate designer vintage jewelry.

VINTAGE - Miriam Haskell

Shop for vintage Miriam Haskell pieces at Morning Glory Jewelry, and Sassy Classics

VINTAGE - Chanel

Want to add some vintage Channel to your wardrobe? Check out Vineyard Vintage, Depuis 1924, and Very Vintage

GLOBAL - VSLA

We recently traveled with the Villages Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) team to Bobi, about 30 km outside of Gulu, to check up on one of their newly formed VSLA groups.

The members of this group have given themselves a name in Luo, the language spoken in northern Uganda, which means “It’s better than being idle,” when translated in English.  This group is anything but idle.  When we approached them they greeted us warmly with smiles and laughter, but when the VSLA meeting began, they were all business.

As members of a VSLA group, these community members meet weekly to save and loan money together.  Meeting as a group provides everyone involved with three valuable benefits:  a way to save money, a way to earn interest, and a way to access previously unavailable capital.

At the meeting we attended, the group managed to save 67,500 shillings (around $30).  Since they began saving as a group, they’ve saved over $600 – very impressive for a newly formed VSLA group!  Saving together allows members of the group to take out small loans to invest in their individual businesses, which they repay with interest.

Lucy, a member of the group, borrowed 20,000 shillings (about $8) to buy baking flour to make and sell bread.  She’s an experienced baker and is currently working on paying back the loan.  Based on her past investments, she expects a high return.

All of the group members are excited about their success – they each plan on keeping it a life-long practice.  “We will continue meeting because it is so good,” one member explained. “It’s really working.”

GLOBAL - Nomad's Way

Nomad's Way at Christie's New York in February

Bracelets (blezik) were usually worn singly or in pairs on both hands. Bracelets were solid and consisted of 2 or 3 parts attached by swing joints (topsaly blezik) or by means of folds (kakpak blezi). In most cases, the search for decorative effect in bracelets inclined towards emphasizing colour saturation, using inset stones, and texture, using grain, filigree, chasing, relief and relief stamping techniques as well as being attentive to the ornament’s harmonious spatial organization. 

Earrings were worn always, and there were many types and variations. Among these, ornamental flat earrings of various forms were particularly widespread. Very popular were lunette earrings (ai syrga), sometimes with star-shape cut from inside. Earrings composed of inset stones (kozdy tasty syrga) possess a colourful brilliance.

On ceremonial occasions, women wear temple pendants (shekelik) fastened to the headdress or hair. Temple pendants are generally composed of several parts, sometimes with pendants hanging on long chains. 

Jewelry as an art holds a special place in the history of Kazakh national culture. It clearly and incisively reflects the people’s ideals, tastes and the level of their artistic and material values. 

Kazakhstan’s state museums possess remarkable collections of Kazakh jewelry art, but the private collection of Imangali Tasmagambetov is also important for the study of the heritage of Kazakh applied arts. A part of Tasmagambetov’s collection is displayed in this exhibition, which reveals one facet of Kazakh culture’s spiritual richness.