Just before Hurricane Ian leveled her Fort Myers, Florida home, Sheran Behling Little packed away her extensive cache of costume jewelry and stowed it safely against the storm. “I have earrings, brooches and necklaces that all came to me when my father worked for Napier for about 10 years in the 1970s,” Little recalls. “And I still wear it all and get compliments on it all.”
WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Once a way to keep little girls quiet on rainy afternoons, sifting through box after box of inherited, generally inexpensive, so-called costume jewelry has become a pursuit for anyone of any age who wants to pin on, clip on or otherwise recapture a piece of yesterday’s elegance through what used to be called junk jewelry.
In the process, the pieces have caught the eyes of collectors who appreciate their beauty and history even if they don’t have sentimental connections to them.
“People of all ages, educational and social backgrounds collect costume jewelry,” says Melinda Lewis, who with Pamela Siegel established Costume Jewelry Collectors International, a network of costume jewelry aficionados who connect online via social media and at conventions throughout the United States. “My analogy would be that collecting costume jewelry has a shared love language understood by all fascinated by it - the study never gets old.”
HISTORY ATTRACTS
In fact, it’s history that attracts would-be collectors to costume jewelry in the first place. After that, potential value makes those once so-called throw-away trinkets even more attractive.
This story is from the June 2023 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 2023 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
Amazing Women with Rock-Solid Careers
Explorers, Geologists, Educators & Jewelry Makers...
The Case of the Bleeding Glacier
It's a gory sight called Blood Falls. Ever since British geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor first noted it in 1911, it has been a mystery.
Asteroid Samples Are Said to Hold Invaluable Secrets
If Only Scientists Can Pop the Lid!
Paleontologists Embrace a New Method for Seeing Fossils within Rock
Fossil bone can be delicate. Attempts to remove it from a hard rock matrix by picking and scratching or etching with acids can be time-consuming and/or may end up obliterating that which you hope to study.
Need a Map of the Ocean Floor?
Call in the Seals!
A Step Closer to Hydrogen, the "Climate-Friendly Fuel"
As I reported last June, the world is racing to find sustainably renewable, nonpolluting sources of energy to replace our carbon-based reserves of coal, oil and gas.
