This collection 'consists mainly of jewels from the convents closed at the beginning of the 19th

Superb sourcebook of rare ornamentation includes meticulously detailed narrative and 400 illustrations depicting priceless brooches, necklaces, clasps, gold padlock, reliquary pendants, much more.

"The exhibition assembles approximately 40 objects made of precious metals and including rings, pendants, earrings, and brooches from the third to the tenth centuries and explores the interrelationships between East and West during the first millennium"--Les Enluminures website.

Aiming to spotlight areas of collectability—mainly from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries—which are available to enthusiasts today, this is an important study of both well-known and forgotten jewelry fashions and trends. Each chapter—there are 22 in this second edition—concentrates on a specific topic, but there is a comprehensive cross-referencing to other chapters. Almost every item shown has been on the market in recent years. No other jewelry book reflects the antique jewelry market or collectors’ enthusiasms in quite the same way. Among the types of jewelry covered are diamond brooches, coral 19th-century gold work, piqué, silver jewels, cameos and intaglios, mosaics, Edwardian pendants, and unusual materials. "Theme" jewelry is another area described with an amazing variety of representations of animals or flowers, as well as Victorian Scottish jewelry and 19th-century archaeological revival jewels inspired by the goldwork of the Greeks, Etruscans, or ancient Egyptians. The work of individual artist-jewelers, who played such an important part in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements, is documented, along with the glamorous, highly sought after jewels created by the great jewel houses like Cartier, Tiffany, Falize, and Van Cleef & Arpels. Finally the important "movements"—Arts and Crafts; Art Nouveau, including Liberty’s huge output; and Art Deco—are assessed. Newly added is a chapter on Retro Modern—the cocktail jewelry for the 1940s—the best of which has become eminently collectable.

Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research, and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth. With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color, Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatra’s long-deserted emerald mines, tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires, and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the world’s amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag. Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth’s mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.

Chatsworth has been home to the Cavendish family and the hereditary dukes of Devonshire since the original Elizabethan house was built on the site purchased by Sir William Cavendish in 1549. A famous historic house in England, Chatsworth is renowned as much for its fashionable history—its majestic dresses and tiaras, its magnificent lace and splendid uniforms—as its unrivaled collection of art, its palatial gardens, and its celebrated family dynasty. House Style takes the reader through images of show-stopping ensembles by the most celebrated designers of the day, from the Victorian era’s Jean–Philippe Worth to Alexander McQueen, and also features historic examples of ceremonial, military, court costume, fancy dress, and estate liveries, as well as clothing worn by members of the family to ride, hunt, shoot, and fish. New images of the rare surviving garments and gorgeous contemporary photographs are accompanied by new essays from leading historians and fashion critics. An exclusive invitation into the glamorous world of Chatsworth, this book is a true collectible for Anglophiles, fashion-history aficionados, and those fascinated by aristocratic style.