Garnets: January's Birthstone

As we enter the New Year, I am excited to discuss January's birthstone, the fantastic garnet.

I think I first fell in love with Garnets upon a viewing of Scorsese’s film version of “The Age of Innocence”. One of the characters, the Countess Olenska sits inscrutable and lovely and European and exotic in an opera box dressed all in red. Beautiful garnets sparkle from her neck, ears and wrists. It is such a beautiful image and the garnets are so stunning, this image has lingered with me, long past the moment of first viewing.

I’ve since learned more about garnets although I always think of that screen picture when I think of this lovely stone.

Garnets come in all different colors of the rainbow although the red is most typical. However it can also be found in pink, purple, orange, yellow, violet, green, colorless and occasionally black. Isadora’s is very fortunate to have a stunning collection of red garnets as well as one early 18^th century ring with black garnets currently.

The name garnet has been attributed to the Middle English word “gernet” meaning “dark red” as well as the Latin word “granatus” meaning grain. It is also said that the word garnet is possibly a reference to the word “punica granatum” meaning pomegranate. I have to admit I love this last interpretation best. The pomegranate has always seemed a very lush and picturesque fruit to me. And in the image of the ripe bursting seeds of a pomegranate I can see the beauty of the cluster garnet necklaces of the late Victorian era.

I have also learned a little more about both the lore and fact of early garnet usage. It was said that Noah steered the ark through the night during the flood using a garnet lantern. And garnet was considered a talisman for travelers. Part of this probably comes from the fact that, like diamonds, garnets have a very high refraction, which causes the stone, when faceted to have an exquisite sparkle.

Garnets were used in the Bronze Age as gemstones. There is evidence that ancient Egyptians used garnets as beads and bracelets as early as 3100 BC. And in Greece between the reign of Alexander the Great and the conquest of Rome, garnets were used to make cameos.

I am still most familiar with the Victorian era of garnets when, like the Countess Olenska in The Age of Innocence, the aristocracy wore necklaces, bracelets, earrings and necklaces composed of large number of small faceted garnet stones set close together to create exquisite, sparkling red jewelry. It is still easier to see one of these pieces in person although with each passing year they become rarer.

And one of the fun facts I learned, is that a garnet is quite hard, a 7 – 7.5 on the Moh’s scale. Rumor has it that Asiatic tribes many years ago used garnets instead of bullets

That is all I have to say about garnets for now, but I am excited about all the new facts I will learn about garnets in the future and the old pieces I will see although I will always carry the image from “The Age of Innocence” with me.

Come see us at the Wedding Show!

Some exciting things for Isadora's this up coming wedding season. We are featured in both the Seattle Bride and Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom magazines. Also, we will be featuring our finest engagement rings at the Seattle Wedding show this up coming weekend January 8th and the 9th.

So if your on hunt for the perfect engagement ring come by and check us out.

Layaway: an old fashion concept revisited

It is our pleasure to offer an extended layaway plan. 1/3 down and up to 4 months to pay! We are all aware of our struggling economy, but that does not stop us from wanting to purchase the perfect engagement ring, a lovely Holiday gift, or a thoughtful Birthday present. We have adjusted our layaway program to make all of these options possible. While not being set in stone, we allow for approximately 1/3 down and up to 4 months to pay in full. No finance charges or fees for this, as well as some flexibility if it would better match your needs. Please feel free to call and find out if there is a way to make your investment desires possible!

-Elizabeth

Listed in a National Magazine

The January 2011 copy of Lucky Magazine on page 32, Isadora's Antique Jewelry is listed for our stunning Art Deco earrings.

CHRISTMAS COMES TO ISADORA’S. . .

For the last few months we have been making a list and checking it twice and filling our store with beautiful baubles and gems fit for the Holidays.

This holiday season, owner Laura Dalesandro and her daughter, manager Elizabeth Schoebleber have been meeting with dealers the world over to make sure the store is filled and bursting with exquisite antique pieces from the 1840’s through the 1950’s.

A couple of my personal favorites include a long Victorian watch chain made out of gunmetal, a fantastic Art Deco star sapphire ring and a pair of the prettiest circa 1840’s gold dangle earrings I’ve seen.

And they did not forget about the men this Holiday season. Just a couple of accessories for men include-- circa 1940's watches, a cigar clipper and a pair of enamel Georg Jensen cufflinks.

Bakelite

Butterscotch Yellow Bakelite Necklace

I'm currently obsessing over these very exciting moldable plastic's called Bakelite. Invented by Leo Bakeland in circa 1909. Not to be confused with contemporary plastic pieces. (Chemically, it would be described as a thermosetting phenyl formaldehyde resin.) Bakelite arrived its pinnacle of popularity in the 1930's during the Great Depression. Vintage bakelite is extremely collectible and fun.

Vintage Bakelite Brooches

The Beauty of Imperfection

My brother is an enormous J.M. Barrie fan and has read all his books, plays, short stories and other random writings.And I’m not sure which story it was but I remember him telling me once of a moment in one of Barrie’s writings that clarified things for him. Barrie said, and I am paraphrasing as this conversation happened long ago, Barrie said, ‘in each person a flaw resided and that is where the story came from.’

This conversation codified something for me. I have always found perfection boring. I understand the drive for perfection but actual perfection leaves me a little cold. It is the flaws that make stories interesting. It is the flaws that make people interesting. It is the flaws that make life interesting. And I feel that way about gemstones to.

Isadora’s sells ideals stones; stones that fulfill all the promise of the four c’s. And don’t get me wrong, a D Flawless diamond is a thing of beauty but it never seduces me the way a stone with its own quirks, flaws and ultimately beauty does. A stone with its own idiosyncrasies puts butterflies in my stomach and when one of those stones arrive in our store I find myself inexplicably drawn to it.

The stone, which I hold as, the standard for beautiful stones was in Isadora’s three years ago and my co-worker sold it to someone who wasn’t me (I forgave her but just barely).

I still dream about that emerald. It was a hazy green. Not the deep green considered most valuable but almost the color of spearmint and it had this magical inner glow. It was heavily included, each internal flaw seeming to tell the story of this stone’s birth.

And when it came time to pick my own engagement ring (with my fiancé’s assistance of course) I looked for a ring with, for a lack of a better word humanity.

There are two diamonds in my engagement ring. Both look hand cut. One is an Old European cut diamond and the other, sitting right next to it, is an Old Mine cut diamond. Two stones that are not the same but still make sense together. And I have to admit the Old Mine cut diamond is my favorite of the two.

An Old Mine cut is similar to a cushion cut. They are both rounded squares but mine is just a hair crooked. And that is why I fell in love with it. It wants to be a square but it just can’t quite achieve it.

I get my stones. I understand them. They speak to me. Everyday I look at them and they make me happy because I see a story in their imperfections. I see the man who cut the stone before a computer was invented. He was cutting blind, discovering within the stone its future. I imagine the women who wore it before me. My setting is 40’s but the stones looks older and I imagine this stone being passed down from woman to woman, each valuing and loving it. And I think about wearing it myself until I am ready to pass it on to a future daughter or niece in all its beautiful imperfection.