Nature's gems

Rare Rhodochrosite flower From South Africa Credit: Rod-Kylee Douds

#jewelleryfacts365 308/365 Ancient Egyptian jewellery facts

The amulets were equally important protectors of the living as well as dead. Specific amulets were made for the afterlife, as funerary jewelry was popular in ancient Egypt.

Funerary Jewelry, Dynasty 18

Jewellery masterpieces

Antique Cameos: old victorian, shell, coral and hardstone cameos, vintage jewellery

#jewelleryfacts365 307/365 Pearl fact

There is a special vocabulary used to describe the length of pearl necklaces. While most other necklaces are simply referred to by their physical measurement, pearl necklaces are named by how low they hang when worn around the neck. 

A collar, measuring 10 to 13 inches or 25 to 33 cm in length, sits directly against the throat and does not hang down the neck at all; collars are often made up of multiple strands of pearls. 

Pearl chokers, measuring 14 to 16 inches or 35 to 41 cm in length, nestle just at the base of the neck. 

A strand called a princess length, measuring 17 to 19 inches or 43 to 48 cm in length, comes down to or just below the collarbone. 

A matinee length, measuring 20 to 24 inches or 50 to 60 cm in length, falls just above the breasts. 

An opera length, measuring 28 to 35 inches or 70 to 90 cm in length, will be long enough to reach the breastbone or sternum of the wearer; 

and longer still, a pearl rope, measuring more than 45 inches or 115 cm in length, is any length that falls down farther than an opera.

Fresh water pearls, peacock black color, princess length

Monday motivation

#jewelleryfacts365 306/365 Pearl fact

Biologically speaking, under the right set of circumstances, almost any shelled mollusk can produce some kind of pearl, however, most of these molluskan pearls have no luster or iridescence. The great majority of mollusk species produce pearls which are not attractive, and are sometimes not even very durable, such that they usually have no value at all, except perhaps to a scientist or collector, or as a curiosity.

Scallop pearls

Nature's gems

Aquamarine

#jewelleryfacts365 305/365 Pearl fact

South Sea pearls are the largest and rarest of the cultured pearls – making them the most valuable.

White South Sea pearl

#jewelleryfacts365 304/365 Gold fact

All the gold that has ever been refined throughout history could be placed in a cube measuring 65.5 feet (20 meters) on a side.  

Jewellery masterpieces

Gem cameo of Apollo, cameo by Saulini, English 1880
Birmingham Museum