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We add articles, reference pages and recent acquisitions continually and would like to keep you abreast of whats new on a monthly basis with this newsletter.
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The combination of turquoise and yellow gold was a popular one during the Victorian era. That isnt to say they werent set in silver as well, but it does seem to me there is more of the yellow gold still around. According to Wikipedia, the word "turquoise" came about when the earliest of these lovely blue stones was brought from Turkey into Europe around the 16th century.

Turquoise was also was mined in many other areas and countries with differences in the fineness, matrix and color in each. More about turquoise can be read HERE. Persian turquoise tends to have little to no matrix, as you can see in the pieces shown here. Turquoise was a popular jewelry stone throughout the Victorian era, and is was sometimes used to symbolize remembrance and the forget-me-not. The rings in the shape of a forget-me-not flower are an example of this.

We have some lovely examples for sale in the shop right now, and you can enjoy some for your own collection HERE.

And if you want to see the pieces weve had in the past, please click HERE to go to our gallery.

For centuries, ladies wore necessary and useful implements clasped to the waist of their dresses because clothing was not made with the pockets for carrying such items. Called "chatelaines" in the Victorian era, they were usually worn suspended from a clip or large brooch with chains and hooks to hold the various implements. Some were also worn on a finger ring, particularly dance chatelaines that might include vanity items, such a powder and a mirror. Fashioned of both precious and non-precious metals, they could be extremely simple or highly ornamented with embossed work, pierced work and gem stones. They were fashioned in a wide variety of materials: gold, sterling, gold wash, cut steel or enameled and jeweled.

Chatelaines might be comprised of items all used for one task... a sewing chatelaine for instance... or combined with various items that suited the wearer. Some were matching sets and others were compiled over time by the owner, especially seen in the sterling chatelaines. Belt chatelaines or waist hooks were also used to hold a purse, as seen in vintage photographs. Most fashionable from about 1840 to World War I, they remain popular with collectors today.

To see the chatelaines we have for sale, check our wonderful selection at Morning Glory Jewelry.


And our gallery of chatelaines we have owned in the past, along with vintage photographs showing how they were worn, is HERE.

If you enjoy chatelaines, we do recommend the book "Chatelaines" by Cummins & Taunton. It is a beautifully done book with both wonderful photos and extensive information dating back for centuries.

One of the features offered by Morning Glory is our JEWEL CHAT reference site. Need to check a sterling hallmark? Compare ring sizes for different countries? Look up jewelry patents, makers marks and dates? Its all there! This is just some of the information offered:

REFERENCE INFORMATION
Jewelry Marks & Dates
Jewelry References
Jewelry Values, what its worth and how to sell it
Determining Jewelry Quality
Jewelry Definitions
Jewelry Findings

http://www.morninggloryjewelry.com/