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A lady with a love for literature and shiny things discusses books & bling.

What I’m reading: Vol. 70.

What I'm reading

First things first: congratulations to Lisa S., Tricia H., and Janet N., the three winners of my giveaway for GEM: The Definitive Visual Guide!! Thanks so much to the 300+ of you who entered.

Now, here’s what I’m reading this week!

Seven Minutes in Heaven by Eloisa James: Eloisa James is one of my very favorite romance authors, and I’m so excited to have a review copy of her latest.

Internets:

My post about suffragette jewelry inspired Wendy Brandes to write a post about suffragette jewelry!

The New York Post claims the era of giant engagement rings is over.

Death Personified – the many appearances of death. This is a study of how the figure of death has been represented in different cultures at different times, and I find it totally fascinating.

The Long (and Short) History of the Choker.

Confessions Of A Jewel Mule: that time I smuggled a fortune in precious jewels through customs.

TEFAF Brings Art & Jewelry to New York.

A New Exhibit in London Puts the Spotlight on Alexander Calder’s Jewelry.

This post contains affiliate links. 

Jewels for votes for women: let’s talk suffragette jewelry.

I had such a cool post idea for today, darlings. I was going to write everything I knew about suffragette jewelry: about how the use of green, white, and violet means “Give Women the Vote” and how many great examples there were of suffragette jewelry online.

The Google image search results for suffragette jewelry.

Jewels for votes for women: let’s talk suffragette jewelry.

Here’s the thing: before I write anything for you, even if I’m writing about something I think I know, I do research. I went looking for information on suffragette jewelry expecting confirmation of what I already knew plus maybe a detail or two.

But lo and behold: most of what I know about suffragette jewelry is wrong. Or if not actually wrong, at least drastically oversimplified.

You know nothing, Jon Snow. Gif via Giphy.

What I thought I knew: jewelry from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with a color scheme of green, white, and violet is suffragette jewelry! The colors stand for the acronym “Give Women the Vote.” Suffragettes are awesome, jewelry is awesome, this is all awesome.

This turned out to be partly true.

At least one of the most popular suffragette groups – the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) did claim the colors purple, white, and green (in 1908). But not because it makes up an acronym; rather, because the WSPU felt that the three hues represented qualities that every suffragette had: nobility/dignity, purity, and hope.

The WSPU also never said “Give Women the Vote” at all. Their rallying cry was “Votes for Women.”

A purple, green, and white suffragette sash.


That’s not to say there was never any high end jewelry produced in the purple/green/white color scheme that was an intentional nod to the suffragette movement: we have primary source proof that there was. (Image source.)

Mappin & Webb, a renowned London jeweler, dedicated a page of their 1908 Christmas catalog to green, white, and purple suffragette jewelry. At least some high end suffragette jewelry definitely existed – pretty pieces that I imagine mostly on elegant noncombatants, like the mom from Mary Poppins, rather than on the women who were getting arrested.

But such pieces would only have been produced for a small window of time: after the WSPU declared their colors in 1908 but before the start of World War I in 1914.

Actual pieces of suffragette jewelry tended to be buttons and badges, rather than high end precious pieces.


In the United States, suffragettes were more likely to wear celluloid buttons (a recent invention) demanding votes for women or to sell their jewelry to raise money for the cause. (Image source.)

Also worth noting: the suffragettes were not a subtle bunch. Expressing their beliefs in secretly color coded jewelry really is off-brand for them, for the most part.

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Win a copy of Gem: The Definitive Visual Guide!

Gem; The Definitive Visual Guide is the new book any gemstone or jewelry lover needs to have on their bookshelf immediately. So I'm giving away three copies!

As soon as I heard the first whispers about Gem: The Definitive Visual Guide, I knew that this book was going to need a spot on my bookshelf.

Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian and with a foreword by Aja Raden, New York Times-bestselling author of Stoned, Gem had a killer combination of minds behind it. The result is even better than I’d hoped: a vividly illustrated, accessibly written powerhouse of gemological knowledge guaranteed to thrill anyone with even a passing interest in the prettiest of rocks.

Gem is organized by gemstone – which makes sense, given its title and focus. The book proceeds in a logical fashion by introducing different gems and minerals; discussing their properties, associations, and typical uses; and including detailed photographs of the stone in its rough and faceted form (usually in several variations) as well as showing several finished pieces of jewelry with the gemstone as well.

The Duchess of Windsor's Flamingo brooch, from Gem; The Definitive Visual Guide.Interspersed among the chapters on different gems are mini-features, 1-2 pages long each, about exceptional pieces of jewelry. Gems are definitely the focus, but the role that they play in jewelry is certainly acknowledged as well. The pages are also sprinkled with quotes about gems and jewelry from notable authors, from Oscar Wilde to Beth Bernstein.

The other reviews I’ve seen of Gem liken it to an encyclopedia: I understand that comparison, but it wasn’t what resonated with me. To me, the way that Gem organizes its information and places it in a larger context makes it much more than just a reference text.

A peek inside the Indian jewels of Gem. Images reproduced by permission of DK, a division of Penguin Random House from Gem ©2016 by DK. All rights reserved.Growing up in the DC area, I spent a significant amount of my childhood in the Smithsonian’s museums. As soon as I was old enough to have a preference, I knew that I loved the Natural History Museum’s Gem and Mineral Hall more than I loved anything else.

I loved the pretty, shiny finished jewelry, but I also loved looking at the raw stones. I gloried in the colors of the specimens, the way their forms ranged from angular to blobby to almost fuzzy. But the thing I loved the most was the fact that these crazy rocks that naturally formed in the earth were the same stuff as the glittering, polished works of art in the other room. It was the combination of science and art, of nature phenomena and human accomplishment, that killed me.

I’ve never gotten over my fascination with that dichotomy, and that’s really the reason that I’m here today, with a blog that gives me the chance to offer a copy of this book to three of you!

A peek inside the beryl section of Gem.That’s right! I mentioned a giveaway in the title of this post, and I’m going to deliver. I have three copies of Gem that I’m delighted to be able to offer as a giveaway. I loved it, and you’ll love it too.

Thanks to DK, publisher of Gem, I have three copies of this wonderful new resource to give away to three of you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
In order to be eligible to win, you must enter your email address in the widget above and also complete at least one of the entry options. You’re welcome to enter more than once if you want better odds, but as long as you’ve submitted your email address and completed one of the options, you’re entered.

I’ll choose three winners next Wednesday. If any of the winners do not reply to my email within one week, a new winner will be chosen. Please note that this giveaway is US-only.

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of Gem for review, and for making this giveaway possible. 

Images reproduced by permission of DK, a division of Penguin Random House from Gem ©2016 by DK. All rights reserved.

 My review of Gem; The Definitive Visual Guide. This is the new book any gemstone or jewelry lover needs to have on their bookshelf immediately.

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