Lang Antiques Archives

Your favorite jewels of 2015.

January 4, 2016

Good morning, and welcome to 2016!! Happy New Year, my darlings.

I started 2015 with a roundup of Diamonds in the Library’s most popular posts of the previous year. It was so much fun that I thought we had better make rounding up your favorite jewels an annual tradition.

A couple of the most popular posts of 2015 already appeared on last year’s list – they’re your super-favorites, the ones that get so many page views they’ll probably be in the top 10 every year. I’ve decided to leave out the repeats, for the sake of keeping things fresh.

Your favorite jewels of 2015:

10. Three Fabergé emerald and diamond rings.*

* This from my very first year of blogging – I was so new then!

9. Suzanne Kalan engagement rings: the Devoted collection.

8. Guide to jewelry sizes: my jewelry sizing cheat sheet.*

7. WWAKE’s delicate gold and opal lovelies.

6. An antique green tourmaline filigree ring, circa 1880.

5. Fabulous Jewels of the 2013 Baltimore Summer Antiques Show.

4. A celebration of tiaras.

3. 10 reasons to choose an antique engagement ring.

2. Store Profile: Trademark Antiques.

1. 2.17 Carat ‘D’ color diamond Edwardian style engagement ring.

It’s really interesting to see those older posts now, isn’t it? You can really see how my style has evolved over the 3+ years we’ve been together.

I’m looking forward to another wonderful year with you, my dears.

Did you have any favorites that didn’t make the list? Let’s reminisce together.

And for the future: do you have any requests for 2016?

xoxo,
Becky

PS: If you’d like to see my top 9 Instagram posts of 2015, you can see that here.

Three plique-a-jour enamel beauties from Lang Antiques.

December 4, 2015

Are you familiar with plique-a-jour enamel, my dears? It’s a beautiful technique – light and ethereal, reminiscent of stained glass. It was especially popular in the Art Nouveau period, because of how well it fit that era’s delicate, nature-inspired themes.

Our trio of beauties today are all Belle Epoque, from the early 20th century. They exhibit a combination of early Edwardian and Art Nouveau aesthetics that I find irresistible: delicate, colorful, and absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t choose between them, so you get to see all three.

Kicking things off with the first of the three plique-a-jour pieces to catch my eye: how gorgeous is this thing? I think it looks like a rose window from a European cathedral.

This piece dates to the year 1900 and features translucent plique-a-jour enamel in shades of blue, green, yellow and pin/red accents with sweeps of diamonds and gorgeous openwork. It’s a pendant, but also features a pin fitting for wear as a brooch. In white gold.

Plique-a-jour piece #2 shares some of the first piece’s mandala/rose window feeling, with with a more abstract center design. You see the same butterfly-wing delicate use of plique-a-jour, shaded delicately with color, combined with classic Edwardian design aesthetic.

This one looks to me like someone took watercolor paints to an Edwardian brooch. I’m really into it.

#3 is the most unusual, and therefore the most fascinating (even though both of the first two are exceptionally beautiful).

First things first: the center element of this design is a Star of David, which I think is awesome. I see so much cross jewelry that it’s delightful to happen upon a beautiful antique with the symbol of the religion I was raised in. Way to go, mystery Edwardian Jew.

The workmanship on the star is beautiful: if you follow the lines, you’ll see that the lines of diamonds that make up the star weave in and out of each other like ribbons. It’s then surrounded by what I’m calling an echo of diamonds in star shape, creating a very glamorous and almost Art Deco feeling geometric center.

Outside of that are sprays of pearls, each centered by a bezel-set diamond.

Finally, the plique-a-jour elements in this piece. Let’s be real: these are cannabis leaves, aren’t they? Lang Antiques calls it in their description, and I have to agree.

Is there anything else they could be? Have you ever seen a piece like this before? It’s crazy!! And awesome .

These plique-a-jour enamel beauties are all currently for sale at Lang Antiques. All images and info are thanks to Lang Antiques.

Ring roundup: antique snake rings.

September 21, 2015

I’ve been on a snake kick lately and I know I’m not the only one. Finding the antique snake ring of my dreams at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show has done nothing to dampen my serpentine enthusiasm. They’re so lovely to look at, sinuous and sensual and always slightly mysterious.

They’re also rife with symbolic meaning. Did you know that Queen Victoria’s engagement ring was a snake ring set with an emerald? It represents eternity and everlasting love. Especially the ouroboros, the symbol of a snake that’s eating its own tail.

Let’s kick things off with this hefty antique beauty from Antique Animal Jewelry.

This one’s Victorian and it’s perfectly luscious. The scale detail, the chunky diamond head, the swirling body of the snake as it twines around the finger. Delicious.

What’s incredible about this 1930’s Art Deco triple snake ring from Maejean Vintage is that it’s actually sterling silver and gold fill – so as gorgeous and pristine as this badass beauty is, it would only set you back $185. I especially love the mixed metal design and the snakes’ tiny pearl eyes.

And then there’s this regal showstopper from Lang Antiques.

It’s Victorian, and fit for a queen. As much as I love this richly-hued sapphire, it’s the negative space around the snakes’ delicately twining bodies that slays me about this piece. I could trace those curves with my eyes all day.

This one is actually a vintage rather than an antique snake ring. not antique – it’s the youngest ring here, dating to the 1970’s.

But anyway: this particular beauty is from A Brandt and Son and the gorgeous detailing you’re drooling over is black and white enamel over gold. I swoon for its bold juxtaposition of colors and slightly open mouth.

My newest snake ring has a turquoise-set head, and I’m obsessed with it. This one from Addy’s Vintage is very different, but I love its warm yellow gold and robin’s egg blue turquoise stone. It’s a little later than some of these, circa 1910. So delicate and swirly.

And last but certainty not least: this elegant Art Nouveau beauty from The Eden Collective. Look at how delicately that snake is curled around its large, baroque pearl. Beautiful.

This guy from Erie Canal Collectors also vintage rather than antique – from the 1960’s. It’s possible that I should have called this article “Ring roundup: snake rings I feel like showing you and CATEGORIES BE DAMNED.”