Your favorite jewels of 2016.

Happy 2017, my darlings!!!!

It’s been my habit recently to kick off each new year by looking at what you loved the most in the previous year. We’re going to continue that today by looking at what you loved the most in 2016 – by which I mean, of course, which posts were the most popular. I love these features because it’s a great way to revisit the best of the best of the past 12 months.

I decided to do the top 15, because the top 16 seemed like too many and the top 10 seemed like too few. In reverse order, of course, so that I get to have the fun of a dramatic reveal for #1.

Ready??

Your favorite jewels of 2016:

#15 How to take great jewelry photos with your phone.

A million years ago (okay about 5 years ago) when I started visiting jewelry stores and trade shows to take pictures of jewelry, I considered buying a big fancy camera. Then I decided: no, I’ll just work with what I have. Fast forward to now, and I’ve probably taken tens of thousands of jewelry photos with my phone. That’s more practice than the average jewelry phone-tographer.

When I meet fellow jewelry in person, the number 1 question I’m asked (besides: what is is a blog?) is if I have any advice for taking good photos of jewelry with a phone. This blog post is my answer.

#14  Jewels from the 2016 Original Miami Beach Antique Show.

Going to the Original Miami Beach Antique Show for the first time in 2016 was a jewelry dream come true for me. 2016 was a year that included more than on jewelry dream come true, but this was the one that I’d probably spend the most time daydreaming about.

Four days and what felt like an infinite number of antique jewelry dealers, all together in one place. I met dealers I’ve followed online for years, saw pieces of a quality I’ve only read about in books. I just confirmed I’m going back again this year (next month!) and I can’t wait.

This is one post of a two-parter: see more from the Miami antique show here.

#13 Necklaces through the ages with M. Khordipour.

This was such a fun post to write! Seeing the evolution of jewelry design over time is one of my very favorite things. I find it endlessly fascinating, both aesthetically and because of how it echos the changing needs, wants, and fears of society. (Did I ever mention I minored in Anthropology in college?)

This is not the first time that this dealer has made an appearance in the top posts of the year: their sister brand, Estate Diamond Jewelry, is tied to one of your very favorite posts of all time.

#12 Tiffany and Co kunzite and diamond ring.

I was tickled to see this post pop up. It was my very first post to go viral on Pinterest – from waaaay back in 2012, if you can believe it. It’s been repinned over 117,000 times as of today, if you count both the current URL and the original blogspot post.

I certainty understand why: this magnificent Ring Pop-sized behemoth of a huge pink ring is hard not to love.

#11 Store profile: A Brandt and Son.

After years of stalking their website and Instagram, I finally visited the fantastic A Brandt and Son in person! I loved my time at this gem of a jewelry store: they have some truly fantastic vintage and antique pieces.

They are incredibly friendly and welcoming and I can’t resist mentioning again that the street where this store stands smells like sugar and butter because of a nearby bakery. Going there is like stepping into some Wizard of OZ level jewelry dream, where the air reminds you of cake and there are cases and cases of treasures to adore.

#10 GIVEAWAY: up your layering game with Jennie Kwon.

This was such a great giveaway! We had 1,378 entries, which is just incredible. And understandable: I love Jennie Kwon’s designs, too ( and I wanted the prize, but it would have been poor form for me to enter my own giveaway, sadly).

I also took the opportunity to introduce you to some of Jennie’s other wonderful, delicate designs – like the layering pieces pictured above. Oodles of itty bitty irresistible pretties.

#9 Meaningful handmade jewelry by Chinchar/Maloney.

I was delighted to see this post in 2016’s favorites! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying what I’ve shown you from Chinchar/Maloney, because I recently reconnected with this amazing family-run brand and I’m about to bring you a taste of their gorgeous new line in the next couple of weeks. Stand by.

#8 Store profile: I.D. Jewelry.

This was such an interesting post to write!

I.D. Jewelry’s specialty is custom engagement rings and wedding bands, which is something I’ve been asked about more and more in recent year. I think a greater number of you are considering having your dream pieces made for you, instead of going out hunting for them, and I was glad to make the acquaintance of this well-respected store so hat I could have another good recommendation for you.

#7 I heart this Edwardian sapphire and diamond ring.

My favorite thing about this post – besides the ridiculously beautiful ring it’s dedicated to – is the comments section. First, the commentators are going on and on about the ring (understandable). Then, people notice that it’s been sold suddenly, and the lamentations begin. Then (my favorite part) a friendly, cheerful comment pops up from the lucky jewelry lover who is the ring’s new owner, telling the story of how the ring came to her and just generally chatting with her ring’s admirers. Then everyone joins in on congratulating her on her new treasure, and just generally rejoicing in supportive jewelry love together. It warms my heart.

Even better: this beautiful ring’s new owner is a regular reader, and I’m delighted to say she’s also become an occasional email correspondent who is kind enough to reach out from time to time to share her jewelry adventures with me.

Have I mentioned enough times that I love hearing from you, my darling readers? I love hearing from you.

#6 The First Lueur Jewelry Show.

I saw some really spectacular jewels at the first Lueur show…this tiara was just one of many breathtaking moments that weekend.  It’s also the show where I met the Georgian necklace that’s one of my #1 Pieces I Will Pine For Forever, and where I met the fabulous Glorious Antique Jewelry, Spicer Warin, and Michael Longmore for the very first time. And, of course, this tiara.

#5 Let’s look at antique engagement rings.

Posts where I round up a bunch of antique engagement rings that I love are what I think of as classic DitL: they’re one of the very first kinds of posts that we got excited about together, and seeing this in the top posts of 2016 proves that we still love getting excited about antique engagement rings together.

I always wondered if my fascinating with antique engagement rings would lessen now that I have worn one of my very own for a few years, but it turns out this obsession is for life, and I’m glad. I always love a good old antique engagement ring roundup, and you can expect more of them in 2017.

#4 An antique enamel flower jewelry roundup.

This post was inspired by the extreme prettiness of antique enamel flower jewelry. That’s the post’s only theme – “look at these, they are pretty!” – and it looks like you all enjoyed this approach as much as I did. Antique enamel flower jewelry is really darn pretty.

#3 The most exciting jewels of Couture 2016.

Jewelry market week in Last Vegas is an annual occurrence, and a jewelry industry staple I’ve been reading about from afar for years. I could never attend before 2016, because I still had a full time day job. (I didn’t think it would go over well to request a full week of vacation time to go attend to my secret blogging career.) But after taking the leap to do DitL full time in 2015, I vowed to experience Vegas jewelry week in person for the first time.

And so I went, and it was magnificent. This post is dedicated to my favorite finds at the well-respected Couture show, where I saw some of the very coolest contemporary jewelry I’ve ever seen anywhere. And yes, I’ll be back in 2017.

#2 How to pack jewelry for a move.

I don’t want to shock you…but I have a lot of jewelry. When I moved into my current apartment, I documented my adventures in packing and transporting my collection in hopes of helping others who were looking for good ways to safely move their own treasure troves.

It’s looking like I’ll be moving again in 2017, so you may get an update to this post later this year. I plan to make some changes to the approach I used last time.

And your very favorite post of 2016….

#1:  Hamilton jewelry, for A. Ham superfans.

I can’t tell you how delighted I am that this post is #1 in 2016. When I wrote it, I was expecting to amuse myself and delight a few friends who I know also love Hamilton. I did not expect to reach a whole swath of the internet’s Hamilfans and trigger a redesign of one of the pieces I featured with an offhand comment I made about grammar.

I’m going to take the lesson of the top post of 2016 with me as we go forward into the new year: I want to try a few of my nuttier ideas, the ones that make me giggle, without worrying so much if I’m going to hurt my pageviews or if the post will be interesting to everyone. I’ve already started somewhat, going outside the box with some recent posts inspired by my feelings about current events. I plan to do more of that going forward. I want to bring my blogger self and my actual self closer together, by worrying a little less about what I should say and saying more of what I want to say.

Thanks so much for reading Diamonds in the Library in 2016, my darlings. You are a constant delight to me, and I would be nowhere without you.

I’ll do my best to bring you beautiful, exciting, interesting content in 2017. As always, please feel free to reach out if you ever have comments, questions, requests, etc.

xoxo,
Becky

Please note: not all of these images are mine. Please see the original post connected to each image for full image source information.

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