Oliver Horner, Jewellery Assistant from Fellows' London office, has provided his thoughts on the birthstone for June.
Pearls are among the most popular gem materials used in both period and modern jewellery. Throughout history they have been associated with love and are often used to commemorate benchmarks in a relationship such the 1
st anniversary. Victorian Jewellers often used pearls set in heart motifs to portray this message of love, we have a late Victorian gold split pearl bracelet example,
Lot 4 in the upcoming 6
th of June
Jewellery Sale.
Pearls form when a small object such as a grain of sand gets into the shell of a mollusc and irritates the muscle inside. The mollusc will then secrete many layers of a lustrous substance called nacre to protect itself forming a pearl. These layers are the cause of the famous iridescent lustre that make pearls a desirable gemstone. This natural process can be replicated by placing a small bead into the mollusc causing a pearl to form, pearls produced using this method are known as cultured pearls.
An Edwardian 18ct gold moonstone three-stone ring
Moonstones is another popular gemstone that has been used throughout history, we have an Edwardian 18ct gold moonstone three-stone ring example,
Lot 5 in the upcoming June 6
th Jewellery Sale. We also have a beautiful geometric modern 18ct gold Cartier tank ring example which is
Lot 320 in the sale.
One of the first fine sources of moonstone was found in Switzerland and it was historically believed if you held the stone in your mouth during a full moon that you could see the future.
Oliver Horner, Jewellery Assistant from Fellows’ London office.