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The joy of the journey is one that is identifiable to all collectors, no matter the object of their desire.
There are books written about watches, watch companies, and watchmakers but very few exist written from the perspective of the watch collector. Enter: Mitch Katz. Mitch speaks to the collector in us all as he takes the reader on his 25-year watch-collecting journey.
Developing a collection of anything means having the confidence to trust your own eyes and heart. As Mitch relates the unique and memorable experiences that led to his acquiring a number of one-of-a-kind watches, we see how, as his passion for watches grows, his collector's eye and instinct are honed.
Whether it be squeezing in a part-time job selling watches (much to his wife's dismay), deciding to purchase a watch while in a dog park or a bathroom, or meeting some of the most significant watchmakers of modern times, the stories of how Mitch built his collection have become integral parts of his watches. Now, the memories evoked by the individual pieces, whether they be production or unique, only make each watch more special.
Some call it insanity, others passion, in either event collecting is something we all do and derive pleasure from.
Includes 107 sketches and grayscale photographs.
For goldsmiths, collectors, jewelry-makers, investors, retailers and consumers.
The trade of gemstones is a highly specialized and often secretive business. Using The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones, written by an expert gemstone dealer and designer, will provide any consumer with the insider knowledge needed to make accurate judgments of gemstones, to recognize low- and high-quality stones, and to make a good buy rather than a bad one.
Each full-color spread is packed with concise text, annotated drawings and beautiful photographs, including a showcase of virtuoso jewelry designs. Great for informed consumers, the book includes:
Here is a sampling of the practical insider information in this book:
No other book has this kind expert advice -- up-to-date, clearly presented and fully illustrated -- on evaluating and using gemstones.
The Triumph of Nature returns us vividly to an entrancing time in European decorative arts, from its beginnings in the Arts and Crafts movement and Japonisme, through to its evolution into Art Deco style.
An exuberant, radical style, Art Nouveau blithely trampled many of the Victorian Age's orthodoxies of art and design. Exploding age-old strictures with its fanciful approach to furniture, graphic arts, jewelry, architecture and more, Art Nouveau also embraced new technologies and incorporated foreign stylistic flourishes. Designing for a range of clients and settings including domestic interiors, innovative artists such as de Feure, Majorelle, and Gallé fashioned their eclectic works to play off each other in harmonious visual arrangements, conceiving of Art Nouveau as an enveloping style.
This stunningly illustrated comprehensive volume gathers a profusion of Art Nouveau works and accessories--furniture, paintings, sculpture, mosaics, books, posters, prints, lamps, glass, and other stunning objets d'art--all of them originally designed and coordinated to complement each other in elaborate ensembles.
Tiaras have always inspired a great fascination and the most beautiful and influential women have been painted, photographed and admired whilst wearing them. Even in the twenty-first century they are still worn and continue to inspire special poise, elegance and sophistication.
This lavishly illustrated book includes exclusive photographs, many reproduced for the first time, of a variety of Royal tiaras together with those of French and Russian Imperial provenance, including four stunning tiaras designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. Geoffrey Munn has also been granted privileged access to the archives of many famous jewellers, including Boucheron, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels and Fabergé, for his research.
The regal images of some of the most prestigious jewels in the world will captivate the reader and ensure turning the page to the next enticing image becomes irresistible. Many of these mesmerising tiaras also have great historical significance and their provenance is fully explained here. Among the contemporary pieces referred to are tiaras belonging to Jamie Lee Curtis, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John and Madonna, that were made by Galliano, Slim Barratt and Versace.
The scholarly text, which incorporates more than 400 illustrations, includes chapters on tiaras as crown jewels, Russian style tiaras, tiaras as works of art and the relationship between the tiara and the costume ball. Tiaras - A History of Splendour is a magnificent work that will enthral all those interested in fashion and style, jewellery, European history and Royalty.
... beautifully written and magnificently produced... for anyone interested in social history, it's as good a read as you are likely to have this year. - Daily Telegraph
A truly majestic book - Antiques Info
... elegantly melds social history, fashion criticism and an appreciation of the jeweler's art. - Town & Country
https: //open.spotify.com/episode/1tRgDdbnzr6rDtBShBXz7Q
The history of jewelry has closely paralleled the history of mankind. Used as amulets to protect against harm and worn for ceremonial occasions, jewels also signaled wealth, power, and position. This engrossing scholarly study by a noted English antiquarian offers a splendid account of jewelry styles over a 700-year period -- from the early Middle Ages and Gothic period, through the Renaissance as well as the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Drawing on a number of vital sources -- museums and private collections, evidence given by portrait painters, surviving designs for jewels and others -- the author gives us not only a comprehensive chronicle of the jewels themselves but also their relation to costume and fashion and their reflection of changing social values.
Enhancing the meticulously detailed narrative are 400 photographs and illustrations depicting, among scores of other pieces, a gold heart-shaped brooch inscribed with You are my earthly joy, dating from the fifteenth century; a gold brooch set with sapphires, emeralds, and pearls; a diamond and topaz necklace (c. 1760); a gold padlock, set with cornelian and pearls (c. 1800); a gilt bronze clasp (c. 1200); the silver Loch Buy Brooch, set with rock crystals and pearls (sixteenth century), and a thirteenth-century reliquary pendant of the Holy Thorn.
For anyone interested in the long and fascinating history of handcrafted jewelry, here is a superb sourcebook of extremely rare ornamentation, a rich and detailed study that will also appeal to fashion and costume historians, collectors, and lovers of antiques.
Few civilizations hold the lure and appeal as ancient Egypt. Renown for their colossal temples, ornate tombs and an elaborate god mythology, ancient Egypt is a land of romance, mystery, and appeal for young and old. Since the discovery of King Tut's tomb in the early 19th Century the world has been fascinated by one of the oldest empirical civilizations, and for good reason.
Egyptian Mythology goes beyond the trials of Egypt and discusses who their belief system influenced numerous other cultures as they began to interact on a global scale. The foundation of the famed Silk Road helped spread the lore of Egypt across the Middle East and deep into Asia. Distinguished ancients Plato and Pythagoras are said to have found major influence from Egyptian beliefs.
Prepare to be amazed as you dive deep into one of the most influential and rich cultures the world has ever seen.
An exquisite collection of sketches of original jewelry by Tiffany Studios designer Meta Overbeck.
A facsimile edition of artist Meta Overbeck's notebook of Tiffany & Co jewelry designs, along with a fascinating introductory essay about the significance of the book.
This archival treasure contains exquisite gemstone compositions that were a source of designs for Louis Comfort Tiffany's increasingly well-known company in the early twentieth century.
Meta Overbeck (1879-1956) was an artist and longtime head of the enamel and jewelry department at Tiffany & Co. Throughout her time at Tiffany, Overbeck built her design book, a carefully assembled, thirty-six-page tour de force. She rendered her jewelry designs in gouache, watercolor, ink, and pencil before adding her meticulous annotations and piecing together the drawings onto kraft paper.
Overbeck's niece donated her aunt's sketchbook to the Morse Museum in 1978, where it is housed as a permanent exhibit. Both the exhibit and this facsimile reproduction ensure that Meta Overbeck's remarkable talent and her vital contributions to the Tiffany legacy reach as wide an audience as possible.
The ultimate go-to guide, The Modern Guide to Antique Jewellery takes the reader on a tour through time, venturing from the 1700s all the way through to the early 20th century. From how to look chic while wearing jewelry that outdates you by 100 years, to how to spot and score the best pieces, this book is a must-read for all enthusiasts and collectors who have an affinity for the jewels of the past. Fun factual tidbits are presented in a witty, conversational style, and lively narratives explore each piece's history. Part travelog, featuring the most influential shops in New York, LA, London, Paris and Amsterdam; part educational guide, with anecdotes from dealers and experts; and part celebration of historical jewelry, this book is an invaluable and accessible reference. Topics covered include (but are not limited to): how to identify the most popular gemstones, materials, styles and collectible pieces in the market today, and how to select antique jewelry to complement your lifestyle. The Modern Guide to Antique Jewellery will reveal what to look for and where to locate rare finds, as well as how the experts score the pieces that decorate the fingers, ears, necks and wrists of the collector.
The first illustrated study of ethnic silver jewelry in Yemen, by an expert researcher and collector, new in paperback
Silver Treasures from the Land of Sheba documents a disappearing artistic and cultural tradition with over three hundred photographs showing individual pieces, rare images of women wearing their jewelry with traditional dress, and the various regions in Yemen where the author did her field research. Ransom's descriptions of the people she met and befriended, and her exploration of the significance of a woman's handmade jewelry with its attributes of power, protection, beauty, and personal identity, will appeal to ethnic jewelry fans, ethnographers, jewelry designers, and art historians. Amulet cases, hair ornaments, bridal headdresses, earrings, necklaces, ankle and wrist bracelets are all beautifully photographed in intricate detail, interspersed with the author's own photographs of the women who shared their stories and their hospitality with her. A chapter on the history of silversmithing in Yemen tells the surprising story of the famed Jewish Yemeni silversmiths, many of whom left Yemen in the late 1940s. This is the first in-depth study of Yemeni silver, uniquely illustrated with photographs of a world that is transforming before our eyes, and animated with the portraits of a precious legacy.
- Accompanies the exhibition Paris, Pearl Capital from 7 November 2024
If Paul Lévi and Jean-Paul Poirot are to be believed, rue Lafayette, which has been home to the majority of Parisian gem dealers since the 19th century, is thought to have been home to almost 300 fine pearl merchants between the two world wars, between numbers 1 and 100. The sheer size of this number is striking when compared with the current state of the fine pearl market, both within the capital and worldwide. As well as unraveling the final mysteries surrounding this biomineral, the main aim is to show the extent to which pearls inspired Parisian jewelers and artists of all kinds, both young and old. They all seem to have been driven by the same pearlomania, whatever their medium, from opera to cinema, painting, photography, posters or illustrated books, to the point of making the pearl one of the symbolic forms of the Roaring Twenties. Text in English and French
This is the definitive catalog of an unparalleled collection of Indian jewelry and jeweled luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and Deccan sultanates in the 16th and 17th centuries. The collection, widely regarded as one of the finest in the world, was assembled by Sheikh Nasser and Sheikha Hussa al-Sabah for The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, and reveals the beauty, sophistication and diversity of Indian jeweled arts.
The Indian subcontinent is naturally rich in gems. From ancient times master jewelers developed a wide array of unique techniques and made it home to the most sophisticated jewels on earth. Exotic birds and animals, flowers, trees, and mythological scenes rendered in precious gemstones, gold and enamel demonstrate these artists' prodigious imagination and skill. They produced not only an unmatched range of jewelry to adorn the body but also ritual and household items of astonishing refinement and luxury, as well as extravagantly large engraved gemstones to serve as symbols of their princely patrons' royal power--including a spinel of nearly 250 carats demonstrated to be the legendary Timur Ruby.
This volume includes not only the finest and most valuable pieces in the collection--some familiar to connoisseurs, others publishedhere for the first time--but also many previously unknown types that extend our understanding of artistic output in the region. With specially commissioned photography giving unprecedented new views of more than 300 jeweled objects, this is a publication of historic importance and beauty, for all lovers of jewelry, the arts of India and of the Islamic world.