Book Bling Archives - Data in the Rough

Summer Jewelry Books- 2019 Edition

June 6, 2019June 6, 2019Michelle

As people plan vacations, I look at what interesting books are out that I can read over my summer. I periodically check Amazon to see what books are coming out. I have 5 picks for summer jewelry books that are coming out this summer or came out less than a month ago.

History is something I have always enjoyed learning about whether it is about a person, place or time period. I have read several books on Faberge and what I love about how people write about the master jeweler is all the techniques and details.

Books focusing on Techniques and History

Looking at Jewelry by Susanne Gänsicke & Yvonne J. Markowitz -June 18, 2019

This offers explanations of jewelry … Read the rest

Evolution of the Jewelry Industry in America: Late 19th Century

September 4, 2017Michelle

We will now conclude this series by looking at the 25 years leading up to the 20^th century. In the colonial era, we saw jewelry that was available only to the wealthy as much of it had to be imported for lack of skilled labor and need. For the federal period, the innovation in machines created a bigger market for jewelry to be affordable for more people but we see goldsmiths start to grow in confidence about becoming jewelers. Then in the Mid-19^th century the jewelry manufacturing start to decline as the people tire of mass produced jewels and jewelers start to grow their business by establishing jewelry stores that we know today. In the next 25 years, … Read the rest

Evolution of the Jewelry Industry in America-Mid-19th Century

September 2, 2017Michelle

On to part 3 of this series, looking at the next 50 years of American history, we are now into the Jewelry Industry in the Mid-19^th Century. There are a lot of changes going on and I’d like to highlight a few with two stories. Then look at some of the changes that occurred in the jewelry industry due to what was happening in the world.

Story #1: Farewell to two patriots

It is July 4, 1826 and the country is celebrating 50 years of freedom. John Adams, 90, a major player in the founding of the country and the second president to serve the country is on his deathbed. He served 1 term as president, he was into … Read the rest

Evolution of the Jewelry Industry in America: Federal Era

July 27, 2017Michelle

Welcome back for part 2 on my series about the jewelry industry in America. We will look at the 4 periods leading up to the 20^th century to give us a better idea of what to look for in trends that are happening now that will affect the jewelry industry. If you missed the first part here is a link to see how I plan on laying out the post and what other eras we will look at.

America: home of the free

The colonists are tired of taxes and English rule. Fighting for and winning independence started a trend of patriotism with Americans living in the Federal Era of 1775-1825. Taxes on imports lowered and a new wave … Read the rest

How Oscar Heyman became the Jewelers’ Jeweler

April 12, 2017Michelle

Full disclosure I have been waiting for this book, Oscar Heyman The Jewelers’ Jeweler, to be released for almost 3 years. I follow JCK news frequently and on July 15, 2014. This story by Jennifer Heebner showed up.

I clicked on the link immediately! There was the editor detailing how this book about the over 100-year-old jewelry company was being worked on by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The main point I wanted to know was the release date, which was estimated around 2015 or 2016. Well that was pushed out, but I waited and waited. Then on February 3^rd, 2017 I received an email from the Museum of Fine Arts about the book’s release on April … Read the rest

The Language of Pins: Stories behind Madeleine Albright’s Collection

January 18, 2017Michelle

I was going to post this earlier but the politics got so ugly I wanted to wait until the dust settled. With the inauguration this week a question I have is what jewelry will the first lady and the daughters of the President wear? I’m sure that and so much more will be analyzed over the next four years. Some of those small choices are not given much thought but for one former White House employee there was a distinct correlation between her pin choice and her mood.

I posted on Instagram art from the all-night event at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston a few months ago. I was unable to attend the special evening events but Madeleine … Read the rest

Marie Antoinette: How a Diamond Necklace Ruined a Queen

November 2, 2016Michelle

Marie Antoinette has been described as a beautiful, witty, wasteful, out of touch, the list can go but in How to Ruin a Queen by Jonathan Beckman, he describes a view of the Queen I never saw her as, clueless. Beckman details and pieces together the history of Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair as though you are part of the jury. He presents the different angles of the story that seem like unrelated events but combined created an unbelievable domino effect that lead to the end of the French monarchy. There were three key parts that created this incredible story. The first transports you to 18^th century France where you learn about a little girl named Jeanne … Read the rest

Joseff of Hollywood: Jeweler to the Stars

October 30, 2016Michelle

When choosing what you want to be for Halloween, the costume is the first start but what about the jewelry and accessories? Have you dressed up as a princess, Egyptian Queen or Southern Belle? If you have dressed up as your favorite movie character I’m sure you put some thought into the accessories. Well the jewelry about from the movies The Little Princess, Cleopatra, and Gone with the Wind all had the same company supplying and creating the jewelry, Joseff of Hollywood.

I had known of the company for quite some time, the office that houses these Hollywood treasures is still running and located in California. You can read more on that in this article but I am reviewing the … Read the rest

Hidden Treasures of the Romanovs

July 18, 2016July 19, 2016Michelle

Conspiracy theories, revolts, grandeur, murder and cover ups are only the start to describe a book that explains how some of the Russian family jewels were saved! It is a relatively short book of 143 pages of text, the drawback at first glance is the few photos and even fewer colored photos in this book. The way the book started out also caused some early doubts about how good the book would be. I didn’t really have any set notions about how the story should go but the intro talking about the unmarked grave in Paris of a man I never heard of in all my reading on Russian Royal History caught me off guard. The photo of him (only … Read the rest

Famous Jewelry Collectors

July 11, 2016Michelle

With summer in full swing many of you probably have plans for how you will spend your summer, trips to the beach, finishing outdoor projects, planning family outings, etc. Summer also has fewer jewelry auctions to preview and is traditionally a slower time for jewelry stores so not a lot of new inventory is in. How will I spend my summer to fill that void of jewelry? I plan on starting on a summer reading list focused on jewelry, book bling. So for the summer I plan to post once a week a book review of a jewelry book I have read. I went to the local library and found several that will be fun to learn about. My first … Read the rest