Jewelry serves a variety of purposes:

It can serve as currency, or as a display of wealth, and a means to display that wealth.

There’s also a functional u se, such as decorated clasps, pins and buckles.

Then there is the symbolism, or designs that show status.

Jewelry, in the form of amulets, is also used for protection, to ward off the “evil eye” or vampires.

And finally, just as an artistic display, to look pretty or handsome, or stylish.

Despite the fact that people seem to have an innate likign for adorning their bodies, restrictions have probably always been placed on what could be worn, and what could not be.

For example, in ancient Rome, only people of certain ranks could wear rings. Laws, called “sumptuary laws” not only dictated what classes of people could wear what type of jewelry, but also the clothing they could wear (in an attempt, doubtless, to keep the poor from fooling others into believing that they were “above their station.”

Culture plays a role… men in the 15th through the 18th centuries dessed as gaudily as women, wearing earrings and jewelry and brightly colored clothing, by the 19th and early 20th centuries, this practice was discouraged as effeminate.

Body jewellery, such as piercings, is becoming popular in Western culture, as is the ostentatious display of jewelry, which was once ridiculed. Today, the term is “bling” or “bling bling” and huge, clunky pieces of jewelry that would once have been condemned as tacky or tasteless are all the rage.

Soon after the French Revolution (which lasted from 1789–1799) , taverns and coffeehouses started to have daily art auctions. In some cases these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned.

Sotheby’s, now the world’s second-largest auction house, held its first auction in 1744. Christie’s, the world’s largest auction house,was established around 1766.

Other early auction houses still in business include Dorotheum (1707), Bonhams (1793), Phillips de Pury & Company (1796), Freeman’s (1805) and Lyon & Turnbull (1826).

Types of auctions
English auction, also called an “open ascending price” auction — the most common form of auction today. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid higher than the previous bid.

The Dutch auction , also called an open “descending price auction” , is the exact opposite. The auctioneer begins with a high asking price which is lowered until some participant is willing to accept the auctioneer’s price. The Dutch tulip auctions are held t his way, for example.

The development of the internet has led to a significant rise in the use of auctions as auctioneers can solicit bids via the internet from a wide range of buyers, in a much wider range of commodities than was previously practical — including opal.

It’s actually rather difficult to say, as auctions have been held since the beginning of civilization – as soon as people could communicate with each other, and had enough specie to give to someone else for goods they wnted.

For example, in Babylon, families sold their daughters for marriage at an auction. During Roman times, the property of defeated soldiers was sold at auction.

The Roman Empire is also perhaps infamous for the event in the year 193 A.D. when the Praetorian Guard put their services up for auction. On March 23, The Praetorian Guard killed the emperor Pertinax, then offered the empire to the highest bidder. Didius Julianus bid 6,250 drachmas per Guard. However, his victory did not last long. He was beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome.

After that, auctions fell out of favor until the 18th century, when it gradually came back into favor.

Well, it’s not too onerous, you just need to register, but it is a bit annoying when all you want to do is look at and admire some elegant and sophisticated jewerly.

Faberge is most famous for the Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs made for the Russian tsars before the Russian Revolution (and you can see them here): http://www.mieks.com/

A company named Pallinghurst Resources acquired the Fabrege trademarks in 2007, and the house of Faberge was relaunched in 2009.

Take a look at it and admire the sheer elegance of their creations.

It’s fun to look at their website and see all the designs.

http://www.tiffany.com/

Once you reach the home page of the website, you have a few choices – the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and so on.

Since it’s the Christmas season, you’ll find many specials on jewelry, but I look at these sites more just to take a look at the jewelry rather than any desire to buy…. jewelry can be acquired from auction websites such as http://jewelry-auctioned.com at a much more reasonable price!

Tiffany’s features four designers: Elsa Peretti, Frank Gehry, Paloma Picasso, and Jeam Schlumberger.

And Tiffany’s doesn’t just feature jewelry for women, of course. Ladies can find something elegant and sophisticated for the man in their life here as well, from cufflinkts to moneyclips, to necklaces to rings.

Netsuke are miniature sculptures, usually out of ivory. They were invented in 17th century Japan to serve a practical function. Japanese clothing—kimono—had no pockets. How then, could men carry their pipes, tobacco, money, seals, or medicines?

They placed these objects in containers (called sagemono), which they hung by cords from the obi (the sash). These containers could be pouches or small woven baskets, but usually were crafted boxes called inro, which were held shut by an ojime, (sliding beads on cords). Whatever the type of container, the fastener that secured the cord at the top of the sash was a carved, button-like toggle called a netsuke.

Netsuke production was most popular during the Edo period in Japan, from about 1615 to 1868.

Here you’ll find:

–Information about the designers
–How jewelry is made
–How to care for and store your jewelry
–Where to do research on the Internet and in books
–How to determine the value of your pieces
–Some practical tips
–Plus a tool kit for cleaning, repairing and shopping

US Designers discussed are:

ART
Bellini
Benedikt
Les Bernard
Fred Block
Boucher
Cadoro
Hattie Carnegie
Castlecliff
Alice Caviness
Ciner
Claudette
Coro
Dauplaise
deLillo
Delizza & Elster
DeMario
DeNicola
DeRosa
Diamonbar
Dior
Stephen Dweck
Eisenberg
Elzac
Eugene
Jay Feinberg
Florenza
Wendy Gell
Glamour
Leo Glass
Stanley Hagler
Miriam Haskell
HAR
Hobe
Hollycraft
Jeanne
Jomaz/Mazer
Jonne
Joseff Hollywood
Alexander Korda
Kramer
Kenneth Lane (KJL)
Gerda Lynggaard for Monies
Laguna
Lisner
Matisse/Renoir
McClelland Barclay
Misc Signed
Mimi di N
Monet
Napier
Pennino
Pome
Regency
Rifas
Robert
Nettie Rosenstein
Sandor
Schiaparelli
Schreiner
Selro
Trifari
Pauline Trigere
Unsigned Glitz
Vendome
Vogue
Warner
Weiss
Whiting & Davis
Wiesner

European designers discussed are:

Great Britain:
Butler & Wilson
Atwood & Sawyer
Cooke
Fior
Liberty
Miracle
Zandra Rhodes
Monty Don
Louise Sant
Angela Hale
Ericson Beamon
Vivienne Westwood

French designers
Chanel
Schiaparelli
Dior
Schiaparelli
Karl Lagerfeld
Christian LaCroix
Givenchy
Gripoix
Rousselet
Cis
Roger Jean-Pierre
Robert Goossens
YSL Yves St Laurent
Maryse Blanchard
Balenciaga
Cilea
Zoe Coste
Dominique Aurientis
Misc French
Depose

Others to watch for
Scemama
Pierre Cardin
Balmain
Bazot
Auguste Bonaz
Isabel Canovas
Line Vautrin
Lea Stein
Woloch
Lanvin
Nina Ricci
Ungaro

Italian designers
Coppola e Toppo
Ornella
Pellini
Valentino
Gucci
Ugo Correani

Others to watch for:
Gianfraco Ferre
Bijoux Bozart
Bijoux Cascio
Bijoux Elfe
Bijoux Fiaschi
Luciana
Fratti
Canesi
LABA
MERU

Austrian Designers
langani
Leni Kuborn Grothe

The Barbor Jewel is one of many pieces of jewelry described in Jewels and Jewelry: 500 Years of Western Jewelry from the World-Renowned Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, by Clare Phillips.

The Barbor Jewel is a pendant consisting of a sardonyx cameo of Queen Elizabeth I of England, framed with rubies and diamonds in an enamelled gold frame. The cameo is surmounted by a crown made of three rectangualar diamonds, with a cluster of pears descending below the cameo.

The back is decorated with an oak tree.

Family tradition claims that this piece was commissioned by Richard Barbor, a Protestant, who was saved from the stake by Elizabeth’s intervention.

However, experts cast doubt on this story because the style of the enameling, and the queen’s costume, indicate a date of around 1600, fourteen years after the time when Barbor died.

The pendant is also on display at the Victoria and Albert website: