Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas
    JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels
    GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter
    Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Communication
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting
    Celebrate with Gold®
    Tracing Diamond’s Origin
    Pickens, Inc.: Steady pace wins the race
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas
    JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels
    GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter
    Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails
    The Retailer’s Perspective
    The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan
    10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III
    Kate’s star-studded style. What will the next trend be?
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part II
    Retailing in a post-PC world
    Motivating your sales staff
    IAS Training’s Keys to Communication
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

What’s your Jewelry IQ?

Mia Katrin by Mia Katrin
June 30, 2015
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Mia dragonfly July
Without doubt one of the most spectacular pieces of jewelry ever created by René Lalique, this ‘dragonfly-woman’ brooch was presented with enormous success at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. Gold, enamel, chrysoprase, chalcedony, moonstones and diamonds. Photo courtesy of spklg@flickr.

You’re a jewelry professional. But how much of a jewelry expert are you?  Test your jewelry IQ with this fun pop quiz.  (True or False)

  1. In the Victorian era, mourning jewelry made of jet was popular.
  2. Art Deco – also known as Art Nouveau – was an early 20th Century art and jewelry style that reflected Modernism.
  3. A parure is a suite of several matching elements such as necklace, ring, bracelet, earrings and brooch.
  4. Baroque or irregular pearls were named after a style of ornate 17th century music by composers such as Bach.
  5. According to lore, in ancient times rubies were implanted under the skin by warriors before battle for invincibility
  6. A sautoir is similar to a lavaliere style necklace but often longer and embellished with tassels at the ends (pictured on right).
  7. The marketing slogan “A diamond is forever” was developed by Tiffany & Co.
  8. The briolette or drop shaped gem was originally popularized in the West by Marie Antoinette and regained popularity in the Victorian era.
  9. Emeralds were reportedly a favorite gem of Cleopatra.
  10. Padparadscha or pink-orange sapphires are named after the color of the lotus flower.
Mia necklace July

The story of jewelry is rich and colorful. Weaving this lore into presentations to clients adds romance and emotional appeal. It’s the story that sells. It burnishes your reputation as an expert.

• Pre-history

Jewelry’s story is as old as humankind. Recently artifacts have been identified dating as far back as 125,000 BCE – a necklace of eagle talons by Neanderthals in Europe, a shell necklace in Israel c. 90,000 BCE, a bangle bracelet carved by Denisovans – an extinct pre-human species! – in Siberia c. 40,000 BCE. This emerging evidence suggests that jewelry is ancient and universal. The impulse to adorn spans aeons, continents and even species. Expression through symbolism, such as jewelry, which was previously thought to be a trait unique to homo sapiens, transcends these boundaries. What drives this elemental impulse to express and adorn ourselves? To magnify beauty, power, status? For protection or good fortune? Jewelry taps into one of our deepest rooted genetic impulses. Today’s woman shopping for a necklace is expressing not just a passing whim, but a primeval instinct imbedded in our DNA.

• Ancient Egypt

By 3000 BCE jewelry making had become an established art. Precious gems and metals, especially gold, were beautifully fashioned into elaborate designs using sophisticated techniques including granulation and cloisonné. Jewelry, worn by women and men, included intricate pectorals, collars, bracelets, earrings and rings. Worn as amulets and talismans these phenomenal objects were designed to protect and bless the wearer in this life and the hereafter.

• Renaissance

With the flowering of the Italian Renaissance, master goldsmiths such as Benvenuto Cellini raised craftsmanship to fine art. Ornate jewelry included gold filigree and a wealth of exceptional gems including organic pearls, coral and amber. During the Elizabethan era in England long strands of (natural) pearls, long gold chains and medallions, cameos and signet rings were popular. Elaborate collars, bibs and chandelier style earrings were de rigueur. The rose cut was developed for diamonds and Belgium was established as a diamond center.  Rare, precious Crown Jewels symbolized the wealth, power and divine status of the regency.

Mia Tiffany July
1930s Tiffany & Co. Art Deco Diamond French-Cut Sapphire Platinum bracelet. Photo courtesy of M & G Signed Jewelry.

• 19th and 20th Centuries

Various styles and movements of jewelry flourished, including Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, each with its own distinct trends and characteristics. The diamond engagement ring became an almost universally adopted custom in the US in the 20th Century and diamond jewelry of all varieties remains widely popular. “Modern” jewelry, characterized with simple, clean lines, coexists with antique and estate jewelry, also highly popular. Jewelry in the 21st century is rich and varied, with a freedom to choose from all styles and periods.

We’ll be exploring some areas of jewelry’s past in upcoming articles. Let us know if there are certain periods you’d like to see!

(Quiz Answers:All True except for: 2 – Art Deco and Art Nouveau were two different styles; 4 – Portuguese pearl divers in the 17th century called some of the pearls they found baroque or irregular, the term later being extended to music and architecture; 7 – the De Beers slogan “A diamond is forever” has been called the most successful marketing campaign of the 20th century)


Mia Katrin is an award-winning jewelry designer featured in over 80 top stores nationally. She is available for lectures and seminars. To add her Collections or book a lecture: www.jeweljewel.com, 877 539-3569, facebook.com/MiaKatrinforJEWELCOUTURELLC.

Mia Katrin

Mia Katrin

Mia Katrin’s new agency TheJewelersMarketer.com, helps propel your sales to the top through social media marketing and ecommerce. Free initial analysis and recommendations. mia@jeweljewel.com. Mia is an award-winning designer featured in over 100 top retail stores nationally. www.jeweljewel.com. She’s an industry spokesperson, a byline columnist, and a regular speaker at major trade events.

Related Posts

The Retailer’s Perspective: With great power comes great fails

The Retailer’s Perspective

June 30, 2022

The Story Behind the Stone: Yearning for Kazakhstan

June 30, 2022

10 Cybersecurity Questions small and medium businesses should ask in 2022

June 27, 2022
Motivating your sales staff

IAS Training’s Keys to Effective Communication – Part III

June 22, 2022

Latest News

Industry Events

Stuller introduces several new offerings at JCK Las Vegas

July 4, 2022
Other News

JSA reports crimes against U.S. jewelry firms in 2021 exceeded pre-Covid levels

July 4, 2022
On The Move

GCAL partners with VDB to add 8X® Cut Grade search filter

July 4, 2022

Other News

Registration opens for HardRock Summit 2022

NRF says economy is slowing but recession is unlikely in near term

American Gem Society targets negotiation skills for Confluence 2022

Lambrecht’s Jewelers, 130-years-old and counting

Celebrate with Gold®

Tracing Diamond’s Origin

Southern Jewelry News

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2022 Trade Shows
  • Media Kit
  • Contact

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.