June

Hi All

I know I am writing this early but there is a lot going on in London in connection with jewellery  week.  So have a rest now to get ready for every thing to come.

A quick note about birthstones for June, they are the moonstone and the beautiful classic pearls.  The moonstone has been used in jewellery since Roman times, it was a favourite during the Art Nouveau period and Rene Lalique used the stone in lots of his pieces. It comes from all around the world. It is the state stone of Florida U.S.A.  It is usually white in colour but has a mystical opalescence to it, and comes in many shapes and sizes.

 The other birthstone is pearl. Technically not a stone but a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusc. A piece of grit gets into the shell and then the mollusc deposits calcium carbonate onto the grit in minute crystalline form in concentric layers. Over the years this forms the pearl. Pearls are found in all sorts of mollusc eg. Clams, oysters, muscles even conch. They also come in all colours naturally, or they can be dyed. Traditionally round in shape but other shapes can occur even baroque. Cultured or farmed pearls are normally from oysters. The finest quality are wild pearls referred to as natural pearls which spontaneously form in the wild, but they are extremely rare and expensive.  Through history pearls have been worn and sewn onto clothes. They have been a sign of wealth, if you look at very old oil portraits most of the women will be wearing their pearls. A few years ago they fell out of fashion ….and people stopped wearing them.

They are now making  a chic return in the fashion world, and have been seen on lots of celebrities.

Do check out my pearl page on my Pinterest board, there are also a lot of facts, even about the Cartier building in New York!

This is some of the events on in June

http://www.hallmarksalon.com/

http://www.treasureuk.com/

http://www.jewelleryandwatchlondon.com/

http://www.newdesigners.com