15-year-old Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was married to 14-year-old François, Dauphin of France, in April 1558. The wedding celebrations for the future French king and queen were magnificent, and a report of the grand ceremony and festivities was published one week later. So what does it tell us about Mary’s dress? [She] was dressed [more...]
They may seem horrible to us, but feather fans with a cute dead hummingbird were a Victorian fashion for more than twenty years. Stuffed and wired into shape, the bird was posed stylishly, sometimes along with feather flowers or even insects. The fans weren’t the folding type, but the kind that was sometimes called a [more...]
Most luckenbooth brooches sold today are heart-shaped with a crown above. Sometimes the design is a pair of interlocking twin hearts. But it wasn’t always so. This kind of traditional Scottish brooch could be a very simple outline heart, as you can see in some museums. So don’t take it as a rule that only [more...]
If you were bereaved in the 1800s, your clothes and jewels had to be black for a period of mourning, the length depending on whether you were widow, daughter, sister etc. Apart from the usual gold and silver settings, mourning jewellery was made of black jet – a “stone” derived from coal - onyx, black [more...]
When Buffy the Vampire Slayer script writers put a claddagh ring on Sarah Michelle Gellar’s hand in 1998, millions of Buffy and Angel (David Boreanaz) fans began to take an interest in this traditional Irish love ring. The internet has added to that new wave of popularity with thousands of sites explaining how to wear [more...]
What story could a sparkling diamond tell about its journey from mine to engagement ring? More and more people want jewellery with no hint of the storyline in Blood Diamond where Leonardo DiCaprio plays a mercenary smuggling diamonds against a background of civil war in Sierra Leone. The film reflects the way diamonds mined in [more...]
Two lovers each wear a ring for their engagement; then on marriage they fit the two together to make a wedding ring. This romantic custom, using a double-hoop gimmel ring, was at a peak of popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries. Gimmel rings have been revived by modern jewellery designers, and seem to have [more...]
Dictionaries say authentic means genuine, but how much does that help when browsing Celtic jewellery stores? A strict interpretation of the word would leave us nothing but ancient gold, silver, and bronze belonging to museums. Many people choosing this kind of jewellery simply want pieces influenced by Celtic traditions in tune with their beliefs and [more...]
Claddagh rings, with a crowned heart held by two hands, are named after a fishing community in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, where they were used for betrothals and marriages, and handed down from mother to daughter. When I first heard a well-known story about their origins it seemed too fanciful to be [more...]