Rings: Diamonds or Otherwise.

Still on types of jewelry... today is rings... something we don't think about.  Not really think about anyway.


I mean, we all love rings, you don't have to be male or female... a ring is one of those pieces of jewelry that is gender-less and forever popular.

So many rings, so little time... I won't bore you with 20 pages of ring history, but I want to get to a few types of rings that are worn by both genders that are very popular, and a few that aren't..

Rings throughout history are symbols of faithfulness, unity, eternity, and so forth. The unending circle is such a strong symbol, most religions use it to exemplify unity.

There is such an emotional attachment when rings are exchanged. That made me think back to an article I read a while back, called "What is a Diamond Worth?-Piggybacking Value on Emotion, by Hitesh Khandelwal on LinkedIn, July 26, 2014.   
  
Very nice article about the sentimentality of a piece of jewelry... It doesn't have to be just the diamond that the value is piggybacked to the value of any ring.

 The ring itself is more the thought in  buying it, choosing because it is the 'right' one, Then the emotional, surprised, receiver of the ring, is so very overwhelmed in the act, that immediately there is an attachment to it. 
When I was young and in love, my then boyfriend proposed with a double golden Tiger's Eye set in a silver mounting, along with a necklace, bracelet and earrings to match.
I loved that set, I knew he picked it out for a very specific reason, and it meant a lot to me. I wore it instead of the diamond he bought me for many years. Later on, I added to the collection with other rings and necklaces with that stone,  pieces that complimented the set in some way,  so I have never lost that attachment to the ring.  

Rings aren't just given as a symbol of love, over the centuries, they have been worn as talisman, as reminders of family, as simply a beautiful decoration. Dinner rings fall under that category. They don't have to be expensive to be beautiful and fun to wear. 

Many wear semi-precious stones or quartz of some type and can be mixed with diamonds or cubic zirconia to create the look of lavish taste. The larger the piece, the more fun it is to wear. And don't get me wrong, women aren't the only ones who wear dinner rings. 

Throughout the ages, men have worn lavish rings as well. Kings and courtiers have worn magnificent, large rings to show wealth, later on, performers such as Liberace and Sean Combs, Elvis Presley, DJ Khaled, and even Brad Pitt.

Joe Theisman's rings Washington

It isn't just performers, it's sports idols as well, like Michael Jordan, but that brings us to another type of ring, large and full of bling... The playoff rings that sports top players receive for making it big. Major League Baseball, Basketball, and Football, Hockey, Nascar and Indy racing all give rings for winning the finals in their respective leagues.


No one has done it better than the Dallas Cowboys when it comes to rings.. Charles Haley won three with the Cowboy Team, after winning two with the 49ers.  That makes a total of five (that's 5) rings... so when he wears them... they make some serious bling. 
Neal Dahlen actually holds the record for the most Superbowl rings, at a whopping 7. His were not from playing, but from being on the Staff and as Player Personnel (San Francisco) and as General Manager (Denver). 

Men and women share similar rings from  graduating High School, there are a variety of class rings that may be purchased, or you can have one made by a local jeweler. If you have a personalized ring made by a jeweler, you can have any style possible... there are a number of styles you can choose from  companies, like Balfour that specialize in Class rings. 
  Other companies like  Zales, and even Walmart offer these type rings.

College graduation brings more rings, though more people skip that tradition, maybe because at the end of college you are so broke? Though graduates at some of the top schools in the country are proud to wear the symbol of the University from which they have graduated.

Edward the Confessor and famed ring

Signet rings have been worn for many, many centuries. the word Signet comes from the Latin word Signatus, which means marked, sealed or signed.  Many signet rings were worn by nobility, had engraved on the face, the symbol of that house. 
Thus, when a document was signed and sealed, the ring was set into the wax, to make the print of the ring. Very cleaver when a symbol needed to be issued so everyone would be able to 'read' the document as authentic.  The Signet would have been engraved in reverse so that the imprint would have been shown in the correct way. 

 The Lord Chancellor usually made sure the ring was kept safe, the King would wear it during matters of state, such as treaties and an appointment to an office. 

It is said that the signet was first used by Edward the Confessor, as far back as the mid 1000s. However, recorded use of a seal used by a King was in Daniel, 6:17. 

The Hebrew word Hotam and the Greek word, Sphragis were used interchangably in the ancient world, the definition is: To seal shut, or to seal shut.  

Even further back were the Egyptian Pharoes, who used a signet Even back as far as Genesis 10:10 the tool was mentioned. It is believed that the forerunner of the ring was a cylindrical stamp that came from Uruk, as early as around 3500BC. 

Edward II was known for bring the signet into full use, with every paper had to have a symbol of the great seal or the privy seal. 

Men who had been given the grant to bear heraldic arms in the middle ages, had to have a signet, so that the papers they bore would have the seal of their office. 

The procedure of placing a seal was used for more than 600 years. It grew in favor during the 1600s, the use was changed in the mid 1800s and instead become used for sealing letters and personal papers.




 
 

 
 






References:

 Pritchard-Barrett, Bella. Signets and Cyphers, The History of Signet Rings.  retrieved October 7, 2016 from: http://signetsandcyphers.com/signet-history.html

Scripture Backdrops, Relavant Historical Insights into Scripture, Signet Rings. Retrieved October 7, 2016, from: http://www.bible-history.com/backd2/signet_ring.html



The Art of Ancient Egypt, Revised by Robins, 272 Pages, Pub. 2008

Types of Jewelry part 4-- Amulets

Did I happen to mention that I am writing about some odd pieces of jewelry this year?

There are so many types of jewelry out there, I wanted to cover some odd things that maybe we overlook... or maybe people already know so much about these pieces... that we don't even think about them anymore.

Today.. it's amulets.

When I was a kid... we had to learn about Egypt. Everybody does, right? So... what on earth could they have NOT taught over the years at school...

Well, jewelry for one. Oh, they touched on it, but didn't really tell you how the different jewelry related to daily life/religion. 

Amulets are an important object to some in their daily life even in modern society, but even more so in ancient societies. Not all people use amulets in the religious form, but the definition is an object that has power ascribed to it by it's owner. That power is to protect the owner from harm.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the amulet can be worn, carried, or offered to a deity.  In Ancient Egypt, the amulet might be worn as a necklace, as a bracelet, ring or carried.

 The amulets were also used in the burial ceremony. The amulet would be placed within the bandages to keep the departed from harm and to ensure safe passage to the afterlife.

An amulet can be made of any material, and have any symbol. The material used and the shape of the piece tell the story of it, even the color has great significance. Many amulets were made into shapes of animals.

In ancient Egypt, How were amulets used and what were they made of?

 As with all types of jewelry there are different types of amulets. Some were used in the death rituals, and represented the part of the body that it was to protect, like the The djed amulet-- or the backbone. It is shaped like what you would think, a bone. It represent the spine of Osiris, and when used in burial, it was placed on the neck, to help the body reconstitute itself.

The  Amulet doesn't have to be a representation of a specific body part, it can have meaning for something different than the look, such as the frog amulet... It represented the power of resurrection of Heqt the Frog-goddess... in Roman lore it was the symbol of Aphrodite and sometimes for Venus, and was a symbol of fertility.


Jewelry made with amulets varies widely... they were used in head bands, necklaces, bracelets... very beautiful work indeed.

By: John Campana Pectoral Jewelry of Senusret II

This is a pectoral piece, it is a necklace that features scarabs, which were the symbol for the Egyptian god Ra. who was often depicted as a scarab beetle or as a scarab beetle-headed man. The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day.

The scarab is the representation of a beetle, it has been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Other animals have been used, such as an owl, fox, snake, bear, cats, 

The scarab (or what is known as a dung beetle)  dedicated to the sun god Ra.  It was used widely in the funeral process because it was thought to be the "protector of the heart". 

Why would a dung beetle be chosen for such a symbol to an all important god?  The beetle lays it's eggs inside the dung of an animal, then rolls up the dung into a ball, then rolls the ball into the sun to be heated. This allows the eggs to mature and hatch. 

Nothing says I worship you like a beetle that rolls dung. 

Some of the materials used to carve the early amulets were lapis-lazuli, soapstone, carnelian, turquoise, feldspar, serpentine and steatite. 

Metals were used, in addition, gold being the most valuable, but copper, bronze and iron also were prized. Wood and bone were sometimes used.

Of all materials, however, the greatest number of amulets was made out of faience, which is a sintered-quartz ceramic, with surface vitrification creating a bright lustre. Of the color combinations that were made, the most common is blue/green.


In Jewish and Judeo-Christian beliefs, uses of amulets and other types of talisman are frowned upon, stating that they are superstitions of the East, in Isaiah 2:6.

But it didn't stop people from copying some forms of amulets... it made me wonder about the evil eye thing... you know, that symbol that is used in many Jewish pieces of jewelry.  Is that a direct descendant of  the hand of Fatima, also called the Hamsa, used in Eastern religions, It is thought to be from ancient Mesopotamia region.... so I did some research.

In the Jewish faith, this hand itself  is called the hand of Miriam,  The  Evil Eye (ayin ha-ra) In Jewish culture is according to   the site "MyJewishLearning.com that in the Babylonian Talmud,
                "...the notion developed that some persons do have this kind of baneful power and thereare  
                a number of superstitious practices to ward off the harmful effects of the evil eye, for
                example, spitting out three times when a person seems to be at risk.

the words  "bli ayin hara" in Hebrew mean "without an evil eye".

In Turkish, Nazaar (nazar boncuğu) (or in Old Turkikgökçe munçuk, meaning "blue bead"-- which makes sense to me and Nazur in Arabic-meaning sight)  means  an oval shaped amulet  that wards off evil eye... So this thing about a necklace or bracelet, or some type of eye type jewelry probably does come from this "blue bead eye" thing. And, the amulet thing is not quite a thing of the past.



references:

Raven, Dr. Maarten J. van, (2016, January 2).  Jewelry from Ancient Egypt. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from http://farlang.com/ancient-egyptian-jewelry-and-amulets

 Author unknown, . What Does God Say About People Who Use Amulets? Retrieved October 5, 2016 from: http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-does-god-say-about-people-who-use-amulets

Lemieux, E. (2012, August 15). How Were Ancient Egyptian Amulets Used? Retrieved October 5,2016, from http://wcma.williams.edu/blog/amulets/

Tut Exhibit - King Tutankhamun Exhibit, Collection: Jewelry - Djed Pillar representing King Tutankhamun-Read more: http://www.touregypt.net/museum/djedpillarpage.htm#ixzz4MLlRrlfi

 
Term Nazaar defined by Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_%28amulet%29

https://www.evileyestore.com/evil-eye-beads 

By tutincommon (John Campana) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10647023@N04/1594047510/in/set-72157602463107321/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5107288

Types of Jewelry part 3: Pedants, a Quick Look

Today is the 4th of October... and this is the fourth installment of writing about jewelry. It is going to be short today, I promise.
Yesterday, I began with Brooches, etc...when I realized there was quite enough information on one post, I realized  I didn't quite have time or room for the military symbols that are worn on lapels, hats, etc. This is something that is very fascinating and I don't want to do disservice to the subject, so I'll schedule the rest of it for later in the month, when I have time and space to do justice to an estimable subject.

Today, I wanted to touch on pendants. It really is going to be short. Pendants will be the subject off and on all month, so it's just a matter of clarifying what a pendant is.

A pendant is an ornament that is hung, usually from a chain around the neck or from a wire through the ear...

Pendant comes from Latin pendere, and french pendre... both mean to hang or to hang down.

Amulet
Locket
Talisman
Medallion
Pendilia
USB drive - Yes, this is a thing now.
Awards
ID
These are some of the types of pendants that we will look at this month.


Pendants can be made of any material. Shell, stone, wood, acrylic, vinyl, metal, glass. There is no limit in the imagination.

the left are pendants made from glass, glass beads, fossil stone, metal enameled, metal with stones set into it, and etched or engraved metal. 













These are rustic metal, different types of metal, steel, brass, copper, red brass

Some fun pendants: The zodiac, two Eastern symbol pendants, an Egyptian style, and a triangle with inlay

The Royal Scots ... more on this one later on this month!

I hope you enjoyed these few images. It is going to be a fun month!

Types of Jewelry Part 2- Brooches, Lapel Pins, Scarf Pins, Hatpins and Other Sharp Things

Admit it, you gotta love brooches. From the sparkly stone studded to the plain jane metal... brooches are fun to wear and can be quite beautiful.

Vintage brooches

My love of brooches, stick pins and hatpins came from my maternal grandmother who had an obsession with them I believe.  She had numerous jewelry boxes filled to the brim with every conceivable type of brooch you could imagine. Some were really nice, but most of them were rhinestone and not worth a lot back then... now? They bring a pretty penny.

Modern Brooches

I have a few of my grandmother's brooches, and some of her other costume jewelry... I don't think I have much in the way of expensive items, but I love them nonetheless.


Brooches have been around forever it seems, the historical data on them goes back to some of the first pieces of jewelry that existed. Probably because they were part of clothing... before buttons, zippers or hook and eyes. Men stuck a sharp object through leather to hold it up. It's thought that it was at first a thorn then it graduated... Bronze age saw utilitarian pieces being made of bronze, and were bow shaped.
 
 There are many examples of not only the bow shaped brooch but of the evolving of the styles of brooches.  There is a lot of technical lingo in the styles, but I'll put a link up for some extra reading at the bottom of the page.

 The basic shapes are:
 Bow- Round and bowed almost like a safety pin.
Annular - Round but not bowed.
Discoidal- solid plaque or ornament on face and simple pin and hook on back
Pen Annular- had a gap in the ring, attributed to the Celts. 
Spina- The Roman form was held with a thorn
Fibulae- One piece, 

Rustic scarf pin

From The Roman, Greeks, Etruscan, Briton, and Byzantines all had huge influence over the development of brooches... but in the early Christian period, there were great strides in the development of using symbols and inscriptions on brooches during the 5-6 century.  The Byzantines added the ornament to the jewelry. 

Later on, brooches grew in size, especially in the 17th century, when the size grew and enamels and amber were used to decorate.

A brooch is described as an ornament fastened to clothing by a hinged pin and clasp.
Lapel pin is a small pin worn on clothing usually a lapel.
Scarf pin is a decorative pin used to hold a scarf or tie in place...

Hat pins and pins for scarf decorations

Hat Pin... well, it's used to hold a hat in place... or just for decoration!

I make jewelry, so I have a few pieces that I've made myself, but more than that... I love and own some fun and funky... and sometimes nice pieces of jewelry. These hatpins are some that I like... I have made them for quite a while, since another love of mine is hats. I won't go into that here, but needless to say, if you love hats or like me, make hats... you need hat pins!

pins for holding fresh flowers

 Wearing fresh flowers doesn't have to mean they will wilt... these little vials are made to wear with a tiny bit of water and fresh flowers that will stay fresh for hours!

During the Victorian era, the brooch underwent a surge of popularity.

 The Queen wore them with style, even after the death of her husband, her mourning jewelry was made up of beautiful jet brooches. The  stones set into brooches of this period were made set with stones as varied as the material they were made from. Tortoise shell and mother of Pearl and rose gold, coral, ruby, emerald, sapphire, ivory, topaz, opals... to name a few.

Grouse Foot Pin

The Grouse Foot Pins are something that catch the attention. I have one... it's very plain anad the jewel is amethyst, not the prettiest stone in it, but it serves the purpose.  These pins are normally worn on a kilt when hunting... for grouse. The pins have been around for a long time, but documented they are only found from around the early 1800s.  An interesting thing is that some have inscriptions on them, and it's not what you might think in this Celtic nation...the word Mizpah, which is Hebrew. 

The term means literally, Watchtower. Mizpah has become known as remembrance... because of the verse in Genesis 31:49- ....The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. Or it also has the meaning of the covenant between Jacob and Laban... it was a an agreement of peace of sorts between the two.  (Genesis 31:25-55)

...So the stories abound about this type of pin... it is said that it was worn as a symbol to bring good luck to the hunt... it was also purported to be, when encrusted with a family crest or the word Mizpah, to show that the hunter had the blessing of the Laird to hunt on the property... 

Another is that it was worn in defiance of the Laird and his claim to the land...Kind of two ends of the spectrum here.   No matter what the symbol, the grouse or ptarmidgan foot  one of those types of jewelry that you have to have one in your collection.

Small Egyptian themed brooch from the 1920s

In the 1920s there was a boom in the mummy business. Egypt was a source for excitement and romantic adventures. The Pyramid of Giza was opened in 1922, and the whirlwind love affair with Egypt began. Women wore jewelry fashioned after the finds, or with carved stones, such as this one, that depicted scenes that are very reminiscent of Egyptian scenes. 

Throughout history, women have loved whimsical jewelry. Two of these brooches are made from jade, and are from the 1960s when jade was rather prolific. The third is a small ladybug pin that is not very old, just cute!

 These cute animal pins are made of various materials. The Scotty on the top left is steel with enamal, rhinestone, and acrylic. The little duo of Scotties are bakelite, one black, one white. The next Scottie is made of paper backing and glass beads with a small enamel on metal charm. The cat is vinyl, from an old record. I love making items that are different and fun to wear. The Bakelite is vintage, but cute and is fun. 

 

Bakelite and rhinestone with gold tone 1950s from Britain

Military hat pins

There is not enough space here to go into the hatpins and other types of lapel pins from the military. I think that subject will wait for another day, where there is enough space to do it justice.


An interesting site to visit is the Guyot Brothers Company, Inc. page, it is full of technical terms and history of brooches. Wonderful place to visit. 

  Another wonderful site is Scot Clans. It has numerous photos of the stone carvings depicting Pen-Annular type brooches, and a few of the relics that can be found in the National museum

And the National Museum of Scotland... which has some of the most beautiful antiquities of all. One of the magnificent finds displayed is the Hunterston brooch pictured above.  

Day 2- Bindi- My Odd Fascination with Eastern Jewelry

.

Bindi. No, not the famous daughter of the Alligator wrangler, but the jewelry worn by women in Hindu communities.

Courtesan Bani Thani as Radha with ornamental bindi 
spangle and maang tikka. ca. 1750

Today's subject is about a different type of jewelry. The origins and the meaning behind it. I’m going to try to see if I can bring some  light to this beautiful and exotic piece of jewelry... so bear with me.

This is a fascinating subject, and so much to cover…

One of the pieces of jewelry that has always captivated me is the Bindi... Some people would class this in with religious jewelry or prayer jewelry, since it is so deeply ingrained in the Hindu religion, however, many women wear it without the religious connotations.

 Bindis are what most people know as simply the red dot women in India wear. However, women in other countries wear this symbol…and, it goes a bit deeper than just the red dot. There is more meaning behind that little circle of vermillion that people don’t know or really don’t understand.And there is controversy over non-Hindu women wearing the symbol...

The Bindi (the word comes from the Sanskrit word, bindu),
is normally a dot in the middle of the forehead, close to the eyebrows that symbolizes the point at which creation begins or the third eye Chakra or the ajna, or sixth primary chakra, is believed to be in the center of a person’s forehead. In these traditions, the sixth chakra is imagined as being a union of two petals, presided over by the androgynous form of the deities Shiva and Parvati.

from Indiabazaar.net

This makes it a symbol of perfect union, without imbalance or compromise. By extension, forehead  jewelry is a representation of this symbolism, where the ornament decorating the headpiece is a physical symbol of the ajna chakra, and the union that it represents.… It represents the universe. The word comes from the Sanskrit word, bindu.

 The point where the bindi is placed is thought to be the seat of concealed wisdom…

The origins of the Bindi is thought to have come from the Vedic times, created as an aid to worship of one’s own intellect

The Vedic period was the time around 1500-500BC when the earliest of the Hindu scriptures are thought to have been written. Ancient and mystical, this period is when the religions of India and the whole region were developed. The Aryans came into the region bringing their beliefs which were melded into the

Women have traditionally worn the bindi, to symbolize their ------- but for many, especially for those that are wealthy, a piece of jewelry that is worn on the forhead to symbolize this center, the place where all things start.

If you are familiar with mandalas, you will know that there is a point, a dot where the mandala starts, this is the same as the bindi, or bindu… the center of existence…

I found this to be very interesting… the connotations that we hold the very beginning within our own mind, the starting and all the knowledge therein…

I think my fascination began with those old movies… where the beautiful woman wore the jewel in her nose and the bindi on her forehead… When I was a kid, I tried to put a rhinestone on my nose, it didn’t work so well, the back point of the pavillion rhinestone hurt… so I put it in my nostril. 

Needless to say, that didn’t work so well either. I ended up at the doctor needing extraction of said rhinestone! 

 But that fascination stayed with me. I love to see old movies and new, such as Bride and Prejudice (not quite new, it was released in 2004), where women wear the extraordinary jewelry. 

The Bindi,  if not stuck on the forehead with adhesive, is worn with a headpiece called a  "maang tikka", it is worn at wedding ceremonies and at formal occasions. 

The headpiece will usually be made from a single ornament with strings on either side. These strings normaly have hooks on the ends of them that allow them to be held up on the hair. Sometimes a tikka headpiece will be focused on a large, heavy jewel; other times they are light and delicate.

The name “maang tikka” is derived from the literal pieces of the design; the tikka rests on the forehead, while maang refers to the part in the hair where the string is held. The various designs and formations of the headpiece jewelry can be purely cosmetic, or can be specifically designed to hold religious and spiritual significance, such as the Bindi.

Recently, and probably for a long time, there have been celebrities wearing bindi while on tours or simply as a statement. Some people complain about wearing a religious symbol when the person is not of that religion… They say it is appropriation.

However… many women in predominantly Hindu countries wear the symbol without religious significance… So…  What is right?  Wearing a cross when you are not Christian is the same… Wearing a bear paw necklace or other ethnic type of jewelry… the jewelry has meaning for one and not for another…

What are your views?

Some interesting pictures, videos and shopping:

Bride and Prejudice (2004) Available on Amazon.com

1940 video on the region in India   Tamilnadu Village https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKk_GG6mM3U

1941 movie Sikandar – A movie set in the time of Alexander the Great  conquering Persia…Features some really magnificent jewelry. Great representations of necklaces, armlets, bracelets, crowns, breastplates, @ 33:01 is the very lovely Bindi, she also has on some great earrings, bracelets, necklace and rings… and again @ 37:50 a scene with some really great bindi and other jewelry.  Another Bindi  a great tiara, armlet, bracelets and rings are at 1:17:47

Also at 46:32 there is a wonderful example of a man wearing a symbol on his forehead. The necklace on the woman is magnificent as is the brooch that holds the cloak on the man… also notice the “friendship bracelets” that the women are tying onto the men’s wrists.  Also notice that the men are wearing necklaces, bracelets, earrings.

The sets on this movie are amazing, very elaborate… some early rap music J at 1:02:42 and some epic battle scenes!  Great movie to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yASqbt0NDk

A few examples in The Drum 1939

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XRxWs0XZOk

DesiClik has a wonderful assortment of Maang Tikka

Indiabazaar.net has some fun examples of bindi.



other blogs or sites to visit:
How to set a Tikka:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rd3T-nA6Zk

Bridal makeup/hair/jewelry:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuEEwRvuu0A

A really cool Sikh wedding:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNCJUdJXEKI
 http://rajeshcmehta.blogspot.in/2013/04/spiritual-meaning-of-mangal-sutra-bindi.html