All is Not What It Seems

In a past post, I wrote about how the 1854 gold standard was lowered. As a result of this change in the amount of gold required for jewelry to be officially 'gold', gold items became easier to make. Before that govenment issue however, jewelers creatively developed a way to make gold jewelry appear to have more gold than it did:

The following is from this site:http://antiquesshop.org/victorianjewlery.htm

The Romantic period (1837-1860) in Victorian jewelry was sparked by the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840. Since the supply of gold was inadequate at that time, thin sheets of gold were worked upon to impart the illusion of mass and size to the jewels of the early Romantic period.

It seems more research must be gathered in order to make a full understanding of what happened then. Time will tell!

Of Silver at Tiffany's and Queen VIctoria's Engagement Ring

Tiffany's opened in 1837 (the year Queen Victoria was crowned!) The company only started selling silver ten years later, at which time the artistic silversmith Edward C. Moore joined Tiffany's as a contractor. Later, he became a full time employee in 1868.

On February 10, 1840 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were married. They gave away more than five dozen rings with Victoria's profile engraved on them, at the ceremony. Pretty neat idea huh.

The Queen's engagement ring was that of a snake, with an emerald, as it was an acceptable thing to use a birthstone as one's engagement gem. The snake motif was thought to be a symbol of eternal love, and good luck. That's quite a different idea from what it is now!

On a side note, in 1901 (the year of Victoria's death), on the date that would be their anniversary, the actress Stella Adler was born.