Romancing the Stone

I recently joined the Arts Society (formerly NADFAS) and attended my first lecture in the beautiful Georgian town hall in Devizes. What a treat! Joanna Hardy delivered a lecture entitled 'Romancing the Stone' which was a fascinating insight into her work as a Jewellery expert (http://www.joannahardy.com/ ). Her lecture varied from visits to the Colombian emerald mines to the Middleham Jewel and the tiara worn by Princess Eugenie at her recent wedding. Lent to the Princess by her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, the bandeau-style tiara is part of the Queen’s personal jewellery collection, having been bequeathed to her mother in 1942. It is known as the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara after the woman who commissioned it, The Honourable Mrs. Margaret Greville.

The value of emeralds stems, in part, from their scarcity: they are over 20 times rarer than diamonds - a consequence of the extraordinary conditions required to create them. Today most emeralds are mined in Colombia, Brazil and Zambia, and then sent to Jaipur, the emerald capital of the world, where artisans cut and polish them. Long before you encounter an emerald, it has been on a long and magnificent journey.

Much of the wonder and awe relates to the gem's color. In normal lighting conditions, the human eye responds most strongly to yellowish-green light. Natural light, including sunlight and candlelight, also happens to be at its most intense at this point of the visible spectrum.

Joanna has over 30 years' experience working with jewellery, beginning her career as a goldsmith before joining De Beers as a rough diamond valuer. She then went to work in Antwerp as a polished diamond dealer before joining Philips the auctioneers in London and then Sotheby’s in Bond Street. Joanna has recently launched an online Jewellery Foundation Course, curates contemporary jewellery selling exhibitions, is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, a Freeman of the City of London, a Liveryman and Court Assistant of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a regular jewellery specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow. She has also recently appeared on Celebrity MasterChef - tasting the food!

As Joanna says, the diamond industry has done a good job educating people but many of us are unsure about coloured gems. She has made it a recent passion to educate people about emeralds, sapphires and rubies. I was fascinated by her tale of the Middleham Jewel - a huge sapphire - so named when it was rediscovered near Middleham Castle in Yorkshire in 1985 by a metal-detectorist – who at first thought it was a powder-compact – the jewel is an exquisite example of a London goldsmith’s work of about 1450–75. No mere fashion accessory, though, the imagery-rich Jewel was once also packed with something doubtless regarded as still more valuable: a holy relic. Its back slides open to reveal four fragments of gold-embroidered silk. What these are, or whether they were its original contents, remains a mystery. It is likely, however, that the Jewel also protected its wearer against the dangers of childbirth, that greatest hazard to medieval women of all classes.

The Jewel was clearly made for a great lady. It is the only survivor of similarly shaped adornments frequently depicted as being worn on necklaces by English noblewomen in the late 15th century.

The most likely candidate, as the historian John Cherry has noted, is Anne Beauchamp (1426–92), widow of ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’ and mother-in-law of Richard III. Renowned for her enthusiastic and helpful attendance at various childbirths, Anne was almost certainly at Middleham Castle in 1473 when Prince Edward, Richard’s short-lived only son, was born. An exact replica of the Jewel is now back at Middleham where I saw it just over a month ago! (see blog post 28th September: Nevilles of the North). The original is displayed in the Yorkshire Museum, York. (English Heritage).

Joanna has visited emerald mines in Colombia & Zambia and ruby mines in Burma and Mozambique, always trying to make sure the local people are respected and well-treated, and we saw fascinating footage of her trips.

Her passion for rubies is the subject of her book Ruby: the King of Gems in which she follows the path of rubies as they were traded along the Silk Route and then takes you on her travels to the ruby mines. She has also written a similar book on emeralds.

My mother was a great lover of emeralds and I have to admit, I left the lecture hall really wanting to own one! I have checked and the Emerald Wedding Anniversary is 55 years so I only have 10 years to wait!