Historical Relics Repurposed into Jewelry
One theme that emerged at the AGTA, GJX, and Pueblo shows was the repurposing of historical artifacts to produce new jewelry items. We saw the incorporation of Chinese, Greek, Viking, and medieval European artifacts into various jewelry pieces at all three shows. Many attendees were drawn to the idea of having a connection to the past in a wearable form.
At GJX, Sarosi by Timeless Gems (Los Angeles) exhibited eye-catching carved mother-of-pearl jewelry (figure 1). While the sheer beauty of the pieces initially caught the authors’ attention, the craftsmanship and story behind them enabled this collection to stand out among a sea of designs. At the center of all the pieces in the collection were hand-engraved mother-of-pearl Chinese gaming counters, once used like modern-day gambling chips. The eighteenth-century counters were commissioned by British royalty and nobility during the Qing Dynasty. Most were engraved on one side with family crests or monograms, with the reverse side illustrating some aspect of Chinese life. The counters were surrounded by a combination of 18K yellow gold, polished sterling silver, and blackened sterling silver, handcrafted by jewelers in Los Angeles to evoke traditional Chinese architecture.
In the AGTA designer showroom, Zaffiro (Walla Walla, Washington) devoted a section of their case to their artifact collection, comprising sixth- to fifteenth-century Viking, Anglo-Saxon, and European medieval relics that they incorporated into jewelry (figure 2). These one-of-a-kind pendants integrate actual buried treasure purchased from a reputable auction house in the UK. Zaffiro founders Jack and Elizabeth Gualtieri explained that they like to use items from before the advent of the printing press. Many of the antiquities, originally used to decorate items such as belts, clothing, and horse tack, have retained their original gilding. The Gualtieris set the artifacts in 22K gold frames or rivets and decorate with granulation, sometimes accenting the pieces with colored stones. The appeal of these pieces is in the stories that they tell.
Back at the GJX show, Shans Premier (New York City) offered a large selection of antiquities, including coins in addition to colored stones and jewelry. This multi-generational business has been dealing in antiquities for more than 100 years and in the U.S. for about 40 years. This was their thirtieth year in Tucson. They typically sell more gemstones at U.S. shows, but in Tucson they have a strong following for their antiquities.
Sason Shan described a particularly intriguing pendant incorporating one of the most circulated coins from the height of classical Greek civilization: the silver Athenian owl tetradrachm (figure 3). This surprisingly heavy coin was used throughout the ancient world around the time of the Peloponnesian War. Greece minted enormous quantities of these coins using silver from Laurion. Worth several days’ wages, they were too valuable for basic transactions (R.A. Augustin, “Ancient coins – The most famous coin of antiquity – The Athenian owl,” Coin Week, 2022, accessed February 10, 2024, https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins-famous-coin-antiquity/).
With sustainability at the forefront of many consumers’ minds, these upcycled designs extend the life of antiquities, allowing them to be displayed for many years to come.
