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Wednesday
Jun302010

Hurricane Season...

Michelle just read out loud the weather report for the rest of the week and we are all tickled pink,  High’s in the 80’s…. it is practically October weather!  Of course, it is due to the hurricane out in the gulf that will land on Thursday, but still, we are “glass half-full kind of girls”.

Melissa is obsessed with the weather.  I went online today to check on the hurricane.  She leans over and asks me, “Are you reading the alert from the National Weather Center?” and I say yes and she proceeds to quote FROM MEMORY word for word the statement from the Weather Center.  Really.  Melissa, gemologist and weather girl.  

Marion scoffs at all of us and our weather worries.  She always brings up that she was born during the WWII blitz (this doesn’t quite jive with our weather concerns but it does make us feel a little bit like sissies).  Marion mocks the over-preparation and the excitement.  But it is well founded: Melissa had her roof torn off during Ike and Corky lost her family homestead during Katrina.  And remember Katrina did not hit New Orleans, it was the levies breaking, which is another problem to fear.

Hurricanes are scary things; but nothing takes the drama away like panicking, stocking your pantry, filling your bath tubs and washing machine, topping off the tank of your car, and then having the storm veer at the last minute and only experiencing five minutes of sprinkles.  It does feel like over-kill, frankly, but hey… we all know what happened during Katrina (just ask Corky).  And I rather feel like a moron for over-preparing than like a moron stuck on my roof while the floodwaters rush in. 

We have these conversations every hurricane season.  I think it gives us a little thrill.  And we enjoy the occasional argument.  We are such a harmonious little group.  Sometimes you need a dispute to liven up the monotony.

- Cristina
Thursday
Jun242010

Twilight Delights

We have a couple of bonafide die-hard “Twiheads” on staff.  I shudder to admit it, but I am one of them.  And I LOVE the fact that since Edward was born in 1901 he proposes to Bella with an antique ring.  How cool is that?!  

As soon as they started showing previews for Eclipse I started searching for the image of the ring they would use for the proposal in the movie.  And I admit, I am disappointed. The ring they are showing in the movie follows the author’s description accurately (gold oval diamond cluster) but it is not very pretty and it is definitely not antique!  Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, describes the ring like this:

“Nestled into the black satin, Elizabeth Masen’s ring sparkled in the dim light. The face was a long oval, set with slanting rows of glittering round stones. The band was gold — delicate and narrow. The gold made a fragile web around the diamonds.”
-Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer

She describes a typical late Victorian or early Edwardian diamond cluster ring.  Being an antique jeweler, I envision bead-set Old Mine or Old European-cut diamonds set onto a narrow shank with a gallery defined with delicate open-work.  Much like these (none of these are oval, but trust me on this- they make more sense):


Side view:

Rings made in this time period were delicate.  A great example is the ring in the center of these photographs.  This is a substantial ring measuring 3/4 of an inch long with 3.5 carats total weight of diamonds.  Even though it is substantial, the ring is very fine with beautiful openwork in the under-gallery so the diamonds have very little metal to interfere with the sparkle.  All three of these rings suit the image of the ring in the book. and they are from the right time period to have belonged to Edward’s mother.  

Thanks for indulging this particular obsessed Twilight fan. Can you blame me for blogging about this?   Maybe the moviemakers will read this and give Bella an appropriate ring for Breaking Dawn… call me, movie people, I have the ring for you…

- Cristina
Saturday
May012010

May New Goods

 

Marion has just returned from a European buying trip…with some beautiful new things!!!

Visit our New Arrivals page or pop into the shop for a little look-see.

 

There is a lot in the shop that isn’t on the website yet! If you send us an email and tell us what kind of things float your boat, we are happy to send you a personal preview via email if you can’t get to the shop.

Saturday
May012010

May Email and Mother's Day Party!

 

 

Please join us in celebration of

Mother’s Day!

 

Champagne and Chocolates

and Beautiful Jewelry

Saturday, May 8, 2010

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Past Era Antique Jewelry

2311 Westheimer

Houston, Texas

77098

Saturday
May012010

Best Kept Secret in Town

I started working for Past Era Antique Jewelry in 2008.   I am totally embarrassed to say that before I walked into our store I had never heard of Past Era Antique Jewelry.  I was hired to do the advertising and marketing of our fabulous store and I will not stop until everyone knows about us.

 

I had been in real estate for 32 years, but I have always loved jewelry.  I have to admit when I first looked at our jewelry I had no idea what rock crystal, alexandrite or gunmetal was. I didn’t know Georgian jewelry from Edwardian jewelry.  I have been a history buff all of my life and I am now in Jewelry History Heaven.  Every piece of jewelry in our store is identified by our gemologists and owner and dated as to time of origin.  I can just imagine who wore the jewelry we sell (always a grand duchess or a queen in my imagination).  I must admit, the older the jewelry, the more I want to own it.  Pictured here is the ring of my dreams, which is a Georgian memorial ring featuring a faceted and foil-backed, rock crystal supported by a scrolling, black-enameled shank, probably English dated 1754.

 

- Corky