There are several important matters to be considered in the preservation of jewelry. Although all stones may grow temporarily dull from the accretion of dirt and grime, or even from a soapy film added by the attempt to clean them, most stones endure indefinitely. Most jewelry, however, does not, simply because it becomes old-fashioned.
The Old and the Antique
If jewels are old-fashioned for a long enough time, they may become antique. Antique jewelry has historical or traditional value and may be worn with great effect on certain occasion—it should not, of course, be mixed with jewels of other periods. There is a vast difference between something that is antique and something that is merely old. As out-of-date furniture makes a room look old-fashioned, out-of-date jewelry makes a woman look old.
The stones in these outmoded jewels are as good as ever they were. Indeed, they have quite possibly grown more valuable through the years. Not only are they as beautiful as when first worn but they are enhanced by the years of sentiment which have cast their special aura around them. It is the piece as a whole, the design that frames the stone, that has become old-fashioned. The obvious thing to do is to have it remodelled.
Old Jewelry with New Possibilities
The immediate problem with regard to remodelling is the man. A husband may be loving and generous, but in proportion as he is, he is likely also to be sentimental. Few men recognize, or at least admit, the fact that man is the sentimental sex. A husband may occasionally ask his wife why she is not wearing a jewel he gave her years ago. He would of course resent her telling him she no longer cared for it. And he would probably be a little bewildered and resentful if she told him bluntly that it is out-of-date. A simple process of education might make him see how the old one can again be made part of the currently usable treasures.
The fact that the jewel is not disregarded but is cherished as a sign of the bond of love that led to its purchase should please any husband. But no man wants his loved one to look older than necessary, any more than he would not want her wearing knee-length skirts when all around the skirts come half a foot closer to the ground.
When the jewel was first chosen, although the design was doubtless appropriate to the times, the basic consideration was the beauty of the gems, their intrinsic value, and what they could do to beautify the woman for whom they were selected. These things have not changed. Nor has the woman’s love for them, nor—we have assumed—her love for the donor. But the brightness of the design has faded. Remodelling with a fresh design will put a new jewel in the ear and a new sparkle in the eye. The old sentiment will be refurbished, the old love will gleam anew.
The Contemporary Jewels
It is surprising how, though the stones themselves remain unchanged, remodelling can create an entirely new jewel. Many an old-fashioned piece now in a safety vault, sheltered from all but the dust of time, can be given a beautiful modern setting and restored to an active place in one’s evenings. Modern design not only can give the precious stones a new styling, but can bring out their beauty as it never shone before.
Even the solitaire diamond, simplest of jewels and seemingly most constant in fashion, can be given a helpful face-lifting. Higher settings have been devised which permit the light to radiate more fully from all angles of the facet surfaces. The powers of reflection of which we know more now than in former years are thus used in additional interplays of light.
Modern Movement
A piece of jewelry made some years ago is likely to be symmetrical. This type of design contains a quiet beauty. The great classical statues are symmetrical; that is, if a vertical line is drawn down from the middle of the forehead, the body will be equally distributed on each side; an arm thrust forward is balanced by a leg held back. Thus all is in equipoise, calm and quiet.
But the modern figure in marble, bronze or other material, by some subtle shifting of the balance will be out of equilibrium. The sculptor Rodin has a great figure of John the Baptist, taking a giant stride—with both feet flat on the ground. This, some may exclaim, is an anatomical impossibility. Precisely! In Rodin’s statue, as the eye flicks from one foot to the other, the figure has taken the step! By this and other sorts of manipulation, the modern sculptor endows his figures with expectant motion.
The comparison of jewelry with sculpture is especially apt, for the three-dimensional jewelry of today presents a challenge to the sculptor. Some of the great sculptors of all times have worked with the precious metals; some of the jewel designers have had training with sculptors’ materials and tools. I have often been gratified that I graduated from the Vienna Academy of Arts and Crafts as a sculptor, and many of my jewels I consider examples of the sculptor’s art.
It is, then, fair to say that the jewelry of our grandmothers was conceived somewhat as a mid-nineteenth century picture, symmetrical, flat, and often stiff, whereas the jewelry of today is built out into three dimensions. There are three keynotes of modern jewelry design: height, airiness and grace of movement. Literally as well as emotionally, a modern jewel is a moving work of art.
It is naturally impossible to indicate all the designs in which jewelry can be remodelled. In considering the separate types of jewel, from earclips to brooches, I have indicated what is becoming to various personalities. Beyond this, there must be the judgment of good taste, based on the need and the jewels with which the newly fashioned one will be worn, whether of a classical, modern or neutral (such as a flower) motif. Beyond all these, it must be recognized that remodelling jewelry calls first for the imagination of the artist and then for the skill of the craftsman. The wearer or the purchaser—or both—may have ideas, but they should be put to the test through the eyes of an experienced jeweler.
The Jeweler as Artist
It is an easy matter to select a jeweler when one is purchasing something new. A woman may just window-shop along the avenue, then drift into a reliable store. She finds a jewel she likes and her husband does not object to the price.
With a remodelling project, there are many more concerns. From the purely practical point of view, the woman must be sure the jeweler is thoroughly reliable. He has to remove the gems from their setting. He must clean, count, weigh, and register them, and see that she gets the same stones back. The jeweler must be not a salesman but an experienced craftsman, able to recognize the possibilities inherent in the stone. He should be able to visualize various new settings and to decide in which of these the stone will be most favorably dressed. He should have a flair for fashion, so that the new setting, while up to the minute, does not quickly grow behind the times.
The designer should be one to whom each jewel is a new challenge. The problem must engage his enthusiasm, must make him eager to create, out of the piece of jewelry he is shown, something more beautiful and more becoming. He must look upon his task with a sense of responsibility akin to that of the old master of the guild, who gloried not in his wealth but in the competence of his craftsmen. In short, whatever the financial transactions involved, the person who is to be entrusted with the remodelling of a jewel should regard it not as a merchant but as an artist.
Varied Stones
It may be a good idea to complement the existing stones in a jewel with some extra stones of different cut. Diamonds of special or fancy cut add a modern note at once, for in previous years the use of such stones was virtually unknown. In all likelihood, the jewel will be enhanced by the addition of some baguette diamonds. This cut makes a most versatile gem. It has been incorporated into virtually every modern jewel that makes use of precious stones, for it gives the designer scope for otherwise unattainable modulations. By using stones of such fancy or varied cut, the jeweler achieves in his creation contrasts in the reflection of the light that give new play to the sparkle and new depth and beauty to the jewel.
Varied Treatment
It is by no means necessary for the woman who takes a jewel to be remodelled to think of the new piece in terms of the same sort of jewel. “Once a gentleman always a gentleman,” said Dickens, and a good thing if it were so. But it does not follow that “Once an earclip always an earclip” is an equally desirable or inevitable pattern, or that a bracelet should be condemned to endure forever as a band around the arm.
The stones from a pair of earrings may well be remodelled into the center stones of a bracelet. An old bracelet, on the other hand, may become a parure: earclips, dress or hair clip, and a ring. An old pendant may have stones that can be beautifully reset as earclips and a brooch, and countless other variations and transformations need little more than the imagination and the desire.
Remodelling of Watches
Many a bureau drawer or jewel box holds more than one discarded wrist watch. The setting may be of diamonds or other gems, but the style is passé. This jewel may be brought out and remodelled into a fresh and beautiful piece.
It should not, however, be thought of as the centerpiece in a gold bangle bracelet. Set against the stiff gold, it will not be improved, but will the more clearly proclaim that it is old-fashioned. Instead, the jeweler should consider the possibility of centering the diamond wrist watch in an important diamond and pearl bracelet. If the watch movement is still in good condition, the watch can be incorporated in the bracelet so cleverly that the functional aspect of the timepiece will be wholly subordinate to, if not lost in, the beauty of the jewel.
Adding Pearls
Pearls are perhaps the most adaptable of reformers among the gems. The addition of cultured pearls can be most helpful in restoring the beauty of an outmoded jewel. If the diamonds in the old piece are not many or not large, and a more important or imposing jewel is desired—without the purchase of new precious stones—the jeweler should be able to suggest various new designs in which the sole additions are cultured pearls.
Even the engagement ring is susceptible to flattering new treatment. The fact that the band may have grown too small provides a good occasion for remodelling. In a dome-shaped arrangement of cultured pearls the centered solitaire becomes a more significant gem, never more precious but considerably more imposing.
Infinite Riches in a Little Room
Thus the little old jewel is capable of infinite surprises. The woman who has never had one of her jewels remodelled just has to admire a new piece of one of her friends and be told it is an old one remodelled: “Remember that diamond brooch I used to wear?” Remembering the “before” and beholding the “after,” a woman’s eyes will light with a new recognition. The old jewels were, in the main, massy with metals. The new ones are graced with an airy technique of jewel design. It is no commercial slogan but experienced truth that the light modern patterns make the jewel more beautiful and the wearer more gracefully young. And the husband, who was last to yield and permit that “waste of time and money” called a remodelling, will be the first to sense the new beauty and importance of the jewel, and to extend his admiring praise. He will be touched that the old stones, with their sentimental attachment, meant enough for them still to be desired as current jewels; he will be delighted that the remodelling has brought new ornaments at the cost of merely the setting, not the stones; and by the effect on the jewel and on the wearer, he will be entranced.