Your wedding ring is a symbol of eternal love between marriage partners - it shines in the wedding photographs, and it is the first thing your guests will want to look at. Sadly most wedding rings do not stay shiny and new – after ten years, many gold rings are dented and scratched with no shine. Did you know that titanium is an option for your wedding ring?

Titanium was first discovered in England in 1791 by Reverend William Gregor. It is named after the Titans, a race of powerful deities who ruled during the legendary Golden Age. The metal is produced in its highest quantity in Australia, and is prized for its strength and light weight. This makes it very suitable for anyone involved in manual work, as it will stand up to wear much better than gold. It is also a hypoallergenic material, making it suitable for sensitive skin.

Until recently, Titanium was most likely to be used in high tech fields such as space and medical fields – if you wear lightweight glasses, they probably contain Titanium. In jewellery, the use of titanium is a new innovation. Jewellers are just learning that the metal is easy to work with and makes for some very beautiful jewellery. You should be able to find Titanium wedding rings in a variety of designs and styles, set with stones and also inlaid with other precious metals. If your Matchmaker found you a rich spouse, you can set your titanium ring with diamonds or emeralds.

The good news is that it usually costs less than the equivalent version in other precious metals. Matrimonial experts will normally advise against trendy wedding rings – as anyone sporting a wide wedding band from the seventies now realises. However, the look of a Titanium wedding ring is not radically different from gold or platinum but it has so many advantages – lower or average cost, high tensile strength, scratch resistance, and it is hypoallergenic.

Of all the things in your wedding day budget, your wedding ring is the most permanent. The bridal dress will probably gather dust in a box or go to a charity shop, flowers are gone in a few days, the cake might last until the birth of your first child. The ring, however, is here forever as a reminder of your love match. And if your matrimonial arrangement does go wrong, remember that titanium is a stronger material as you take aim to throw it at your beloved!

Ever thought of owning a celebrity jewellery piece yet doing charity at the same time? The SIJS Celebrity Jewellery Charity Online Auction will be conducted on www.ebay.com from 23 June – 2 July 2006, in conjunction with the second presentation of the Singapore International Jewellery Show 2006. Partnering Ebay for the first time, some of Singapore’s best-loved celebrities and well-known personalities with the likes of Angela May, Amy Cheng, Ericia Lee, Fiona Xie, Irene Ang, Joanne Peh, Stefanie Sun and Steph Song, will be putting their favourite jewellery items up for auction on the global online marketplace.

A targeted amount of SGD$10,000 is expected from the sale of the charity auction. All bids start at SGD$1 with entire proceeds donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

The meaning of the word Diamond - very hard native crystalline carbon valued as a gem, not a very glamorous description of something so beautiful.

The word "diamond" comes from the Greek word "Adams," meaning unconquerable. Diamonds are the hardest known substances on earth being one hundred and forty times harder then its nearest equal., which is how they earned their name. Because of their strength, they were initially used for such purposes as engraving other gems, such as sapphire, cameos, and for drilling holes in hard stone beads. In France in the thirteenth century only the king could wear diamonds. They were not used as jewellery in Europe until the late 13th century.

They were born about 3.4 billion years ago and only became available to man through volcanic eruption about 70 million years ago. Not all diamonds mined are of gem quality, only about 50%.

Even fewer are large enough to be polished into diamonds that are much bigger than the head of a match.

Before the sixth century India was the only known source of diamond and the predominant source for over 2,000 years, until the mid eighteenth century. Romans inherited the belief from Indian mythology. that diamonds had the power to ward off evil and wore talismans.

In Greek mythology diamond were said to be tears of the Gods. Whatever the meaning the evolution of this dazzling jewellery is awesome. Who would believe that one of the softest materials on earth, carbon, changes into a beautiful sparkling diamond? Mind you this happens between 75 to 120 miles below the earth’s surface.

Often said to be a girl’s best friend. You can understand why, they have adorned kings, queens, and movie stars, dazzled us all by their beauty and when fashioned into an engagement or eternity ring the diamond becomes a symbol of love, romance and commitment. Although diamonds are perceived as a white colourless gem, they actually come in a spectrum of colour, these are called "fancies”.

Diamonds are measured in Carat-weight. The standard measurement for diamond size is equal to 200 milligrams. A good one-carat diamond is one in a million. It takes 250 tons of ore to retrieve a 1ct diamond (cut weight), awesome statistics that is why it takes several years of training before an apprentice is authorised to cut 1ct diamonds. Cutting diamonds, as you would imagine is a highly skilled and specialised occupation.

Unlike gold diamonds don’t carry a hallmark and that is why in order to guarantee quality you can buy a certified diamond.

Being certified by an independent laboratory the quality and characteristics of your diamond are guaranteed. The report should confirm that:

- The stone is a natural diamond
- The carat weight of the stone
- It's colour
- It's clarity
- The cut of the diamond

Diamonds are for eternity. A sign of wealth they can be passed from generation to generation growing in value never losing their appeal and bonding the link between past and future.

As other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. And when it is alloyed with supplementary metals the term carat or karat is used to specify the amount of gold present, with 24 carats being pure gold and lower ratings being proportionally less. The purity of a gold bar can also be written as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995.

Carat and gold price

Carat is a measure of the purity of gold and platinum alloys. One carat is one twenty-fourth purity by its weight. Thus 24-carat gold is pure gold (99.99%); 12-carat gold is 50% purity, et cetera. In the United States and Canada, the word karat is typically used for the measure of purity, while carat is referring to the measure of mass.

The carat system is gradually more being complemented or superseded by the millesimal fineness system where the purity of precious metals is denoted by parts per thousand of pure metal in the alloy.

The most frequent carats used for gold in bullion, jewellery making and goldsmith are:

24 carat (millesimal fineness 999), 22 carat (millesimal fineness 916), 20 carat (millesimal fineness 833), 18 carat (millesimal fineness 750), 16 carat (millesimal fineness 625), 14 carat (millesimal fineness 585), 10 carat (millesimal fineness 417) and 9 carat (millesimal fineness 375).

The open market gold price

The gold prices is determined on the open market, but a procedure recognized as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in 1919; provide a twice-daily benchmark figure to the industry.

The historically gold price

Historically gold was used to back currency in an economic system recognized as the gold standard a certain weight of gold was given the name of a unit of currency. For a long period, the United States government set the value of the US dollar so that one troy ounce was equivalent to $20.67 ($664.56/kg), but in 1934 the dollar was revalued to $35.00 per troy ounce ($1125.27/kg). And by 1961 it was becoming harder to uphold this price, and a pool of US and European banks agreed on manipulating the market to stop further currency devaluation against increased gold demand.

On 17 March 1968, economic conditions caused the collapse of the gold pool, and a two-tiered pricing scheme was established and gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce ($1.13/g) but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to rise and fall; this two-tiered pricing system was discarded in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find its free-market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a store of value even though the level has generally been declining. The biggest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

The wearing of jewellery has been with us across the ages with both men and women seeking to adorn their persons with these ornamental devices. The word jewellery is anglicised from an old French word “joule” (jewel), but the origin can be further traced back to the Latin word “jocale” which means plaything.

Although we typically think of jewellery as being made from precious metals and gemstones, over the centuries it has been made from a variety of materials such as cloth, wood, shells, rocks and stone. In fact man has been very ingenious and artistic in creating jewellery from just about anything and in many different styles from the plain and simple to the highly elaborate.

Items of jewellery have also been adopted as potent symbols and even worn to ward off evil spirits or to help overcome enemies in battle.

Examples of jewellery being worn other than for adornment, are necklaces such as the cross or crucifixes worn by Christians as potent religious symbols. Other religious types of necklaces are pendants known as amulets, which are figures or symbols of varying shapes and sizes, which are hung on a chain round the neck.

Necklaces called lockets, which are usually heart shaped are worn as a symbol of love and open up to reveal a picture or lock of hair from a cherished one.

Necklaces and pendants are both worn around the neck but a pendant usually means a hanging object although it can be hanging from a neck chain or an earring. A choker is also a form of necklace but is worn high around the neck and can also have a pendant hanging from it.

Perhaps the most bizarre form of necklaces are those worn by the Pa Dong Long Neck people who are part of the Karen tribal group that live along the border between Thailand and Burma. From the age of 6 years old, brass rings are snapped around the necks of young girls, a few every year, up to a limit of 20 rings although there is a woman on record as having 28 around her neck. As they progress from childhood to womanhood, their necks appear to elongate although apparently what really happens is that the weight of the rings crushes the women’s collarbones giving the illusion of a very long neck.

It is said that these women only remove the brass rings on their wedding night with a long drawn out process involved, which involves much neck washing. As brass often tends to discolour the skin one can imagine that there may be a rather nasty green mess under those rings. After the wedding night, the rings are replaced and must remain in place for life, as the women’s neck muscles are now no longer strong enough to support the length of the neck and the weight of the head on their own.

This wearing of neck rings was also a practice adopted by women in South Africa and in particular those from the Ndebele tribe and these women have often been referred to as giraffe women because of their long necks. The Ndebele women traditionally wore copper and brass rings around their necks arms and legs as a symbol of their status in society and after marriage as a symbol of her bond and faithfulness to her husband. Husbands would provide their wives with these rings and the richer her spouse the more rings she would wear and they would only be removed after his death as they were believed to have strong ritual powers.

Throughout time, man has sought to decorate the human body and this has manifested as body painting, tattoos, piercing and for those a little squeamish or less brave, decoration by the wearing of adornments generally know as jewelry.

In ancient times, jewelry may have been simple pieces made from natural materials such as shells plucked from the seashore or pebbles worn smooth and polished by years of being tumbled along the sea or river bed. These would have been strung together perhaps as necklaces or wrist pieces as early examples of a charm bracelet. Nature gives up so many beautiful things that can be used to make items such as earrings, rings, bracelets, hair pieces and so the list goes on.

Skilled craftsmen would have laboured for many hours intricately carving small pieces of bone, ivory or wood to fashion exquisite unique pieces of jewelry, no two of which would ever be the same.

To ancient man, jewelry was not just decorative but very symbolic and the wearer often held the belief that these trinkets were lucky, that they would ward off evil spirits or that they would even help them defeat their enemies in battle.

To the Romans and Ancient Egyptians the wearing of jewelry and the type of jewelry worn was a direct indication of a persons standing in the community. Large heavy ornate pieces forged from solid precious metals such as gold, encrusted with precious or semi precious gemstones were a sign to say – look how rich and important I am.

Styles and materials may have changed over time but the wearing of jewelry has always been a practice adopted by both men and women.

Over the years there has even been functional jewelry such as the medical alert items, which have saved many peoples lives. Identity type bracelets worn by a person who has a medical condition or requires vital medication have helped medical personnel decide on appropriate treatment when faced with a person who has been rendered incapable of communicating because of for instance an accident.

Over recent years, popular items have been the brightly coloured rubber bracelets sold in aid of various charities, which demonstrate that the wearer supports that cause and has donated money to help raise funds for that cause. Some traditionalists may not regard these strictly as being jewelry although who said that the article had to be expensive or made from precious metals to qualify for the name.

In modern times, we have seen a huge increase in the type and variety of jewelry available and the discovery of new strong and lightweight metals such as titanium or other alloys has given rise to new many new possibilities. Man made materials such as acrylics and plastics also lend themselves very well to the manufacture of affordable, colourful jewelry and in the shops you can see many examples of wonderful, bright and modern fun items, to be worn on any occasion as the mood takes.
Whilst most of us choose to spend a little extra on that special piece of jewelry such as our wedding rings, we now have an endless choice of less expensive everyday jewelry which we can change to suit our mood or match our outfit.

Who knows what the future holds with regard to the designs and materials we will have at our disposal to make attractive pieces of jewelry to be worn by both men and women. One thing is for certain and that is that there will be a never ending supply with something to suit all tastes and all budgets from the most traditional to the most contemporary.

Vintage style engagement rings are a popular choice for brides who love the romantic Victoria era or the ornate settings of antique design. Vintage style engagement rings can be true antiques or they can be modern creations fashioned after the old style rings of another era.

Finding a Vintage Style Engagement Ring

There are jewellery designers who will create a vintage style engagement ring for you from a new design. They may already have several on display or in their portfolio from which you can choose. However, if you want to find a genuine antique diamond ring, you can often find them at estate sales and auctions.

The Internet has made accessing estate sales and auctions from all around the world easily accessible to couples anywhere. You need to be careful of some online auctions and choose to deal only with the most well-known and reputable auction sites. You are dealing with an expensive item that could easily be represented as something it is not online. Good auction sites with authenticate it’s buyers and sellers and provide a means for users to rate and comment on the goods and services they have received.

If you find a vintage style setting at an auction or estate sale and don’t think the diamond is up the size or quality, it is easy enough to replace it with a new diamond of your choice. Since diamonds can be purchased as loose stones, separate from any setting, you don’t need to limit your purchase of a vintage style engagement ring simply because you don’t like the stone.

You don’t even need to limit yourself to rings that were previously engagement rings. You can choose any ring setting you like and turn it into your own custom engagement ring. Other jewellery works well for this idea too. Large vintage earrings can be fashioned into a ring, have a diamond set it them and then they instantly become one of the most beautiful vintage style engagement rings.

The origins of the Celts dates back to prehistoric times when they emerged as a group of loosely knit tribes with a common culture and language.

Celtic settlements stretched from Turkey and the Balkans right across Western Europe. But it was the rise of the Roman Empire that would expose the lack of cohesion between the various Celtic tribes and would lead to them being overrun, expelled from their territories and being pushed back to the western fringes of the continent.

Although the ancient Celts flourished across Europe, it is in Ireland where their traditions have been most preserved.

One aspect of this culture that still survives today is the artwork and this is most commonly seen in jewellery such as celtic wedding rings.

Their artwork was believed to be very symbolic often being based on nature using images of birds and animals and fish. The Celts believed firmly in the interconnectedness of all life and produced the familiar Celtic Knots, which are interlaced patterns with no beginning and no end.

Although perhaps the true significance of these patterns has been lost over the millennia, Celtic designs remain increasingly popular in our modern world.

The Claddagh is a traditional symbol of love and friendship and is thought to have originated from Claddagh in Galway as far back as the 16th century since when has been worn by many as a wedding ring and as a symbol of love.

The design of the Claddagh consists of a heart as a symbol of love, a crown as a symbol of fidelity or loyalty and the hands depicted friendship. Tradition states that if you are spoken to you should wear the Claddagh on your left hand facing inward but if you are unattached it should be worn facing outward on the right hand.

Celtic crosses, which predate Christianity, can symbolize the four quarters of the earth and or the four elements – earth wind and fire. They are equal armed crosses which are enclosed or backed by a circle. Following the introduction of Christianity, it became more common to see Celtic Crosses on top of a matching pedestal, which gave it a more elongated look. Celtic crosses are often worn as jewellery such as rings or on chains around the neck.

Geometric designs have always feature prominently in Celtic artwork with spirals, chevrons, scrolls and knot work. Many of these patterns can be seen decorating stone carvings or ancient manuscripts and religious books.

The Celtic spirals are very symbolic with the single spiral generally thought to signify growth expansion and cosmic energy.

The dual centred spiral found often on stone carvings signifies duality and nature and is associated with motifs from other cultures such as the Ying Yang symbol.
Celtic knot work designs remain popular today and can vary from single elegant knot patterns to complex intricate interlaced patterns.

Although the symbolism of celtic designs may have been lost, many of the designs remain popular today and will often be seen used in the design of jewellery and in particular Celtic Wedding rings.

Platinum has become a popular choice for jewelry due to its strength, durability, and marketing efforts of the platinum industry in recent years. Platinum is three times more expensive than gold. Jewelers aggressively market it because they make three times the profit on every platinum item they sell compared to gold. Platinum is a naturally white, lustrous metal that is long lasting. Sometimes the claims of strength and scratch resistance are overstated. Like all precious metals, platinum will scratch. A platinum scratch is different from white gold because it simply “plows” the metal instead of removing it.

Traditionally, jewelry manufacturers used platinum alloyed with metals from the platinum group metals (iridium, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhodium, and ruthenium). With the proper mix of these platinum group alloys, platinum becomes one of the hardest metals making it a strong and durable jewelry metal. Platinum will not rust or corrode and the platinum family metals make it hypoallergenic and ideal for persons with sensitive skin.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines for platinum jewelry state that only items consisting of 950 part per thousand of pure platinum can be marked stamped “PLATINUM” or “PLAT” without more alloy information. From 750-950 Platinum, the platinum group metals must also be indicated. For example, PLAT900IRID for 10% Iridium alloy. Historically, the most common alloys in America were 95% Platinum with 5% Ruthenium or 5% Cobalt and 90% Platinum with 10% Iridium.

There is a misperception that the 950 platinum is better than the 900 platinum. However, pure platinum is very soft and the right alloy mix is what is important. Different alloys and different percentages produce better results for different jewelry purposes. Some alloy mixes work better for casting and some are better for handcrafting like bending the prongs over fragile diamond corners. Many artisans feel that PLAT900IRID is the best general-purpose alloy for diamond rings.

While platinum is best known for its use in jewelry, more than 60% of platinum is used for other industrial purposes such as catalytic converters in autos and pacemakers in the medical field. Because of its rarity and the rapidly increasing demand for this versatile metal, the price has soared in recent years.

The high price of platinum has caused some jewelry manufacturers to start using lower percentages of platinum and to use other alloy metals to lower the cost of the jewelry. Unfortunately, these new alloy mixes are reducing the very qualities that made platinum desirable. The new alloys produce more brittle platinum that is more susceptible to damage.

For example, metal that is stamped 585 Platinum is really only 58.5% pure platinum and 41.5% copper and cobalt with the result that it is more likely to crack, crater, discolor or irritate sensitive skin. Less scrupulous jewelry vendors remove the 585 stamp and complicate the situation, leading consumers to believe the metal is the traditional high quality platinum.

Historically the jewelry shopper did not have to be concerned about the purity of platinum because the alloy metals were in the platinum group the quality was uniform regardless of the particular alloy or percentage used.

Today’s jewelry shopper is at potential risk because the lower quality platinum looks the same as the higher quality platinum. While platinum looks similar regardless of the alloy, the weight of lower quality alloy mixes is lower because there is so much less of the dense platinum.

Currently there are no FTC guidelines for the new platinum alloys so it is up to the jeweler or appraiser to help the consumer determine if the platinum is well suited for its intended use. The consumer deserves a warning if sold lower quality platinum since it might not hold stones as well and is more susceptible to damage. However, do not expect the jeweler selling low quality platinum to point out this potential problem. As with any important purchases, it is up to the consumer to be knowledgeable and ask the right questions before making a purchase.

India is known as the ‘gem bearing’ country. You can find ornaments for every part of the body. Not only this, ornaments are also designed for elephants and gods which shows their expertise and excellence in jewelry making art.

Available data shows the rich history of nearly 5,000 years, which says all about the Indian love of jewelry. For the rulers, jewelries were the symbol of their power, richness and class. Though women used jewelry to distinguish them from men as that time jewelries were mainly feminine and matches well with the nature of women. It was started as a craft which became an art and now this art is getting popularity all over the world.

Temple Jewelry:
Temple jewelry is mainly worn at the traditional dances of India which originates from the temples of India. Mainly Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancers use these jewelry which takes from a month to a year according to its design. It is available in whole set containing jewelry for ears, feet, hips nose, hands, fingers and legs. These jewelries are made in gold with a combination of rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearls and sapphires. Due to its toughness and hard labor, temple jewellery is professionally made by certain craftsmen, who have maintained its originality and charm.

Antique Jewelry:
On the contrary to its name, antique jewellery is modern fancy jewelry which goes through the process of oxidizing and other such process to give it a dull look. Because of its selected clientele, antique jewelry is really nominal in range and got an exclusive look.

Minakari Jewelry:
Minakari or enameling jewelry was born as the result of the great vision of Mugal Emperor Shah Jahan. It is nothing but a unique combination of gems, enameling pigments and precious stones. Each design is specially designed and arranged in such a way so, that the stones and gems also glitter with the enameling light of the jewelry. It is generally high priced and available in neck wears, earrings, rings and whole set.

Besides above mentioned types of jewelries, special Indian wedding jewelry is also very popular. The perfect wedding jewelry contains earrings, neck wears, bangles, toe rings, bracelets, anklets and Maang-tikka (worn generally at head to cover parting). There are also some special jewelry for married women like bangles and Mangal-Sutra, gold chain with black beads.

The Amis du Louvre have recently acquired a necklace and pair of emerald and diamond earrings that were part of a parure given by Napoleon I to the Empress Marie Louise at the time of their marriage, in March 1810 (Fig. 1). Since the price--3.7 million euros--is the highest ever paid by an institution for items of jewellery, one might well ask what is so special about these two pieces, which were acquired from Humphrey Butler and S.J. Phillips of London, and from Thomas Faerber of Geneva. (1)

The answer is that the combination of the intrinsic value of the stones, the artistry of the setting and the imperial provenance justifies the kind of price which is more usually paid for paintings and sculpture. The magnificent quality illustrates how Napoleon, perhaps the last great patron of the arts, used jewellery to assert by peaceful means the absolute political authority he had won by his sword. To this end he insisted that the court ceremonies of the Empire take place in an atmosphere of the utmost splendour and brilliance, obtainable by grandiose displays of precious stones. This reached an apogee at the time of his marriage to the Habsburg Archduchess Marie Louise. Then, as Balzac describes in La Paix du Menage, 'Diamonds glittered everywhere, so much so that it seemed as if the wealth of the whole world was concentrated on Paris ... never had the diamond been so sought after, never had it cost so much.'

At the same time, Napoleon wished tore-establish the preeminence of Paris as the creative centre for luxury and fashion, a status it had lost in the period of anarchy which followed the Revolution. The scale of his patronage and that of the dignitaries of the Empire was such that by 1807, the Chambre de Commerce reported that there were 400 jewellers, employing 800 men and 2000 women in business in the city. (2) It was one of these, Marie Etienne Nitot, whom Napoleon, with his sure judgment, appointed as his court jeweller.

Trained to the exacting standards of the ancien regime, Nitot was already known for his collaboration with Aubert, supplier to Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Following Marie Etienne's death in 1809, he was succeeded by his son Francois Regnault, an ardent Bonapartist. (3) As expert gemologists, both father and son were employed by Napoleon from the Consulate onwards to repatriate the stones dispersed from the Tresor de la Couronne (4) and to acquire stones for the stately parures--sets of ornaments, tiara, comb, earrings, necklace, belt clasps and bracelets, matching in design and stones--which were de rigueur at great events such as marriages, coronations, state visits and court balls.

Since the collection of emeralds in the Tresor de la Couronne was limited' Francois Regault Nitot was obliged to make new acquisitions of the following square and briolette-cut stones, weighing 290 carats in total, for the Empress Marie Louise's parure:

   Tiara: 79 emeralds (22 large,
  57 small), 1002 brilliants, 264
  rose diamonds

  Necklace: 30 emeralds, 864
  brilliants and 264 rose diamonds
  Earrings: 6 emeralds, 66 brilliants
  and 48 rose diamonds
  Comb: 23 emeralds, 226 brilliants,
  54 rose diamonds
  Belt clasp: 5 emeralds,
  107 brilliants (6)

To assemble a collection of emeralds of such superb colour must have presented him with a great challenge, for, according to Thomas Faerber, whereas stones in jewellery of this date are usually flawed, all those in the necklace and earrings 'are of exceptional quality, almost loupe clean', coming as they do from the famous Colombian mines of Muzo, 150 km north-west of Bogota. The intensity of the rich velvety green colour is deepened by the contrast with the surrounding diamonds.

The design is strongly classical in character, in accordance with the style devised for the Empire by the architects Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, with diamonds clearly outlining the symmetrical arrangement of the alternate lozenge and oval shapes, hung with drops placed between palmettes derived from Greek and Roman art. Although she never aspired to the elegance of the Empress Josephine, the Empress Marie Louise, with her height, porcelain complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes, had sufficient presence to sustain her role at all official occasions. Then she might wear the emeralds with one of the grand habits made for her by Leroy, perhaps of white gauze embroidered in gold with the Imperial bees, or alternatively with a tulle ball gown embroidered with silver poppies.

As a grand gesture to mark his union with a daughter of the great Habsburg dynasty, Napoleon gave the Empress this parure for her private collection and it was therefore never state property. This meant that after the fall of the Empire it remained intact in her possession and was thus spared the fate of the crown jewels, which she returned. Those were almost all remodelled during the Restoration and the Second Empire, and were finally dispersed at the disastrous sale of the Bijoux de la Couronne by the Third Republic in1887.

There is a human yearning to adorn the body, from a modest row of pearls to the glittering bling-bling of hip-hop stars. Fortunately, possession is not a prerequisite for enjoyment in New York this winter, where a trio of jewellery shows is likely to re-open the debate on whether jewellery should be taken seriously by museums or dismissed as commercial investment. Purists punished the Met for their 'Cartier: 1900-1939' show in 1997, but it achieved one of its best attendance rates for any exhibition--more than 420,000.

The Asia Society is well placed to match this success, and to argue that jewellery should be taken very seriously indeed. Upstairs in their luxurious polished brown granite prism headquarters on Park Avenue designed for them by Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates, where ladies lunch in the conservatory cafe while the city's best Asia bookstore is always busy, more than 150 pieces of Indian jewellery from the collection formed by Susan L. Beningson have their first public show.

In India, jewellery is not restricted to women, nor is its function solely to display wealth. It signifies status and class, expresses royal or religious allegiance, reinforces contracts, glorifies the powerful, is essential to the intimacy of love. For at least 5,000 years jewellery has adorned men, women and, above all, temple deities, where jewellery is part of the bond between the worshipper and the deity.

Much of Miss Beningson's collection beautifully wrought anklets, earrings, necklaces, jewelled crowns--comes from south India. It was here that the Indian jewellers' technical expertise developed in the great gem-trading centres, under the patronage of the great rulers (whose state-owned jewels would adorn their whole households including the servants) and, importantly, the great temples. Adriana Proser, curator of traditional Asian art at the Asia Society, explained: 'These are not just baubles, not just fine works of craftsmanship. They held important significance in society. The highest honour for a devotee was to give jewellery to dress the deity.'

To that end, hundreds of jewellers were permanently employed by temples. The Brihadishvara Temple in Thanjavur, for example, built by the powerful Chola ruler Rajaraja I, has eleventh century inscriptions carved on the walls detailing the gem experts' many classifications for pearls, diamonds and rubies. When the jewel filled treasuries became goals for northern invaders, the temples added fort-like walls, most notably around the hugely wealthy Ranganatha Temple at Sringangam.

Even today, fine jewellery continues to be commissioned for the gods and, as Molly Emma Aitken explains in her excellent catalogue essay, 'wealthy devotees pay to obtain a private viewing of a deity in his or her richest jewellery'. As if to reinforce the importance of jewellery in Indian society, a second exhibition at Asia House displays Indian miniature paintings from the Poisky collection. There is jewellery in almost every one: a god is weighed down with gem-encrusted jewels, lovers discard their clothes but not their jewellery, a pet blackbuck is draped with three necklaces while he poses stiffly for his portrait.

The same arguments cannot be made for American jewellery. But Judith Price, founder and President of the National Jewelry Institute, has put together a remarkable show that surprises and impresses, 'Masterpieces of American Jewelry'. Hosted by the American Folk Art Museum (and, in 2005, by Somerset House in London), it claims to be the first museum show devoted entirely to American jewellery. The two hundred exhibits were all made and distributed in America between the late eighteenth century and the 1980s. As such, it presents an opportunity to define just what makes American jewellery distinct.

Ms Price, no stranger to India's complex jewellery tradition, has her own no-nonsense theories. 'Simplicity and a sense of humour. Do you know the American trade code "kiss"? It stands for "keep it simple stupid". So, we often use semi-precious stones for serious jewellery.' She illustrates her point with piece made in the 1940s for the considerable jewellery collectors Mr and Mrs Cole Porter. 'Look at the way Paul Flare uses aquamarines and rubies to make a belt shaped necklace. Sheer simplicity, humour, and not even a diamond!'

Interestingly, about half of the 25 lenders are men. 'These are major collectors with Picassos on their wails and jewellery in their vaults', explains Ms Price. To encourage visitors to take the same serious approach, the pieces are displayed in low lit cabinets to give each one the status of a work of art.

Ralph Esmerian, the show's curator, has grouped the pieces by theme. This reveals two additional characteristics: quality craftsmanship and gentle sentiment. Both are evident in an 1877 Tiffany gold classic revival bracelet exhibited at the Paris World's Fair and in Cartier's exclusive New York designs, such as a 1927 brooch shaped as if the American flag had been tied into a bow tie. They are in the delicate orchid brooches made by J.E. Caldwell, Marcus & Co., and Tiffany & Co. New York to celebrate America's natural splendour. They are in Van Cleef & Arpels' diamond-encrusted ballerina brooches of the 1940s--Claude Arpels was a close friend of George Balanchine; in the Walt Disney-influenced work of Raymond C. Yard collected by Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and DuPonts; and, more recently, in Joel Arthur Rosenthal's 1987 blue butterfly using indigenous Montana sapphires.