jewelry symbolism

Ringing

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I guess like most people, sometimes I see something and it sticks with me and nags at me until I do something. This ring was one of those things. I don’t know why but I kept imagining it on my hand and it just seemed to belong there and to me. However, it was way at the top end for what I spend on jewelry, and never from someone online and from whom I have never purchased before. Nonetheless, I kept checking and I was relieved it never showed up with a big sold on it when I looked. (A few other jewelry posts can be found here and here.) Pictorama readers know I do love jewelry!

Another utterly favorite ring. This is an antique cameo set in a contemporary gold setting. Saw this in LA on a business trip and had to contact the store a week later and have it sent! Clearly I have a thing for cameo rings.

Their description of the ring from their website is as follows: This exquisite cameo ring dates from the Victorian era, the latter half of the 19th century, circa 1880. Cupid (or Eros) is depicted as a chubby little cherub, reaching up to catch Psyche who, in butterfly form, flutters above him. The pair are carved from white hardstone agate over a vivid deep apple green background. The panel as bordered by glistening rose cut diamonds and raised up on a wonderfully intricate pseudo-claw openworked gallery. Ornate shoulders and a reeded band complete the elegant aesthetic. Crafted in 18 carat gold throughout. Era: Victorian, circa 1880. The photo I am using today is from their website.

In addition to already being expensive, it was also in Great Britain so there would be a fee for the conversion to pounds, and the tariffs had already gone into place so even more expensive. Not only that but it seemed complicated to figure out which discouraged me. However, I was having a hard time over the holidays this year and I decided to make this gift to myself.

Sadly though it became an almost three month saga of international UPS madness. Pictorama readers know that I purchase many things from Britain. Although they are generally not at this price point I have rarely had a significant issue (one Felix photo postcard was lost in the mail and not refunded as Royal Mail had proof it had made it “here”) with items being delivered. Even during this same time a cat painting showed up unscathed.

So it either caught their attention because it was more expensive or it was just the time for it to happen, but this ring got stuck in Customs and absolutely nothing I did could spring it. The fees had been paid and that didn’t even seem to be the issue. Online tracking just indicated that it was stuck in Customs. Every phone call to International UPS is an automatic wait of 50 minutes or more. It became like a part-time job trying to liberate it. The ring made it all the way to Newark, only to be returned to England, virtually while I argued with them on the phone. Utterly maddening!

Fortunately the couple I was purchasing this from in Britain were utterly lovely. The proprietors of Lost Owl jewelry, they give the impression of leading a somewhat idyllic life in with their small chldren in the British countryside – wandering from one end to the other buying up treasures to share with the likes of me. (Find them in Instagram @lostowl.jewelry or their website here. Engage at your own risk and peril to your bank account.)

While I am sure their life is hectic and fraught like all of ours, nevertheless the illusion is lovely and somewhat enchanting. They do live sales sometimes on Sunday night which are cozy and wonderful looks at jewelry I really cannot afford – a very pleasant hour or so of looking however. If I lived anywhere near them I would just simply spend all my money on jewelry from them and be ruined. The hand wrought gold chains alone are enough to break me! (Although I am determined to have one eventually.)

Meanwhile, they had an agent on their end working on it too as obviously they sell to the US frequently. They remained determined and endlessly encouraging as my heart sank. I began to wonder if I would be able to love the ring despite its arduous history finding its way to our shores.

After the return to England, we doubled down and as it returned I made daily calls to different agents in India who represented UPS. (Some maddeningly insisted that there was no record of any prior calls.) I submitted personal information via email on demand, like an idiot. What can I say – I was losing all reason dealing with a system which is evidently quite broken. Who knew?

At last it arrived safely at my building, handed to me rather nonchalantly by my doorman one evening upon my return home from work in early March. I will say that I really love it and wear it almost daily, fighting for my right hand attention with my hither till now favorite boulder opal. (See a post about that ring here and my love of opals in general here.)

I wonder what it is about the ring that so attracts me, about the symbolism of Cupid and Psyche, as represented by the butterfly. Although Cupid of course represents romance, the combination of the two also seems to represent transformation, also of love and pleasure. I will say it is like having a little story on my hand which I love.

Other than to tell the cautionary tale, I bear no grudges against it at all and the ring only brings me joy. It seems to generate its own light on my hand. In the end it is everything I would hope it would be. When asked about how many rings can I wear I remind folks that I have ten fingers and 365 days a year.

Bare Bones

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s jewelry post might seem familiar to some longstanding readers. You’d be right because the skull on this necklace is the mate to a ring I have had for about 8 years. At least I think I may have included it in a prior post (or not since I can’t find one) and I have mentioned Muriel Chastanet Jewelry in Los Angeles, a family business where wonderful jewelry can be found. You all know that in addition to antique cats, I am a woman who likes her jewelry.

While I don’t know the precise history or age of these skulls there is a Victorian tradition of memento mori bone skulls in jewelry. The Victorians were notoriously fascinated with the ultimate connection to death and the idea that we should mind that life is fleeting and can end abruptly, therefore we should make use of today. (Skulls and those made of yak bone in particular, were and are a popular Tibetan motif and I own some necklaces of carved skull bones from my trips there. They are distinct in their carving style, often made into what we might think of as rosaries and different as shown below.)

These Tibetan bone beads available on the internet.

The skull in this pendant and that of my ring are extremely similar, with the pendant being slightly larger and arguably more finely detailed. Different kinds of animal bones were used really as a visual substitute for ivory which was more expensive although still used at that time.

However the carving on both of these these is particularly fine and while many bone skulls labeled Victorian or Georgian are available, with a quick look just a few at auction have this much detail and are as nicely carved. The skulls are both in new settings. I saw the ring for sale about ten years ago now. At the time I didn’t think I was leading the sort of professional life where a large skull ring set in gold was appropriate. (At the time I advised older people on charitable gifts through their estate plans – a Victorian skull ring seemed a little pointed!)

When I left the Met a few years later to take the job at Jazz at Lincoln Center somehow it didn’t take long for the ring to roll back into my consciousness. I reached out and asked if by chance it was still available and Gizelle laughed and said that it was clearly meant for me and no one else. I wear it frequently and receive many compliments on it. The markings of the bone and the carving etched into my mind from staring at it day in and day out.

My much worn ring with a similar antique skull bead.

Fast forward a number of years. I always knew she had a couple of more of the skulls which could be set and the idea of a pendant nagged at me cheerfully for a bit and I finally told her I wanted it. For a number of reasons many things slowed the design and execution on both sides and it was about a year before it was completed and in hand.

Gizelle made the thoughtful suggestion that as my mother Betty had passed recently what would I think of including her initials in the design? That seemed very meaningful and as you can see there are intertwining B’s for Betty Butler in the back. (All of the photos are in antique boxes I have collected and are in no way connected with the skull pieces.)

The back with a double B for Betty Butler.

The skull is somewhat heavy, perhaps too much for a gold chain I decided and so thus far it is living on this silk cord quite happily. It will never be quite as intimately familiar to me as the ring since it lives on my neck and I don’t get to look at it daily the same way. I rarely wear them together (that is a lot of skull, let’s face it) although I sometimes I can’t resist. I have read that Victorian jewelry is becoming more popular and influencing current designers. I am ahead of the curve on that one I think and this one, with Mom’s initials tucked in, is most special to me indeed.

Onward and Upward

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I purchased this pin back in August and it arrived during an especially hectic period while I was traveling and Blackie was in the kitty hospital. (He is slowly returning to his handsome, suave, feline self. I have promised him I will not post any photos of him until he is back to his full glory however.) I have written about my occasional dysmorphia when buying online – slightly enormous and smaller than anticipated toys show up all the time. (A post addressing that can be found here.) There is, for example, a huge wax cloth Uncle Walt doll on our shelf that I have not found a proper spot for yet. (Future post, I assure you.) Most famously, there is a beloved Mickey Mouse by Dean’s Rag that was a store display which is the size of a six year old in our bedroom. I have taken to measuring more often, which lead to my not buying a rather splendid Felix decorated drum that came my way. Alas, life in a small apartment.

I had my heart set on this sterling silver Victorian arrow as soon as I saw it posted in a coming attraction reel with some other items posted by one of my go-to’s, @marsh.and.meadow (Heather, one of these days I will be in Ohio with the band and say hello!) and I set my cap for it. I was admittedly rushed when it came up for sale. All this to say, I had not really stopped to consider that it’s three and a half inches is about an inch longer than expected. But it is a solidly beautiful item and frankly, it has sat on my desk where I have just delighted in it over recent weeks.

We all want to be Excellent! Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

Although it is silver there is something vaguely more industrial looking about it, like steel. It is wonderfully solid looking. It was clearly meant for a scarf, shawl, hat or bulky knit sweater. While I had originally envisioned securing it, pointing upward of course, to the lapel of a blazer it is too thick for that and I am now thinking winter coat or hat – which assumes I will leave recent years of nothing but an outer attire of an old down storm coat and watch cap behind and resume wearing a nicer wool coat and with some attitude. (This also assumes that the moth farm I have inadvertently cultivated has left me a shred of wool to wear.)

Back of the pin. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

There are certain symbols that appeal repeatedly to me in jewelry. Although my recent fascination with insects confounds me somewhat (posts on those can be found here and here), I have collected a few old school medals which provide unabashed encouragement – Improvement! Excellence! – and a post on those can be found here. I like the idea of a sly advertisement or hopefulness, a horseshoe perhaps, and a bit of encouragement for myself to be found in my pins.

A favorite insect pin, also coincidentally from Marsh.and.Meadow.

I am far from the first person to wander down this path and for example it has been done much more intelligently by the likes of Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, as she famously signaled her diplomatic intentions with her pins. I like arrows and have been looking for one for awhile. Somewhere I have a nice rhinestone one I acquired all the way back in high school, but I cannot find it and as a friend of Kim’s says, if you can’t find it you don’t own it. (It has become a mantra in this house!) I have made a few attempts to purchase pins that depict Haley’s Comet (yes, those are a thing) which is more like an arrow shooting out of a star.

While piercing is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about arrow, the symbolism of the arrow goes beyond being a badass. They represent triumph over struggle, strength and perseverance. And of course optimism, upward, let’s go this way. I think it is always good to acknowledge triumph over struggles, both large and small, and also a good reminder to be pointed on the path upward and ahead.