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Title: Jewels: A Secret History
ISBN: 0345466950
Author:
Victoria Finlay
Publicate Date: 2007-08-14
Publish: 2007-08-14
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.76
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.53
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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1: Jewels
I HAVEN'T QUITE FINISHED THIS BOOK...BUT VERY INTERESTING. lEARNING MANY FACTS AND HISTORY AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT SOMEONE COULD NOT KNOW...iT IS A GOOD READ, AND INFORMATIVE,,jk
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2: Jewels is a True Gem of a Book
Great book...Wonderful writing style. I have her other book "Color".
I own a small handmade stone and pearl jewelry business so the purchase was a must for me!
Am inspired by her inspiration of the stories and facts of gem lore.
Her push via husband father in law as refrenced in the Preface...
while in England at her father in laws memorial...Later taking a walk with her husband as they were discussing her doing this book or not and what her Father in law would tell her, that "you must do it"... While looking down into the canal a small canal boat named "Little GEM" happened to be going by just at that very momnet...Later found out "that it was rare for Little Gem to be on that stretch of the Thames: she is a weekend hire barge near Rugby, and only very occasionally finds herself so far south." One of Derek's (father in law) passions was canals and canal boats.
This world craves more great stories and inspiration to go along with the
facts...Victoria, you have artfully written another gem!
Thanks...
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3: So, um ... Do you sell pressed-talc engagement rings?
"Throughout Asia and Europe, pearls were traditionally believed to ease a range of conditions, including eye diseases, fever, insomnia, 'female complaints', dysentery, whooping cough, measles, loss of virility, and bed-wetting ... Though nobody seems to advertise the potential for pearls to cure bed-wetting anymore." - Victoria Finlay in JEWELS
JEWELS is one of those delicious volumes you read for the pure pleasure of acquiring esoteric knowledge that has no practical, everyday use. Similar books I've read that come to mind include Salt: A World History, PURE KETCHUP PB, Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey--The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World, and Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. If someone has penned a narrative entitled WIRE COAT HANGERS, I'd read that too if the subject was made interesting. (There isn't; I checked.)
Author Finlay's approach is to discuss nine gemstones, three "organic" and six mineral, in the order of their position on Mohs' Scale of Relative Hardness. They are, listed by increasing hardness: amber, jet, pearl, opal, peridot, emerald, sapphire, ruby, and diamond. (On Mohs' scale, talc occupies position #1, i.e. the softest. My wife treasures her pressed talc engagement ring.)
Finlay, a social anthropologist turned journalist, is no desk-bound researcher. To write JEWELS, the story of the various gems' sources and evolution in societal value systems, she traveled the world: Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian Federation), northern England, Japan, Australia, Arizona, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and, perhaps the hardest to access, Antwerp's Diamond Club. The book begins with European, Asian, Japanese, and Australian "treasure" maps. Indeed, on asking what to look out for prior to visiting the remote site of Cleopatra's emerald mines in Egypt's desolate interior mountains, she was told, "Scorpions."
JEWELS contains an 8-page section of color photos as well as a liberal sprinkling of black and white snaps and illustrations. Oddly, it's the color section that comes up short, a fact which compels me to award 4 stars to what would otherwise be a five-star effort. Only examples of amber, pearl, opal, and diamond are pictured. There is no display of jet, peridot, emerald, sapphire, or ruby; I, an ignoramus when it comes to the topic, had to resort to the Internet. And there are no photos of two of the largest and most famous diamonds of history specifically mentioned in the text: the Cullinan(s) and the Golden Jubilee. Moreover, the Hope Diamond is given visual short-shrift considering its fame.
JEWELS concludes with a 19-page, perhaps useful "Miscellany of Jewels", which includes a glossary of terms, color scale and clarity terms for diamonds, a listing of American state gemstones, popular vs. mineral names for gemstones, Mohs' Scale, and a listing of birthstones. "Miscellany" is certainly the operative term.
Victoria's narrative is instructive and entertaining from start to finish. Except for the deficiency mentioned, one could hardly ask for more.
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4: travel, history and gem facts all in one
I picked this book up in a museum shop because I love jewelry and have always wondered about where jewels and gems come from.
Other reviews have given an overall synopsis, so I will just say that there are fascinating stories in this book.
The story that captivated me the most was the author's search for opals in Coober Pedy, Australia, where the sun is so intense that the people used to live underground. Finley has included a photo of an elderly miner outside his underground home.
Finley went down into the opal mines, as she did many other mines around the world in search of jewels.
She incorporates many photos and engravings, several in color.
But, the author's last paragraphs are probably the best:
"We can use diamonds in whatever way we like.....There is desire to make someone happy, there is admiration, there is ostentation...and there is a company's profit curve.The diamond I was holding was about illusion and about slicing through illusion. It was about forever and never, and it was about nothing at all."
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5: Interesting, well-written
Very interesting book that's well-written. I bought another of Ms. Finlay's books, "Color" because I liked this one so much. I like how she's organized the 'chapters' on the Moh scale of hardness, and the stories of her adventures in discovering each of the gems are just wonderful. A great, informative, enjoyable read.
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