Today's WORD-A-DAY: GOLD TESTING (WITH ACID)

Oftentimes, a piece of gold jewelry - and especially antique jewelry - is unmarked, and has to be tested to determine the karat value. This is done by scratching an edge of the piece of jewelry on a "touchstone" and then dropping a single drop of gold testing acid on the gold scratch mark. If the gold scratch mark disappears under the drop of acid, the karat value is less than that marked on the acid bottle ... or it's not gold at all. If the gold mark remains, it is real gold, and at least the karat value it was tested for (it may even be higher).

Today's WORD-A-DAY: SHELL CAMEO

SHELL CAMEO - Shell cameo cutting has been around since at least the 15th century, and was almost always made in Italy. Shell cameos became extremely popular at the onset of the 19th century, because they were less expensive than stone-carved cameos.
Why are they sometimes pink and sometimes beige/brown? Well, shell cameos with a pinkish hue come from the shell of the giant conch, while cameos with brownish shades come from the helmet shell.

Today's WORD-A-DAY: CABOCHON

CABOCHON (pronounced ca-bo-shon'). A cabochon is a gem which is polished to a convex shape, rather than faceted. Cabochon polishing dates to ancient times, whereas faceting only began appearing in the Middle Ages. There are some sorts of stones (mostly the semi-precious variety), such as cat's eye, moonstone, and turquoise, which are almost always polished as cabochons. Precious stones are sometimes polished as cabochons, and star sapphires and rubies are always cabochons. Pictured here is a sapphire cabochon set in a platinum and diamond art deco ring.

Today's WORD-A-DAY: GYPSY SETTING

I haven't the foggiest why this type of setting is called "Gypsy," and if anyone knows the reason, we'd all be happy to find out. Usually used in rings, a gypsy setting is one where the stone is set into a deeply carved groove which has an etched star-shape on the surrounding surface, to accentuate the stone. This type of setting was very popular in the late Victorian era, and was also used in jewelry other than rings.

WORD-A-DAY Past Posts

Thanks to all of you who keep encouraging me to continue my WORD-A-DAY postings. You can see older posts on my facebook fan page. I don't know how far back they go, but I will try to repost (here on my blog) the ones that are no longer viewable on facebook.

And I'll keep writing articles about buying and selling antiques. Please "follow" my blog, so you don't miss anything.

Ciao,
Erica

Today's WORD-A-DAY: CANNETILLE

Originally coming from the world of embroidery, Cannetille (pronounced kan-i-teel) in jewelry was made with gold or other delicate metal wires, and resembled filigree. It was popular at the end of the Georgian era (1820-1830), and often elaborate motifs included rosettes, scrolls, and delicate tendrils. Cannetille was often combined with granulation and thin sheets of hammered gold.

TODAY'S WORD-A-DAY ... GRISAILLE

GRISAILLE (French for "grey" and pronounced gri-zai') is a painting in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey, brown, or purple, on a white ground. Although mainly used in large decorative paintings and plaques, Grisaille was also used in enameling for jewelry and other small objects, and particularly popular with 16th century Limoges enamelists, such as Penicaud and Limousin. Pictured here are 2 Grisaille miniature paintings from my private collection.