Happy Stories From our customers

Sure, it’s an exotic sounding word but what does it mean exactly? Is it a Japanese snack food? A small breed dog? Or (pick this one) a type of earrings worn at traditional Indian events?

Jhumkis are gold earrings that are loosely shaped like a bell. Women in Indian villages wear jhumkis on a daily basis, not only for their captivating beauty but to show the public how much they can afford to provide as dowries for their daughters’ weddings.

Jhumkis are also worn by many a Bollywood star for its glamorous and historical appeal.

The amazing part with jewelry history? There’s so much of it! Even earrings have an extensive global history of styles and societal implications.

Traditional bridal jhumkis

Euro shank

Rendering color of pink center stone not indicative of actual stone. Video shows our Radiance® Barely Pink moissanite in full sun as well as indirect sun.

Before you squeal too loudly, understand this: live insect jewelry has been around a long time! The Egyptians were one of the early adopters, wearing scarab beetles into battle. The Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and the Mexican Maquech Beetle have also been used in jewelry.

Even during the prim and proper Victorian era in Britain, jewelry lovers often sported large, vividly colored beetles attached to their clothing by tiny gold chains (and yes,  these creepy crawlers were often live).

So while you might pass on wearing a Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach to your next night out on the town, remember: you would have been the hit of the party just a few hundred years ago.

Scarab of Hatnefer, ca. 1473 B.C.
Egyptian, New Kingdom
Glazed steatite
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1936 (36.3.5)

It stands to reason that when it comes to fashion, there’s a practical element. Humans wear clothing and jewelry not simply to look good but to stay warm and protected. In prehistoric times, jewelry was used as a form of protection and adornment. Later, jewelry came to reflect status.

Jewelry were commonly created from the materials humans had at their disposal. If a tribe of people lived by the ocean, for example, one could surmise that shells, fishbones and colored pebbles would be used to create jewelry.

Inland ornament material would include matter used from animals that had been killed for food, like antlers, tusks and animal bones.

Regardless of the material, ancient jewelry provides us a keen insight into the era from which they came, not only the location but the type of humans imprinting their creativity, their expression and their stories.