Famous jewels and jewelry often seem to have an illustrious past and the Napoleon Diamond Necklace is no different! The necklace, set with 234 diamonds with an overall weight of approximately 263 carats, was a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife, Marie-Louise of the Austrian House of Hapsburg, Empress of France, upon the […]
The July birthstone, ruby, gets its name from the Latin word “ruber” meaning red. The finest color is a deep red with a hint of purple called “pigeon’s blood” in the jewelry trade. Rubies are also the second hardest stone with only diamonds surpassing them. Rubies are symbolic of passion, protection and prosperity. Early cultures […]
You’ve probably seen or heard a cuckoo clock. They are a pendulum-type clock that strikes the hours with a common cuckoo bird sound and has a cuckoo bird who emerges from the clock to move with each note. Some cuckoo birds just lean forward with each note while others move their wings and close their […]
Marking the beginning of summer, the Summer Solstice or Midsummer is the day with the longest period of sunlight. Its name derives from Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) because the sun’s position at noon doesn’t appear to change much on this day and surrounding days. Cultures around the world have celebrated […]
In many of our previous blogs, we have spoken of Egypt and its use of gold and gems. Egyptians were the first to have organized production of jewelry and their work in advancement of metallurgy and collection of gems impacted jewelry development in every civilization that came after. One piece of jewelry, the funerary mask […]
Last year, we celebrated our June birthdays by exploring one of the three birthstones associated, the pearl (see our June 1, 2021 blog post for more). June babies are also blessed to have the moonstone and alexandrite as their other stones. Moonstone, which is found all over the world, is valued for its blue to […]
Here at Bridgewaters, we live and breathe jewelry. It provides our livlihood and gives us joy when we help a customer to find their perfect piece or have an old favorite repaired. We love to hear the stories of where and from whom our customers found or received their jewelry. It got us thinking about […]
In our third installment of our five-part series on caring for gemstones, we will explore the care and cleaning of emeralds, the May birthstone. Check out our birthstone of the month post from May 5 for more information on the stone itself. While emeralds are very durable, but are not as hard as diamonds, rubies […]
This Saturday, May 21 (rain or shine), Old New Castle opens its doors to the public with the annual A Day in Old New Castle! Founded 96 years ago by the women of Immanuel Episcopal Church on the Green as a fundraiser, the event is now sponsored by the New Castle Community Partnership and the […]
Since we are celebrating the birthstone of May, the emerald, it seems fitting to share information on the Crown of the Andes that includes nearly 450 emeralds, including one known as the “Atahualpa Emerald” which is twenty-four-carats. The Crown is one of the most important examples of colonial Spanish American gold work, crafted in the […]
