First dear souls… a couple of questions… the answers to which I
shall reveal at the end of this Tidbits… mainly because I don’t
trust a single one of you to give me the answer without looking it
up. What? Moi? A cynic you say? Never! That said…
1-Lest you think jewelers in general can not rise above their
craft… I pose you this query. Otto Rohwedder was a jeweler. What
was it he invented?
2-How large is the largest diamond in the universe?
And now… on to insects. Why do we wear them as jewelry? Are they
truly so intrinsic a part of our lives that we need to let them rest
in auric splendor upon our collective bosoms? Let me tell you this…
let me bring it to your consciousness… they live inexorably within
us with greater prominence than most would suspect. In cartoons…
ever hear of a little tyke called Jiminy Cricket? Music you ask? How
about Flight of the Bumblebee? Classical literature… Kafka’s
Metamorphosis anyone? Science Fiction anyone? How about The Fly?
Deification you ask? How about the Egyptian Scarab? The ancient Greek
cult of Artemis worshipped the bee. Are you industrious… as is an
ant perhaps? Does the butterfly remind you of love… and is it also
a symbol of sleep?
The Blackfeet believed the butterfly brought us our dreams. The
Navajo believed in a bisexual god named Begochidi who was a leader of
the butterfly people and served the sexual needs of both male and
female Lepidoptera.
The answer to question number 1: Born and died from 1880-1960, Otto
Rohwedder invented sliced bread. Look him up. Don’t tell me jewelers
ain’t useful. This man understood the order of the importance of
things
So–to digress back–here’s this insect without a description…
formed in the 19th century as a gold and gem-set lapel watch with
diamond and ruby wings and ruby cabochon eyes hanging from a triple
chain tidied up with a bow at the end. It was worth around $12000 in
1993. I can not imagine what it is worth today what with inflation
and all. You want to see it?
But first… the answer to question number 2: The largest diamond in
the universe 10 billion trillion trillion carats. It was discovered
in 2004. It is 50 light years away in the constellation Cetaurus and
it is 2600 miles across. How would you like to make a mounting for
that little baby? Platinum of course. Nothing but the best for the
biggest… eh wot?
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and then click on it in order to view a Gold and
Gem-Set Lapel Watch
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark