[Tidbits] Jerry DeNicola and St. George and the Dragon

There is or once was a jeweler by the name of Jerry DeNicola. He was
famous for creating high quality exquisite pieces of costume jewelry.
His items were and are treasured and have been compared to Cassini
and Carnegie. And with all this. I can’t find an iota of real
about the guy. Don’t know when he was born. Or where. Or
when and if he died. He is the mystery jewelry of the American
landscape. riding his dark horse through shops filled with torches
and pliers. never seen and never heard. all the while making an
enormous impression in the world of Jewelry.

Which bring me to Saint George and the dragon. Ol’ George is one of
Jerry’s masterpieces. More about that in a sec. I have some
fascinating stuff about Georgie. You all know about him, I’m sure.
But maybe you didn’t know this. One of the legends about our valiant
knight was that he was one day riding by a lake where the dragon was
about to devour a beautiful princess. How come no one ever talks
about commoners being eaten by evil dragons? Don’t they care? Anyway.
ol’ George figures out a way to save the princess and at the same
time lure the dragon out of the lake wherein he dwelled. That done…
Georgie offered to kill the dragon and save the populace from a
terrifying existence if they all consented to become Christians and
be baptised. Which 15,000 of them did. Who knew that that was all it
took to convert the heathens to christianity. In hindsight. the
Crusades were probably totally unnecessary.

So now. Back to the DeNicola brooch. It’s a bit of a stunner.
Textured matte gold tone finish. Colorless rhinestones encrust the
armor. With a turquoise tipped staff. Georgie sits atop his stallion.
A scaly lizard representing the dragon is turning and snarling up at
his. its green rhinestone eyes spewing venom and hatred at this
mounted knight who is about to take away his life. Can you blame him?
How would you feel if a sword bearing knight towered above you ready
to skewer you through and through? The base of the brooch is flat
enabling it to be displayed as a work of art when it’s not being
worn.

Measurments are 1" long x 1/2" wide x 1 5/8" high. I can’t gat a
fix on the price of one of these brooches in prime condition. But I
did find one with one eye missing for $125.00.

Ah. but a little more about Saint George. The name of the sword with
which ol’ George slew the dragon was Ascalon. a name recalling the
city of Ashkelon in Israel. During World War II Winston Churchill had
a personal aircraft. It’s name… yup. you guessed it: Ascalon. It’s
a good name. It’s what I’m going to call my next personal Jet.

For those of you who find themselves living somewhat vacuous
existences with little to do with their time other than making
jewelry in order to feed the kiddies. going out to dinner with
friends on a weekend. watching a movie or just hanging out. … for
those of you with much spare time on your hands. you might want to
Google Jerry DeNicola and look at some of the jewelry he’s made. He’s
a credit to our profession.

Okay. Voila. Finis. You know the rest.

The trek to the source. The visit to the image. also known as the
viewing experience. You know how to get there. Home page.
http://www.tyler-adam.com. Scroll down. Left side. Tidbits. Click.
And there for your sensory optic pleasure you will see a brooch of
Saint George slaying a dragon made by Jerry DeNicola.

And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week.

Benjamin Mark