There are certain words and phrases in the English language which one
should take great care in using. One of them is: “Once upon a
time…” for this phrase holds within its folds great promise not
easily fulfilled. Another is: “Magnificent” for this word too holds
within its folds great promise not easily fulfilled.
But I’m a wild and reckless kind of guy… and today I throw all
caution to the winds and use the word “Magnificent” willy-nilly…
with total abandon… assured in my soul that the fates will not
forsake me and leave me stranded on an isle of ignorance for all to
see my lack of knowledge.
Nay nay. I shall sally forth–better than sallying fifth I’ll tell
you that–and present you with a pair of magnificent… yes, I said
magnificent… emerald bangles.
As many of you probably know… and some of you may not know… there
are few stones as difficult to channel- set as are fine square-cut
emeralds. While this job may look easy, it is deceptively difficult
due to the fragility of the stone. I would not have wanted this job.
If I had to guess at part of the technique here it would be that the
originator of these pieces had someone on premises to custom cut
those stones to fit their spaces as the setter went about his/her
slow and careful and meticulous pace. Of course… some might say
that in real life the setter probably knocked the job off in a few
scant metaphorical seconds. But don’t you believe it.
India. The birthland of diamonds and jewelry. A place where the
emerald has always been revered. Emerald jewelry has been fashioned
into all creative forms of wearable artifacts to times dating back to
the Moghuls. Alas… the quality of the emeralds back then was always
rather poor… till one fine day the Conquistadors opened the great
mines of Muzo and Chivo in what is now Colombia.
The bangles you are about to see are set with stones of exceptional
richness of color. They could be worn on wrists or ankles… and on
arms above the elbow.
There are times… when faced with awe inspring beauty … that words
should be minimized and the eyes should be left to speak to the heart
and… oh lord am I ever getting corny. Forget this previous
mish-mash of wordy crap and go take a look at magificence
personified. Yes … I said magnificence… because that’s what they
bloody well aRe: Magnificent.
Oh. One more thing. An estimate must have been requested about
fifteen or so years back by the gentleman who introduced the image of
these emerald bangles set in 18 karat gold to me–though I do not
have the weight of the stones–for on the overleaf he scribbled
$2,500,000. Personally… I think the estimate is conservative.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages a couple of magnificent emerald bangles.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark