Gem Pursuit: An Antique Jewellery Podcast

A picture tells a thousand words and long before photography, jewellery was telling the stories of the wearer, memorialising loved ones and even harbouring secrets. Matthew and Alyce take a journey through the history of imagery in jewellery and celebrate a craft that became a dead art thanks to modern technology.

People were capturing memories through imagery as far back as the 1500s and in this episode you’ll hear about the array of different materials and techniques used to create them, capturing everything from animals, to portraits and even more risqué scenes for lovers. Plus, we’ve got the low-down on where you can find these extremely unique and valuable pieces for your own collection.

 THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

●      An introduction to imagery in jewellery

●      Types of imagery in jewellery

●      How technology changed imagery in jewellery

●      Where to find the best pieces of this art form

●      The lovers eye of a doomed romance

●      Prolific military portrait miniatures from County Cork

MORE INFORMATION

Featured Ring: A fabulous French 1950s cluster ring by Mauboussin. Set with perfectly matches sapphires and emeralds, the combination of colours is striking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu9I6OCKydf/

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie.

To see some of the pieces discussed in this episode check out our Instagram instagram.com/matthew.weldons/

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

SOCIAL MEDIA

●      IG - @CourtvilleAntiques

●      FB - @Courtvilleantiques

●      Tik Tok - @matthew.weldon   

●      YouTube - @courtvilleantique

●      Pinterest - @courtville

QUOTES

Imagery in jewellery is really an interesting one, because it follows us as we, as humans, and technology evolve. - Alyce Ketcher

What's really interesting about a piece of jewelry that actually has an image on it is you can visualize who these particular jewels belong to, because there's a picture of someone either who owned it, or who gave it to somebody with their image on it. It gives you an insight into their life. - Alyce Ketcher

They developed photography and that was the end of a lot of imagery in jewellery. Imagery across the board was affected but portrait miniatures was a massive industry. - Matthew Weldon

I would say to people who are collecting, if you look at what material the images are on, that'll give you a really good idea of age. The image will tell you what time period it is based on clothes, etc. but if you actually look at the material, it'll help you know as well. - Matthew Weldon

In the Georgian period, those who had a romantic connection, to kind of symbolize that connection or that relationship, by gifting one another their eternal gaze, which was done through a portrait of the eye. - Alyce Ketcher

KEYWORDS

#jewellery #imagery #portrait #antiques #art #victorianperiod #collector

The value of gold has skyrocketed over the last number of decades, which makes it a limited and expensive material to work with. Matthew and Alyce share the unique ways this noble metal was crafted in the past and why many types of goldwork are now considered a dead art.

Goldwork traces all the way back to ancient times but in this episode the focus is on filigree and cannetille, how these crafts were originally used to create beautiful pieces for a low cost and why, today, they are so much more valuable. Of course, we also have your guide on where to find the best of the best of goldwork through history.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

●       What is fine goldwork?

●       Filigree work

●       Cannetille

●       How changing trends impacts value 

●       How dead arts get a revival

●       Other types of goldwork

●       Nuances in the colour of gold

●       Why types of fine goldwork are dying arts

●       The introduction of platinum into jewellery

●       The best eras for collecting filigree and cannetille

●       A patriotic Irish bell

●       A Japanese dealer’s Hellenistic collection

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie.

To see some of the pieces discussed in this episode check out our Instagram instagram.com/courtvilleantiques/

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

SOCIAL MEDIA

●    IG - @CourtvilleAntiques

●    FB - @Courtvilleantiques

●    Tik Tok - @matthew.weldon   

●    YouTube - @courtvilleantique

●    Pinterest - @courtville

QUOTES

The beautiful thing about antique jewellery is you'll get these nuances in the gold. - Matthew

We know why the majority of the arts from the antique periods are gone. It really is because of time, time that it takes to create just the wire work, the filigree work alone. - Alyce

It is something that takes time and effort and skill, and years and years and years of practice. I just think that the kind of society that we live in today is more throwaway. - Alyce

The price of gold relative to income, or the price of gold relative to real estate, is much closer now than it used to be. Gold used to be more accessible to more people, whereas now it's relatively a very strongly priced - Matthew

KEYWORDS

#filigree #jewellery #gold #1820s #georgian #fashion #goldjewellery

Given the time of year it felt only right to look at some of the what some might call the ‘creepier’ dead arts. Matthew and Alyce take a journey through hair art, teeth jewellery and taxidermy in this shiver-inducing episode. 

Although they’re not for everyone, we find out how these pieces were important mementos of times passed for people to remember their loved ones and why taxidermy went from a status symbol to a legal nightmare. Plus, if you find any of these pieces hair-raisingly intriguing, we’ve got your guide on where to find them. 

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

00:57 The history of hair art 

03:42 Different types of hair art and jewellery 

06:58 Why hair and jewellery were important mementos 

10:13 The industry of death 

12:30 The art of taxidermy 

14:07 How taxidermy became a status symbol 

18:13 Why are they dead arts? 

24:06 New pieces available at Courtville.ie 

25:53 The best examples of these arts 

30:24 The one place making modern hair art in Europe 

32:01 Wearing someone’s smile on a ring 

34:38 Heads of Hummingbirds 

HOST DETAILS

Matthew Weldon took over Courtville in 2018 and continues today the rich legacy left behind by Kitten and Grainne. The Weldon family tree boasts a rich history of Irish jewellers going back over 135 years. Learning from a young age about the industry from his father, Matthew quickly gained a skilled eye and an appreciation for quality.

Seeking to further his knowledge and expertise Matthew gained a degree in marketing and French which led to a short career as a chartered accountant. But with such a draw to antique and vintage jewellery it was inevitable that Matthew would continue the family tradition and build a business of his own. Like generations before, Matthew looks for the exceptional, rare and intriguing pieces and always ensures beauty, quality and fair prices.

Alyce Ketcher has been working with jewels for over 15 years. During her time within the jewellery industry she has worked in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom and Ireland and gained qualifications through the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (GEM-A). As a qualified gemologist Alyce is able to use her extensive knowledge of diamonds and gemstones to identify and value jewellery from all periods. Working with antique and vintage jewels is her passion, and you can often find her researching hallmarks, inspecting gemstones or writing about our latest find.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie. 

Where you can find modern hair art creation: https://www.visitdalarna.se/en/do/shopping/hair-jewellery-vamhus-mora

Hummingbird earrings: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O86513/earring-emanuel-harry/ 

https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/information-guides/endangered-species/ 

Check out this piece on our Instagram.

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

SOCIAL MEDIA

● IG - @CourtvilleAntiques

● FB - @Courtvilleantiques

● Tik Tok - @matthew.weldon   

● YouTube - @courtvilleantique

● Pinterest - @courtville

KEYWORDS

#hairjewellery #taxidermy #victorian #necklace #deadart #teeth #jewellery #hairart #mourningjewellery #sentimentaljewellery

In this episode Matthew and Alyce dive into the dying art of enamelling. Although it’s something we might all be able to find on items in our own homes, finding a skilled enameller who can create art to the standard of the past is next to impossible. 

Enamelling can be found in many forms and today we look back on the 2500 years of the art, hear about some of the finest crafts people and their incredibly impressive colour palettes and, of course, some direction on where you can look to add your very own piece of enamelling to your collection. 

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

01:33 What is enamelling? 

03:22 Varieties of enamelling 

10:24 Why enamelling is a dead art 

13:04 The colour palettes of enamelling 

14:53 How fashions change through history 

23:32 Where you can find good examples of enamelling 

28:59 The Dragonfly Woman corsage

35:44 The Colonnade Fabergé egg

HOST DETAILS

Matthew Weldon took over Courtville in 2018 and continues today the rich legacy left behind by Kitten and Gráinne. The Weldon family tree boasts a rich history of Irish jewellers going back over 135 years. Learning from a young age about the industry from his father, Matthew quickly gained a skilled eye and an appreciation for quality.

Seeking to further his knowledge and expertise Matthew gained a degree in marketing and French which led to a short career as a chartered accountant. But with such a draw to antique and vintage jewellery it was inevitable that Matthew would continue the family tradition and build a business of his own. Like generations before, Matthew looks for the exceptional, rare and intriguing pieces and always ensures beauty, quality and fair prices.

Alyce Ketcher has been working with jewels for over 15 years. During her time within the jewellery industry she has worked in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom and Ireland and gained qualifications through the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (GEM-A). As a qualified gemmologist Alyce is able to use her extensive knowledge of diamonds and gemstones to identify and value jewellery from all periods. Working with antique and vintage jewels is her passion, and you can often find her researching hallmarks, inspecting gemstones or writing about our latest find.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie. 

To see some of the pieces discussed in this episode check out our Instagram @CourtvilleAntiques 

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

Social Media

• IG - @CourtvilleAntiques
• FB - @Courtvilleantiques
• Tik Tok - @matthew.weldon    
• YouTube - @courtvilleantique
• Pinterest - @courtville

QUOTES

"Enamelling is a form of glass work, which has additives introduced to it to increase its stability, and to reduce a melting range that allows it to set on top of a metal surface." - Alyce Ketcher

"There literally are so many types of enamelling, because it really is like an experimental art, especially when you think about glass work." - Alyce Ketcher 

"This was considered one of the most important art forms (and jewellery is art that you wear) up until really the 20th century. And then the question begs to be asked is why is this a dead art?" - Matthew Weldon 

"One thing to really think about when we're talking about these art forms is that they may have gone out of fashion, and then they come back into fashion, but we can't find them anywhere. So we have to look at antique jewellery." - Alyce Ketcher 

"Carl Fabergé's workshops had 130 colours of enamel. So you could choose from 130 different colour palettes that they had created. That is a huge feat." - Alyce Ketcher 

KEYWORDS

#enamelling #enamel #jewellery #metal #faberge #artform #antiquejewellery

Lapidary

Some of the unique art forms of jewellery creation are dying out thanks to modern technology and lack of training options 

Today we’re taking a look at the dying art of lapidary or gemstone cutting. Matthew and Alyce discuss the history of the art and why it has become so difficult to find modern masters of the craft, along with sharing the time periods that really highlight the most beautiful forms of the craft so you know where to look for your own antique collection. 

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

01:02 An explanation of the art of lapidary

04:07 Fashioning gems from their rough, out of the ground state 

08:20 Why lapidary is a dying art 

17:12 The impact of computerised systems and lasers of gem-cutting 

19:59 Examples of the best cut gemstones 

24:12 Which time periods to look to for your own collection 

29:31 Creating new demand to revive dying art forms 

33:15 A precious family Netsuke collection

42:49 Caesar’s ruby that isn’t actually a ruby 

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie. 

To see some of the pieces discussed in this episode check out our Instagram @CourtvilleAntiques

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

QUOTES

"During this season, we're going to be talking about crafts that have been lost, or that we think may have been lost. They include portraiture, hair, lapidary, and other forms of antique art that can no longer be seen in pieces today." - Alyce Ketcher 

"When we're talking about lapidary, we're talking about the cutting or the fashioning of every single gemstone on the planet, except for Diamond. Diamond is the only one that has its own title, which is called a diamond manufacturer, or diamond cutter, and a diamond cutter will never cut any other gemstone." - Alyce Ketcher 

"When we actually go to look for these craftspeople, they're incredibly thin on the ground. In Ireland for example, there's only one that I'm aware of." - Matthew Weldon 

"So when we're talking about cutting gemstones, the reason why we have fashion gemstones in the first place is to bring out and maximise the beauty of the gemstone." - Alyce Ketcher 

"Another reason why a lot of the dying arts are dying, is because of computer imaging programs, computerised systems, measurement systems and lasers, which combine to actually automate gemstone cutting." - Alyce Ketcher 

"A lot of people don't aren't aware about the variety that you can get and all of those carbon titles are all super interesting, totally unique, done by hand. It just blows my mind that something that this person carved 150 or 200 years ago is still so crisp." - Matthew Weldon 

"I think the onus is on the jewellery industry at large to familiarise themselves with all the different gemstones, because that's needed to get lapidary back from the brink, create demand for these skills again." - Matthew Weldon 

KEYWORDS

#gemstone #jewellery #skills #faceted #art #Edwardian

To celebrate over 50 episodes of Gem Pursuit Matthew and Alyce are taking you through a journey of their top five episodes. 

It was no easy task deciding on our top five but you’ll hear stories of Godly gemstones, the lost city of gold and the brutal standards of one very famous jeweller. 

We’ll also be looking ahead to Season 8, which will be in your ears this October and is all about the dead arts. 

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

• The Godly glow of precious emeralds 
• Alma Pihl and the unfortunate journey of one father’s gemstones 
• The lost city of gold 
• Influential jewellery designer Suzanne Belperron
• The brutal hammer of a very iconic jeweller 

GUEST DETAILS

Matthew Weldon took over Courtville in 2018 and continues today the rich legacy left behind by Kitten and Gráinne. The Weldon family tree boasts a rich history of Irish jewellers going back over 135 years. Learning from a young age about the industry from his father, Matthew quickly gained a skilled eye and an appreciation for quality.

Seeking to further his knowledge and expertise Matthew gained a degree in marketing and French which lead to a short career as a chartered accountant. But with such a draw to antique and vintage jewellery it was inevitable that Matthew would continue the family tradition and build a business of his own. Like generations before, Matthew looks for the exceptional, rare and intriguing pieces and always ensuring beauty, quality and fair prices.

Alyce Ketcher has been working with jewels for over 15 years. During her time within the jewellery industry she has worked in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom and Ireland and gained qualifications through the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (GEM-A). As a qualified gemologist Alyce is able to use her extensive knowledge of diamonds and gemstones to identify and value jewellery from all periods. Working with antique and vintage jewels is her passion, and you can often find her researching hallmarks, inspecting gemstones or writing about our latest find.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie. 

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

QUOTES

"You can value jewellery in two ways, and when it transcends from one of these ways to the other, it's when you really reach these gem qualities and you value them based on their intrinsic parts. So the diamond, the gold, sapphire, garnet, it is evaluated on the part, but if you're valuing jewellery based on the craft, the skill and the beauty, that's jewellery on a different level." ~ Matthew Weldon 

"He was able to actually revolutionise the way people look at jewellery, instead of looking at it as a tangible asset and looking at it as a piece of art. There wasn't any other jeweller in his time period who did what he did. It really was a turning point in jewellery creation." ~ Alyce Ketcher 

"A lot of jewellery houses, when they make something, much like an artist, they will actually put their name on the bottom or they'll sign it. In jewellery, it's exactly the same thing. But Suzanne Belperron said ‘I don't even sign my pieces, you should know they are mine just by looking at them’." ~ Matthew Weldon  

KEYWORDS

#jewellery #gold #faberge #gem #history 

Onyx has a long and fabled history and although many will (correctly) associate it with the Art Deco era, it was also an important gemstone at many other periods throughout history.

We talk about how different cultures have viewed this gem and the way its colouration impacts upon this. We also discuss banding, Tutmania and sugary treatments...

View our Onyx collection.

www.courtville.ie

Get social with Courtville, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

A Tape Deck podcast

#onyx #gems #jewellery #antiquejewellery #vintagejewellery

We celebrate our 50th episode with Matthew's favourite gem, that stone with the incredible, one of a kind play of colour that is Opal.

Known as the pride of Australia, it's a gemstone Alyce knows pretty well but she talks about how her initial perception has changed since when she was a kid growing up Down Under.

Listen to the end for the triumphant return of Gem Trivial Pursuit and find out who prevailed...

www.courtville.ie

A Tape Deck podcast

#opal #gems #jewellery #antiquejewellery #vintagejewellery

Renowned for it's remarkable colour-changing properties and 10,000 rarer than diamond, Alexandrite is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary and sought-after gemstones on earth.

Matthew and Alyce give an overview of the short history of the gem, provide some insight into it's fascinating colour change and, as usual, offer a few nuggets of insight from the trade to help you on your own Alexandrite treasure hunt!

www.courtville.ie

A Tape Deck podcast

Jade is a super versatile gem with a rich history and enormous cultural significance all across the world.

Matthew explains the difference between toughness and hardness when it comes to gemstones while Alyce shares some more stories from her own cultural heritage and personal jewellery collection.

www.courtville.ie

A Tape Deck podcast