Valentine’s Day

I confess, my head is spinning over St. Valentine. To begin with, there appear to have been more than one sainted Valentine; and the confusion is great enough that St. Valentine was omitted from the ‘Catholic Calendar of Saints’ as revised in 1969. On the other hand, "Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter and those with him at Rome" is still on the list of saints proposed for veneration by all Catholics. So there is something to the story; but how did Valentine’s Day become a celebration of romance?

A pair of antiquarians, Alban Butler (1756, ‘Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other Principal Saints’) and Francis Douce (1807), attempted to explain Valentine’s day as, perhaps, Christianity’s attempt to co-opt ancient, and dismally pagan, Roman festivals. Butler seems to have fabricated a festival to illustrate his argument, writing, "To abolish the heathens lewd superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in honour of their goddess Februata Juno, on the fifteenth of this month, several zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets, given on this day." Half a century later Francis Douce then jumped in and attached Butler’s story to Lupercalia.

Lupercalia was celebrated at about the same time as we celebrate Valentine’s Day, so there is a certain ‘post hoc’ synergy to the claim. For those of you who’ve never heard of it, it was described by Plutarch, born (for those of you who saw the great PBS series) during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, as follows. “Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea.  At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs.  And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.”  That doesn’t sound much like our Valentine’s Day, to me; so I think this makes the Butler/Douce story just another great story ruined by an eye-witness - except for one thing. It became a popular myth. In fact, it was one I learned in my (long ago) childhood. So where is the romance?

It may go back to Geoffery Chaucer and his ‘Parlement of Foules”, and no, it’s not about fouls or fools, it’s about love birds - royal ones.  As a good soldier of Edward III (during the 100 years war), an officer of John of Gaunt (the king was a minor) and a recognized man of letters, Chaucer was called upon to write a poem to honor the first anniversary of Richard IIs engagement to Anne of Bohemia (both were 15 when they married). The telling lines follow: “ For this was on seynt Volantynys day Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.” Of course, English hadn’t been standardized in Chaucer’s day so perhaps you’d like a translation - “For this was Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes to choose his mate.” Now as the engagement had taken place in May, 1381, that left February out of the running - but not Saint Valentine - no, not the one buried buried at the Via Flaminia, the one who had been the bishop of Genoa.  In the liturgical calendar of Chaucer’s day May 2 was the saints’ day for Valentine of Genoa (circa A.D. 300); and in some way, this does connect ‘Valentine’s Day’ with romantic love, and who knows, perhaps (with an apology to the Bard) all’s well that ends well. All, however, did not end happily for Richard and Anne.

Perhaps they could have used a little lupercalia magic, as their marriage produced no heirs. This led to a clouded line of succession to the English throne resulting, in the 1450s, in the Wars of the Roses fought between two ‘cadet’ lines of inheritance - the house of York and the house of Lancaster. While this has little to do with romance (but Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ has its moments - with a politic leer or two), it may be worth noting that while the English were fighting it out, one of the House of York’s collateral relatives, Mary of Burgundy, was being romanced by many; and she finally accepted, with the gift of the first diamond engagement ring we know of, the marriage offer of Archduke Maximilian of Austria.  A man of the moment, the Archduke’s diamond had probably been polished in Mary’s estates on equipment that had been invented (and patented!) less than four years earlier.

We love Valentine’s Day.  This year we’ve made a special connection with Shamrock Gardens Florist in Riverside, Illinois, to make your Valentine’s gift even better; come in and learn about it after you’ve bought that perfect Valentine’s Day gift.  Remember, our diamonds and our diamond jewelry have been carefully crafted for lasting beauty; so check us out on line at hurstsberwnjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the perfect piece for you. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers, an uncommon jeweler. 

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

Back at Work

Wow!  Between the Christmas rush (up about 15% from last December) and vacations I've been 'out of action.

Kathy and I went to London & Paris in January (snow & rain - but no crowds) for a little 'R&R'.  For me that meant museums, for Kathy it meant fine dining and shopping (Ralph Lauren on sale at Harrod's, January sales in Paris).  In the course of our visit we stayed in posh neighborhoods in both capitals, so one would think that the prices/services value equation would be similar.  Such was not the case.  Paris was significantly more expensive than London and I can only attribute this to an over valued 'Euro'.

Turning from the macro to the micro, South Kensington was a wonderful place to stay in London.  If you don't know it, it's home to 3 major museums, Royal Albert Hall and (of course) Harrod's.  We managed to find a very nice boutique hotel within a 10 minute walk of all of the above and only a 2 minute walk to the 'tube'.  In addition, there were an abundance of dining venues ranging from 'Patisserie Valerie' (great breakfasts and 'goodies'), cozy pubs (iconic English food & beer) and an easy commute to one or more of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants.  I have to say that Ramsay knows 'small business' is all about the client.  I was impressed by the hallmarks of good service I witnessed, not only in the wait staff but by the bartender (drinks were mixed and then - hygienically - sampled for quality before they were served) and the sommelier (she listened to carefully to my wife's taste in wine that the 1/2 bottle we were served - o.k., we're a couple of light weights - was so perfect that I had to fight her for every drop).  Since we were in the 'inner zone' of the London 'tube' system it was also an easy commute to Trafalger Square and its attractions as well as the London theater district.

For the novelty of it all, we took 'Eurostar' under the channel to Paris and found the trip to be easy (about 2 1/2 hours) and comfortable - if not particularly scenic.   Once we arrived at the Gare du Nord, it was easy to take the Metro (less expensive than the tube and a good value in Paris) to our hotel in St. Germain.  Very different from our London hotel (smaller), but the staff was congenial and helpful and we were in easy walking distance from the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre and Notre Dame.  As we'd never been to Paris before, this was very much a museum driven visit - as it developed, a staggering task.  I think that it would have taken us 3 full days to see the Musee d'Orsay and easily twice as long to see the Louvre - but we did our best.  Kathy found Notre Dame inspiring; and with that, I'll refer you to  'Back from vacation'.

Back from vacation

This is Kathy at Notre Dame.  She was unaware of the photo until I showed it to her on our return.  I'm not sure what she was communicating, but her sincerity is unquestionable.

We visited London and Paris on this trip and now we're back at work; so pick up on my views on Valentine's Day

Merrily Adrift in English

It’s my native language, so I’ve spoken it for a very long time (some say too long).  Occasionally, however, I can’t just take it for granted, and such is the case with “Merry Christmas”.  I don’t know how often I’ve wished people a “Merry Christmas” this year, let alone in all the years that preceded it; but as I stop to think about it, it seems to me that the word “merry” is on its way out of the language.  Oh, carolers sing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” every Christmas, but not one in a hundred would know that the title of the carol is a direct address (hence the comma) or that in contemporary English the sentence might best be understood as “May you have God’s blessings”.  Today we might use “merry” disparagingly as in “Even though they knew the idea wouldn’t work, they merrily continued with it.”  If you recall the “Folkies” of the late ‘50s and ‘60s  you may remember as well the “Limelighters” singing “I Saw Esau”.  If the lyrics still stick in your head you might recall that the singer was put out at seeing Esau giving his girl a “merry twirl”, and in this context the word’s usage was quite ambiguous.  It could have meant that Esau was showing her a pleasurable good time of some sort or another, it could have meant that whatever Esau was doing was being accomplished energetically, it could have meant that whatever Esau was doing with his girl was filled with laughter or it could have simply meant that whatever was being done, was being done in high spirits.  One might also hear of someone being led on a “merry chase” (though that likelihood diminishes every year) and in this case the meaning, a brisk chase, is very plain.  How all of this came from the Middle English “merri”, meaning “pleasant”, is all a matter of conjecture; though I’m sure some of the meanings of the word must have been ironic.

Then there is “Happy New Year”.  I’ve been wishing people ‘Happy New Year’ all week without a look into the origin of “happy”.   Though we most often use the word to express an emotion, we also use it in other ways (“there was a happy outcome”), so I’ve been driven again to the dictionary (several, in fact).  To the best of my understanding, “happy” has its origin in the Middle English “haps”, meaning fortune or chance (derived, in turn, from the Old Norse “happ”).  Though no one has ever used “haps’ in any conversation with me, one of the continuing characters in American writer James Lee Burke’s “Dave Robichaux” mystery series regularly asks Dave, “What’s the haps?”  If his idiomatic usage (the novels are set in southern Louisiana) is anything other than the author’s overt contrivance (oops, there’s another middle english verb, ‘vert’), then, perhaps (darn, there’s “haps”cropping up again) the original use of the word continues in some parts of the English speaking world   At any rate, by the end of the Middle Ages “happy” had come to mean “favored by fortune”, and this seems to be the meaning originally intended when someone wished someone else a “Happy New Year”; that is, a year favored by good fortune.  With my research complete, I can now comfortably, merrily and happily, wish all of you a somewhat belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

For the merriest and happiest of new years, you might consider making an investment in your emotional attachments.   You might consider putting the gift of a Hearts On Fire diamond or fine diamond Jewelry by Hearts On Fire on your calendar as a “must” for your next gift giving occasion.  It is the world’s most perfectly cut diamond; and unlike most of the otherdata you may have on diamonds, this isn’t just a drylaboratory fact.  Perfection in cut yields startling beauty obvious, to anyone who really looks at a Hearts On Fire diamond.  Indeed, one happy result of presenting a gift of Hearts On Fire is the statement it makes.  It says, “I love you” perfectly.  Isn’t that the merry result you want?  Check out our Hearts On Fire collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We’ll help you choose the perfect gift; after all, we’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers an uncommon jeweler. 

Christmas Shopping 101

Half a century ago one of my favorite stores to “shop” was the old Abercrombie and Fitch. In the 1950’s it was a high end sporting goods store, complete with an incredible gun room that properly belonged in a movie (it had a huge stuffed Polar Bear in one corner!).  In addition to guns, rods and reels it also carried men’s and women’s clothing aimed, however, at “the carriage trade” rather than the youth market catered to by the current iteration of Abercrombie and Fitch.   Somehow,  forty years ago or so, clothing led the company astray.  I can only guess that sporting goods had become stagnant; so management decided to plunge heavily into women’s fashion. The clothes didn’t sell.  In fact, the strain imposed by “the wrong bet” on fashion forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection, thus illustrating the fact that cash flow is the life blood of business.  A retailer must turn (sell) his inventory to remain solvent, let alone make a profit; and of course, this affects the jewelry business on many levels, right down to the consumer.

Makers of jewelry can find themselves faced with falling demand.  Those who make “high end” jewelry can usually scrap jewelry that doesn’t sell and fashion new jewelry reusing their gems (the labor is lost, the gold and platinum will be re-refined, but for small value).  Those who provide jewelry to “mass merchandisers” and low end chains have a harder time of it as they are ‘married’ to the fortunes of their ‘big buyers’.   Mass merchandisers suffer from the volatility of their market; and this opens the jewelry makers who supply them to risk as well.  Lured by ‘big sales, they often commit themselves to contracts with extended terms of payment and even agreements to take back unsold merchandise.  When business ‘softens’, and mass merchandisers fail to pay their bills, they’re at once in trouble.  If they are compelled to take unsold goods back, the intrinsic value of such jewelry is small; so scrapping it will yield little.  Fearing economic  risk, then, ‘gun-shy’ mass merchandisers and their suppliers very often tend to adopt a conservative character in design as well as a commitment to ‘cheap’ manufacture

This explains why, when I comparison shop chain jewelry stores and the jewelry departments of mass merchandisers, I usually see a strong commitment to basic designs and little attention to either quality or fashion. You may see 50 diamond crosses, all of which look fairly similar to one another, and you may see 50 variations on the diamond heart, but you are far less likely to see a wholly original piece of jewelry - let alone a beautifully crafted one.  For you, the prudent jewelry buyer, this infers that you must concentrate your jewelry dollars on quality jewelry possessions you can enjoy “forever”.  It clearly means that you should allocate a much smaller part of your budget to jewelry you see as “nice” but perhaps without durable “legs” in design or execution.

If your ears are pierced, you should own the pair of diamond studs you best see yourself in. If you can’t afford the pair you want at once, buy a smaller pair of quality diamonds and trade up for the ones you want.  If you enjoy rings, concentrate first on those that will have meaning for you - celebrations of your life that will give you a lift every time you look at them.  Bracelets? If you like them, take a hard look at what you like about them (wide? multiples? with gems? cuffs? bangles? links?), then buy them in proportion to the pleasure you derive from wearing them.  Necklaces? Diamond pendants are more versatile than other necklaces as they can be worn with a wider variety of clothing, though it’s a good idea to be able to put your diamond on attachments (chains, chords, ribbons) of varying lengths so they can remain “neckline” friendly.  Like diamond earrings, as long as you buy quality, you can trade up until you get the diamond pendant you want “for always”.  Above all, keep your eye on what you prize in jewelry to keep from bankrupting your jewelry budget with purchases of fashion you’ll soon tire of.  Observe this maxim, “If you don’t love it, don’t buy it.”  Liking a piece of expensive jewelry just isn’t good enough; and the corollary to this is, “Making do with ‘poverty jewelry’ will never make you happy.”

Of course the ultimate basics are diamonds.  Color, clarity and carat weight all play a part in determining the rarity of diamonds, but there is more to it than that.  So it is that here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers we select our diamonds for beauty above all - not laboratory values nor price.  So it is that we insist on originality in design and quality execution.  We want the jewelry we offer to be a joy forever for its wearer.  So it is that if you want to give a ‘forever’ Christmas gift you must come see us.  Check out our collection on line at  hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to make this the merriest Christmas!

P.S. If you have diamonds, broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.

LUXURY

It’s one of those things that’s relative; and perhaps a trip to the dictionary will only confuse this notion.  The word, luxury, has a Latin root, ‘luxus’, meaning excess or extravagance; but even the Romans found the word slippery.  “luxuriare” was used by the ancient Romans to describe profuse growth, so the notion of abundance has clearly been an inherent part of any understanding of luxury for at least two millennia.  Excess, extravagance, abundance - luxury - how can one consider it except as a comparative?

In the late 1940s (yes, I’m that old) family trips were often aimed at reconnecting to relatives - family - in other parts of the country; and for this city boy they were often eye opening.  There were, for example, no paved roads into one of my dad’s boyhood homes, Marshfield, Missouri; and while there were paved roads into Tulsa, Oklahoma, my aunt Ellen’s home had no running water.  Things were more ‘luxurious’ when we visited my cousin Bob Hackett’s home in Oklahoma City - paved roads, electricity, running water, all the ‘modern’ conveniences and not that dissimilar to our family home in the Chicago area.  Of course, the circumstances of his home were luxurious when compared to those of my aunt Ellen; and the circumstances of her life were more luxurious than those of my great aunt Ophelia and my great uncle John, at the time 90+ years old residents of Marshfield.  On the other hand a comparison between my cousin Bob’s late 1940s home in Oklahoma City and your home today might illustrate the ‘profuse growth’ aspect of ‘luxuriare’.

Few, if any, Americans had air conditioned homes when we visited cousin Bob; and during our visit it never fell below 100º (Fahrenheit), even at night!  Yet we survived; so I guess air conditioning could be considered a luxury.  The ‘phones were all land lines; and in much of the U.S. you called the operator at a central switchboard to place your call; so it seems you could consider our cellular world to be one of ‘luxurious’ communications.  There were a few television sets (and only a few television stations) and they were both so expensive and so ‘impractical’ that few had one - a far cry from the entertainment luxuries we enjoy today.  My point, of course, is that luxury is relative, except when it comes to luxuries with emotional content - strikingly, fine jewelry.

I have a friend who has, over the last forty years or so, become a well to do and respected figure in the world of jewelry; and one of his most treasured possessions has no obvious practical function.  It is his mother’s engagement ring; and its immense value lies in its emotional importance.  It connects him to a mother who passed away while he was only a child; and while this is remarkable within the context of his life, it is, very generally, the greatest value in fine jewelry.  My late mother’s pearls connect my daughter to her grandmother and my late mother-in-law’s diamond wedding ring is proudly worn by one of my sisters-in-law.  What other luxuries can have so enduring a value?  Certainly the present demonstrates this.

Recently a couple came in to our store to have a new ring made for the diamond he had presented her twenty years ago.  Like many men (particularly an engineer!), he had concentrated on the value of the diamond he purchased and paid little attention to it as a piece of jewelry.  In fact, he’d done a good job in selecting it, that is, he had bought for beauty not just for weight; but it had never reflected her ebullient personality.  When one of the prongs holding the diamond had failed, she’d put it in a safety deposit box and got on with her life - a daughter, a profession and more; but the ‘itch’ to wear her diamond had grown over time.  With a good marriage, and the understanding that comes with it, they were ready to let her ‘finish’ her engagement ring by setting her diamond in a ring that was really hers.  She looked at dozens and found nothing; but then, as more came out of our vault, she spied one that she had to put on her finger.  She loved it; and after we had made her ring, she loved it more.   Her husband, however, may have been the happiest.  He wrote us a quick note reading (we’ve saved it with their pictures together) ‘Thank you for making my wife happy.‘  Without a concrete function, perhaps the ring is a luxury; but I find it hard to acknowledge happiness as a luxury.  

In fact it is the enduring emotional content of fine jewelry that lifts it far above all other luxuries and yet may make it the most practical of possessions.  Should you buy a piece of fine jewelry to celebrate one of life’s momentous events or to express your love for another?  Of course you should!  There is nothing like it; and if you focus on the purchase of a beautiful diamond it will remain a treasured statement of your love and joy forever.  So come see us here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.  We care about your feelings and that is our gift to you, one that few can equal.  Because we know the real value of jewelry, check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  We have the stuff of dreams waiting here for you.

Golconda Anew

In the last six months two of the world’s great historic diamonds, the Beau Sancy and the Arch Duke, have been sold at auction.  The Beau Sancy sold for nearly $10 million, the Arch Duke for almost $22 million; and both originated in the fabled mines of Golconda.  Alas, Golconda is no more.

Diamonds were first discovered in India about two and a half millennia ago; and for the better part of 2,000 years little was known of them outside of India.  Oh, the Romans imported them to use as scribes, but seem to have cared little for their remote origins.  And unlikely though it might seem, the Chinese of antiquity, after having imported diamond scribes from Rome, seem to have thought that diamonds originated in the Roman Empire; but the eager traders of Renaissance Europe laid bare the secret.  In the fifteenth century, only a few years after another Burgundian had invented the diamond polishing wheel, Marie of Burgundy received the first diamond engagement ring.  After that everyone with money (read ‘monarchs and nobles’) wanted them.  Everyone soon knew that diamonds came from India; but there was one problem in India itself.   Virtually all of the diamonds that came from the storied ‘mines’ of Golconda were alluvial.  That is, streams had washed them from their origins, wherever that may have been, into the rivers of historic Golconda (located in modern India’s states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh). As demand grew, the supply of Golconda’s diamonds diminished; and by 1800 few were left to be found.  Interestingly enough, however, the modern states embracing historic Golconda border on the state of Madhya Pradesh, the site of a newly announced major diamond find.  While to my knowledge no one has publicly asked the question, I cannot help but wonder whether some, if not all, of Golconda’s diamonds had been washed down from the hills of Madhya Pradesh.

The existence of a contemporary diamond mine in Madhya Pradesh, albeit a small and marginally profitable one, and the lure of finding the source of Golconda’s diamonds must have inspired the search for the new mine.  It is just so rational; and so it must have seemed to the geologists working for  Rio Tinto Diamonds who surveyed the hills and valleys of Madhya Pradesh looking for the ‘mother lode’ for more than two years.  So rational that, when they found it, Rio Tinto wanted to make sure that it didn’t lose the fruits of their research before the company was sure the diamonds were really there.  So they kept it as secret as possible, a very real challenge since everyone prospecting for diamonds had their eyes on the firm.   To this end the company named their work ‘The Bunder Project’, both a name and a subterfuge. Monkeys, ‘bunder‘ in the local language, abound in the area, and it worked as a subterfuge because it diverted competitors‘ attention to a search for the remote, and completely fictional, hamlet of Bunder. 

Rio Tinto’s geologists quietly continued their work.  Now, two years after that initial discovery, Rio Tinto has gone public with the announcement of a new mine.

With mines, now, on three continents, the company is unique in the world of diamond mining in its insistence on identifying the origin of all of its significant gems.  Completely in character, therefore, the firm has made the announcement with a piece of jewelry crafted in diamonds from the new mine.   It is a necklace; and it exuberantly identifies the mine’s geographic location with its map coordinates - engraved on its back.   Symbolically, the company has named the necklace ‘The Courageous Spirit’, this to emphasize its commitment to using the mine not merely for the wealth the mine will produce but for the good the mine will work for the people of Madhya Pradesh.  They need it.

With a population of more than 75 million people, Madhya Pradesh is one of India’s largest and poorest states.  82% of the state’s women are illiterate; thus poverty is abetted by ignorance.  To help combat this, Rio Tinto has developed a three pronged program to use some of its new found wealth.  It has partnered with UNICEF (to help children), embarked on a program of practical education for local women and has committed itself to give preference in hiring to local people.  As the state is also home to some of India’s endangered fauna, the company has already established eco-friendly mining.  That is, it does not despoil the land with structures that will decay, it uses no chemicals, it minimizes water usage (and recycles much of it) and even works to minimize dust and noise.  If it is Golconda Anew, it will benefit the poor as much as it offers diamonds for adornment. 

We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers.  Our diamonds sparkle in a romantic restaurant because we care about heritage worthy jewelry.  So if you are in the market for the perfect jewelry gift, check us out on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment.  Our name’s on the door and we’re proud of it because we care about you.

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.