A friend had bought an art deco apartment and was looking for period fittings. I had free time: my father was in hospital so I’d taken leave to dogsit for my folks while my mother stayed with him in the city.
I’d never had much use for online shopping: a book here, a pair of Birkenstocks there. Then an eBay search for “art deco lights” became one for “art deco ring” … and it began.
That fortnight, with a cat and two labradors for company, I swooned over rings around the world. I’ve since found out that deco is old bling’s gateway drug. (I’ve also discovered that nearly every “art deco ring” on a popular online auction platform is reproduction or rubbish, but more on that later.)
Over the next few months I drew my sister into this new interest. We bought bits and pieces – it turns out that handcrafted, solid-gold jewels from the past can be cheaper than mass-produced, gold-plated tat from the present – but that wasn’t the main game.
It was Instagram’s antique jewellery community who enthralled us – a passionate, politically engaged, occasionally batshit-crazy bunch of adornment adorers, posting about purchases, precious heirlooms, old paintings and pets. It wasn’t flashy, soulless modern brilliant diamonds they admired but wonky old mine cuts. Who loved this jewel before, they asked. And who loved them?
Source: theguardian
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