Jewelry Trivia
Check out this fun collection of jewelry-related trivia including fashion diva's, famous gemstones, and more.
Did you know...?
By the late 1920's Coro became the largest manufacturer of costume jewelry, selling their products for a dollar or less.Beads made with rose petals give out a pleasing scent if held in a warm hand for a few moments.
It takes about 142 carats to make an ounce.
Artist Andy Warhol amassed one of the largest collections of Bakelite jewelry ever. He stored it in several warehouses.
Rubies are actually the rarest color of sapphire.
Liberace's concert piano was encrusted with 50,000 rhinestones.
It takes about 142 carats of a gemstone to make an ounce!
Marlene Dietrich once accidentally baked her own emerald ring inside a cake, where it was discovered
during dessert.
All diamonds are at least 990,000,000 years old. Many are 3.2 billion years old!
Queen Elizabeth II keeps her collection of fine jewelry below Buckingham Palace in a special room about the size of an ice rink.
Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry collection includes a big 203 grain, pear-shaped pearl with a storied past, and in 1969 she had Cartier make it into a necklace for her. Several years ago the pearl was lost in Ms. Taylor's hotel room, resulting in a frantic search until it was eventually discovered in her dog's mouth.
Legendary Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl at the time worth five million sesterces (about $12,500) in soup and drank it, just to win a bet with Marc Antony.
The gemstone tourmaline is said to cure baldness and varicose veins.
All the gold that has ever been refined throughout history could be placed in a cube measuring 65.5 feet on each side.
The world's most expensive earrings were made in 2006 by the House of Winston consisting of two pear shaped diamonds totaling 60.1 carats.
The earliest bracelets discovered are Sumerians in Mesopotamia from around 250 B.C.
Brad Pitt made a deal with a jeweler that he would design jewels for them, and Jennifer Aniston would appear in ads for the jeweler if only the jeweler would stop selling knockoffs of their Pitt-designed wedding rings.
A necklace that is over 40" long is called a "rope" length.
A wedding finger? --Throughout history wedding ring placement has varied. Depending on prevailing
customs, wedding rings at some time or another were worn on either hand, or on any finger or thumb.
The water of the oceans contain eight times more gold than has ever been mined in the history of the world. (It just costs too much to extract it.)
Black pearls are 100 times more rare than white ones. They come from oysters with black edges in Tahiti.
The oldest costume jewelry manufacturer in the U.S. was started in 1875, which eventually became known as Napier.
Savion Glover wears a necklace of hand-carved wooden beads his grandfather made for him. He never takes it off.
The Star of Africa is the largest cut diamond in the world.
The tradition of borrowing jewelry to wear to the Academy Awards ceremony was started in 1944, by Jennifer Jones, who wore Harry Winston's jewels. The jeweler is still one of the biggest names on Oscar night.
Mother of pearl is the name given for iridescent nacre, a blend of materials founds inside oysters and other mollusk shells.
The Hope Diamond was also known as the Killing Stone, as it had a history of bringing bad luck to those who own it.
Until the 15th century, only kings wore diamonds.
The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age, or around 3500 BC.
The 140 carat Regent Diamond was taken out of the Louvre museum and hidden during WWII, to protect it from the Nazis.
Tradition says that if you wear a sapphire on Fridays, you'll be lucky in love.
The tradition of giving diamond engagement rings originated in 15th century Venice, where it was felt that since diamonds are the most enduring substance in nature, an engagement made with them would lead to a marriage that lasted forever.
The dance floor for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in the movie, Top Hat, was constructed out of
Bakelite!
Be happy! The word jewelry comes from the ancient French, "joaillerie", meaning joy and gladness.
Platinum was introduced to jewelry in 1896 by Cartier.
Engagement rings were declared a necessary statement of intent by Pope Nicholas I in 860 AD.
The famous Tiffany Yellow Diamond weighs 128 carats and has 90 facets. When a zealous salesman
asked what he'd get if he sold the diamond, the head of the jewelry firm immediately replied, "Fired."
The British monarchy's Imperial State Crown stands 12.4 inches tall and weighs over 2 pounds. It is set with over 3,000 precious gemstones.
When Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958, he sent the 45-1/2 carat stone to the museum in a plain brown wrapper--by registered mail. The postage cost him $145--$2.44 in postage stamps and $142.56 to cover the cost of insuring the item for $100,000,000.
The jewelry industry uses about 1,000 tons of gold per year.
The Marquise cut in gemstones was inspired by the fetching smile of the Marquise de Pompadour and
commissioned by the Sun King, France's Louis XIV, who wanted a Diamond to match the smile.
It was illegal to use brass to make jewelry during World War II because it was used to make bullet casings instead.
Erythrophobia is a fear of the color red, so ruby or red jewelry would be a really bad gift for someone who had it.
In the 40's, rhinestones from Czechoslovakia and Austria weren't imported here, nor was any jewelry from France or much of Europe.
Rhodium, used in much vintage costume jewelry, is more expensive than platinum.
