Ever wondered how star sapphires get their stars? It's created by an optic feat called asterism, from the Latin astrum meaning star. For a star sapphire to appear, the stone must have spindly, needle-like inclusions of a mineral called rutile that grow and intersect each other within corundum, the mineral we know as sapphire and ruby (yes, star rubies are also possible!) To cut a perfect star is no easy feat. After determining that a star is even possible, due to a sheen on the rough gemstone, a lapidary must find the gemstone’s optic axis, and then begin to fashion the stone into a rounded ca ..read more

Gleaning the styles of the day from Victorian portraiture and photography, it seems like the order of the day was swirling rolls and curls laboriously piled atop the head in any number of different ways! When sitting for these images, women would have worn their most flattering styles, adorned with their most fabulous accessories, giving us a window into the world of antique hair styling. Here, we take a quick look back at two of our favorite Victorian accouterments: hair combs and antique barrettes.   Victorian tortoiseshell and hand-engraved 14K gold hair combs, made c. mid-l ..read more

We’re always pleased when jewelry reveals some of it secrets through hallmarks, maker’s marks and engraved details. However, some jewelry are meant to keep secrets; artisans have built compartments to protect the wearer’s valuables and tokens of significance, and encase them in some seriously fabulous materials. 19th Century Etruscan Revival coach covers, from the Gray & Davis archives. Coach cover with the old mine cut diamond earring it encased, from the Gray & Davis archives. Fashionable and functional in the 19th century, “Coach covers” are attachable orbs that cloaked valuable e ..read more

A visit to the jewelry collection at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum should be on the bucket list of any antique and vintage jewelry lover. The 3,000+ piece collection is a veritable trip back in time, offering the opportunity to see jewelry history from 1500BC to today, and the designs and trends that influenced our favorite pieces from the Georgian, Victorian, and Art Deco periods. The museum’s collection is a testament to both craftsmanship and care. Most pieces are in excellent condition and several were donated from what must have been spectacular personal collections. It’s easy to ..read more

Gate bracelets--link bracelets with a heart-shaped padlock closure--were a popular gift around the turn of the twentieth century.  English gate bracelet in 9k yellow gold, c. 1900. Currently available at Gray & Davis.  Traditionally, a gentleman would place the bracelet on the wrist of his paramour and lock the clasp with a matching key, thus ensuring that he was the only one able to open the "gate" to his lady love's heart.  The clasp on our gate bracelet functions quite well without it's key, so whoever wears it is able to to open and close their heart's gate according to ..read more

This ring is a stunning example of Art Deco craftsmanship, and features a 0.25 carat old European cut diamond of F color and VS2 clarity set within a bombe of diamond-studded platinum piercework. The shoulders of the platinum mounting are further embellished with engraved detail, and taper gracefully to a rounded band. Total diamond carat weight of the ring is 0.72 carats. Currently available in the Gray & Davis online shop! Would you say yes ..read more

With Mother’s day approaching, it seemed a good time to feature this lovely jewel, exquisitely made and clearly a special piece for the woman who originally wore it. Sometimes jewels come to our shop with their whole backstory. Sometimes all we have is the object itself. Such is the case with this antique brooch/pendant: inside a diamond border, a swivel-locket holds miniature portraits of two young girls, perhaps sisters. A lack of artist’s signature or engraved dedication keeps their identities a mystery, but that doesn’t mean they can’t tell us about the time and place they came from. At ..read more

Let’s try a little experiment. If I say “love and jewelry,” what image flashes into your mind? Considering the day and age, probably a diamond engagement ring or gold wedding band. But while these specific traditions are less than a hundred years old, people have been expressing their love through jewelry for, well, probably forever. And the kinds of jewelry they’ve used have been as varied, and as lovely, as love itself. So with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here are a few examples of popular love tokens from throughout history. Fede rings, depicting clasped hands, are one of the o ..read more

It’s a uniquely wonderful time to be a lover of antique and vintage jewelry in New York City, thanks to the Metropolitan Museum. The show “Jewelry: The Body Transformed,” on view through February 24th,  is a wealth of treasures (pun intended): it showcases the museum’s incredible jewelry collection; it is exceedingly beautiful to look at; and it provides a comprehensive and insightful exploration of jewelry in context. For the Gray & Davis team, it was particularly exciting to learn more about how our own collection fits into the broader history of jewelry, and to glimpse the many con ..read more

The life of any piece of jewelry begins with an idea. Before metal can be cast or stones can be set, a designer must sit down and create an image of what the final product will look like. It’s not often we get the chance to come face to face with this phase of vintage jewelry production, which is why Gray & Davis is delighted to display, for a limited time, some Cartier hand sketches dating from 1930 to 1950. Created by house designer Edouard Blondeau, these beautiful gouache images of necklaces, rings, bracelets, broaches, and earrings are works of art in themselves. Then, as now, Cartie ..read more