Posted 7 years ago
KarenLR71
(191 items)
I truly wish this necklace was marked but it is not.
I think it could be considered 'vintage' if we based it on the clasp.
I think it is beyond lovely.....BUT I'm slightly alarmed at the condition of the back of the stone/rhinestone/glass pendant...I can't tell what is going on..why is it not simply the 'back' of the glass/rhinestone/whatever? Even if allowing for it to be highly 'scratched', it looks like there is some substance or backing that was there...but that makes no sense really??
The gold stuff you see on the back of the stone is known as 'foiling'. Quite common.
http://www.langantiques.com/university/Gemstone_Surface_Enhancements
Foiling
Foiling is the backing of a gemstone with a metallic or non-metallic sheet to improve its optical performance. The foil acts both a reflector as well as a coloring agent. Many jewels that survived carried diamonds and gemstones that were treated in this manner. Almost always these stones were set in silver closed backs to shield the foil from deteriorating.
Of all the surface enhancements, foiling is probably the technique which has the most allure but is hardly used anymore nowadays. In present time the technique is frowned upon as we are not accustomed to any of such treatments and with an abudance of good quality diamonds and colored gemstones available at, relative, affordable prices, there is little need for a gemstone to be treated in this manner.
As mentioned earlier, the goal of foiling is to bring out the best in a gemstone. While modern knowledge can make use of mathematics to estimate the best performance, in ancient times our ancestors needed to resort to tricks and they did a wonderful job at that. Backfoiling a gemstone with a colored and reflective sheet of metal greatly increases the optical performance of the gemstone at hand.
The back foiling of gemstones is a practice that dates back to at least Minoan times (2000-1600 BC)[3] and early written accounts of it are given by Pliny[4] in the 1st century AD. In 1568 Cellini gave a technical outline on this method with recipes on how to create several foils, but the most interesting information is probably given at the end of the chapter;[5]
Foil backed quartz.jpg
“ In the middle of the morse I set a diamond the facets of which were cut starwise to a point, for which Pope Julius II had given 36,000 ducats of the Camera. I set the stone quite free (a jour) between four claws, in this manner did it seem to me to make better. I had given this setting a good deal of thought, but the stone was of such exceptional beauty that it caused me much less trouble than costly stones of similar character are wont to do. True, some jewellers were of mind that it would better to tint the whole base of the stone and the back facets, but with my good results I got them to see it was much better thus. ”
From the text it can be concluded that foiling was not only done on rose cut diamonds, but on early diamond cuts with a pavilion as well (although in this particular case Cellini went against the advice of other goldsmiths and did not enhance the stone at all).
Although the high end jewelers of days gone by used foiling to enhance the beauty of a gemstone, less scrupulous men (hardly ever women) applied the technique to gemstones of inferior value to mimic other gemstones and thus committing fraud. The 1974 edition of Shipley's dictionary of gems and gemology[6] puts foiled gemstones in three categories:
Genuine foil backs: to improve the performance of a gemstone
False foil backs: to give a different color to a gemstone so to mimic another
Imitation foil backs: the same as a false foil back, but applied to glass (for example a chaton)
It is mainly due to the wide practice of the latter two that we now, sadly enough, regard foiling as fraudulent.
Besides, colored, metallic foils, other foils were applied to enhance a gemstone:
Peacock feathers
Butterfly wings
Colored silk threads[7]
Engraved metallic foils to mimic asterism and chatoyancy[8]
Sigh. I can see Elizabeth Taylor wearing this (although hers would be real emeralds and diamonds of course!). I can't believe this beauty is unmarked.
very nice!!
Gorgeous design and many rhinestones had foiled backing. Very common. Usually the stones and jewellery pieces are collected with the best backing.