{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 212 Part 1: Inside Appraiser Jo Ellen Cole\u2019s Extensive Jewelry Library","description":"What you\u2019ll learn in this episode:   Which essential jewelry books you should have in your library Why books are so much more reliable than internet research when it comes to gemstones and jewelry Why the Renaissance opened up a new world of adornment An overview of the periods of jewelry and how they overlapped and influenced one another How cultural turning points, like World War II and the South African diamond rush, influenced what materials were used during different time periods   About Jo Ellen Cole Jo Ellen Cole is the owner of Cole Appraisal Services and the director of fine jewelry at Abell Auctions. She earned her Graduate Gemologist Diploma at the Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica and successfully passed the prestigious Gemological Association of Great Britain\u2019s FGA examinations.   Additional resources: LinkedIn Gemological and Jewelry Books for a Professional Library:   GEMOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION BOOKS Gemstones: Their Sources, Descriptions and Identification, Webster, Robert Gem Testing, Anderson, Basil Handbook of Gemstone Identification, Liddicoat Jr., Richard T. Gem and Ornamental Materials of Organic Origin, Pedersen, Maggie Campbell Gemstones of the World, Schumann, Walter Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, Vols. 1, 2 and 3, Gubelin, Edward and Koivula, John Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones, Arem, Joel The Spectroscope and Gemmology, Anderson, Basil and Payne, James, edited by Mitchell, R. Keith   GENERAL REFERENCE Gemology, An Annotated Bibliography, Sinkankas, John The Complete Handbook for Gemstone Weight Estimation, Carmona, Charles Dictionary of Gems and Gemology, Shipley, Robert The Jewelers Manual, Liddicoat Jr., Richard T. and Copeland, Lawrence L. Gemstone and Mineral Data Book, Sinkankas, John     DIAMONDS Diamonds, Bruton, Eric Diamond Cutting: Complete Guide to Cutting Diamonds, Watermeyer, Basil Famous Diamonds, Balfour, Ian Hardness 10, Vleeschdrager, Eddy Diamond Handbook, Newman, Renee Laboratory Grown Diamonds, Simic, Dusan and Deljanin, Branko Fluorescence as a Tool for Diamond Origin Identification \u2013 A Guide, Chapman, John, Deljanin, Branko and Spyromilios, George PEARLS Book of the Pearl, Kunz, George F. and Stevenson, Charles Hugh Pearls, Strack, Elizabeth Beyond Price, Donkin, R.A.   JADE Jade, A Gemmologist\u2019s Guide, Hughes, Richard Jade For You, Ng, John Y. and Root, Edmund   COLORED STONES Ruby and Sapphire, Hughes, Richard Emerald and Other Beryls, Sinkankas, John Opal Identification and Value, Downing, Paul   JEWELRY HISTORY Brilliant Effects, Pointon, Marcia Understanding Jewelry, Bennett, David, and Mascetti, Daniella Jewelry in America, Fales, Margha Gandy Victorian Jewellery, Flowers, Margaret Transcript: In appraiser Jo Ellen Cole\u2019s opinion, the best thing a jewelry lover can have is a well-stocked library. Information on gems and jewelry abounds online today, but much of that information is incorrect. For that reason, Jo Ellen\u2014a Graduate Gemologist who also passed Gem-A\u2019s FGA examination\u2014turns to books when she has a question about a specific piece, hallmark or stone. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to share which books she recommends for every jewelry interest; how jewelry trends shifted over the years due to cultural forces; and how to quickly identify the characteristics of different jewelry periods. Read the episode transcript here.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it\u2019s released later this week.   I met Jo Ellen about six or seven years ago when I was studying for the GG, or the Graduate Gemology degree. In order to pass it, I needed to identify about 18 stones and get them all right, and I only had three chances to do that. This was daunting to me because I\u2019m not a science person; I\u2019m not a math person or anything. I wasn\u2019t working with the stones. I wasn\u2019t working in a jewelry store, so I really didn\u2019t have the opportunity to handle the stones. I called another appraiser, Charlie Carmona, whom we\u2019ve had on this podcast, and asked him for a recommendation for a tutor. I thought it was a pretty weird recommendation that I was asking for, but he immediately recommended Jo Ellen, and I never looked back. She\u2019s been a great tutor. It was a few years ago, but she helped me a lot.   She knows a lot about jewelry, and not just jewelry, but I find her extremely knowledgeable about vintage and antique pieces. I have talked to and been to enough appraisers to know that this is its own specialty. She\u2019s also been helpful when it comes to directing me to researchers for whatever I need. She pointed me in the right direction. Today, she\u2019s going to share with us the books that she thinks will help us with our jewelry journey. Jo Ellen, welcome to the program.   Jo Ellen: Thank you so much for having me. I\u2019m happy to be here.   Sharon: I\u2019m so glad that you deigned to be on. Now, tell us, with a GG, which is part of the GIA, you can do a lot of things. So, why did you go into appraisal as opposed to other things?   Jo Ellen: Well, I found that I was lacking in salesmanship abilities, to say the least. I\u2019m just not a salesperson, but I love to categorize; I love to research. Appraising seemed to fit that bill very well. Plus, when I realized that I was not good at sales, I met Charles Carmona, whom you mentioned before, at American Society of Appraisers\u2014no, it was the AGA. I can\u2019t remember what that stands for, but it was a meeting. I met him, and a couple of years later, he asked me to work with him and I jumped on it. It was a wonderful experience. He\u2019s still my mentor. He\u2019s so knowledgeable and knows so much about appraising. I always feel comfortable talking to him about any problem I might encounter. He\u2019s been very instrumental.   Sharon: And a big name in the L.A. market, I would say.   Jo Ellen: He\u2019s really gone worldwide. He has three laboratories in China and Thailand as well.   Sharon: I didn\u2019t realize that.   Jo Ellen: Yeah, he\u2019s really opened up his market. He also leads a lot of traveling groups and things. He\u2019s very well-known.   Sharon: I knew he was well-known in Los Angeles, but I didn\u2019t know he was that well-known around the world.   Jo Ellen: Having factories in Africa, he\u2019s been around doing a lot of different things.   Sharon: I\u2019ve stopped purchasing books when it comes to novels or something like that. I just listen to them. Why should I purchase a book as opposed to listening online when it comes to jewelry? Why should I purchase a jewelry book?   Jo Ellen: What I\u2019ve noticed is that when I go online to research prices of jewelry, which I do often, I find that a lot of the information I find is not correct. I think part of the reason for that is because it\u2019s so easy to list something online. It gets your name out there, so people do that. However, they don\u2019t always double check their information. There\u2019s a lot of misinformation out there.   Whereas in a book, it takes a lot longer to set it up, edit it, make sure everything\u2019s proper. I\u2019ve been able to count on the information coming from books a lot better than I have been from online sources. However, I must say there is certainly a good reason to look online as well. Some of the information is very good. It\u2019s just that, personally, I feel more comfortable with a book form. Then, you can revisit that if you need to. It\u2019s easier to find.   Sharon: Do you have to know if it\u2019s right or wrong before you look at a book?   Jo Ellen: You have to figure that out on your own. But generally, if you have a good background in terms of knowledge of gems and gemology and antique jewelry from reading through books, a lot of times, you\u2019ll find that information is incorrect when you go online.   Sharon: I know instances where I\u2019ve found incorrect information about pearls or something like that. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m any kind of expert, but I know it\u2019s incorrect.   Jo Ellen: Yeah.   Sharon: Can you tell us quickly what you do every day? What does an appraiser do every day?   Jo Ellen: If I\u2019m not reviewing a book for a gemological publication like The Gemologist or Gems & Gemology, which doesn\u2019t do book reviews anymore\u2014but a lot of times, I\u2019m asked by people in the industry to review new books. So, I do that a lot, which involves going over the book line by line and figuring out what I think is proper and what isn\u2019t, or what is clear and what is not. I do that a lot.   I also work at a local auctioneer two days a week, at Abell Auctions, as their fine jewelry director. I\u2019m constantly cataloguing things and looking for prices on things, always encountering something unusual there. You get things from all over the world, and people like to use that venue as a way to sell their items. If I\u2019m not doing that, I\u2019m actually going to people\u2019s localities to appraise their jewelry for them, either for insurance purposes or for estate purposes if somebody has passed or wants to set up a trust. I do that a lot, but a lot of my days are spent doing what I love, which is reading.   Sharon: You sound pretty conscientious to look at a book that closely when you\u2019re writing a book review.   Jo Ellen: For me, it\u2019s really important to get it right. Generally, most books, even if I don\u2019t particularly like them, I can at least validate that their information is correct. I did have one book about a year-and-a-half ago that was just so egregious in its information I had to give it a bad review, which I\u2019ve never done before. I called up the editor the week before it was due and said, \u201cWhy are you even covering this book? It\u2019s so awful.\u201d He asked why, and I started pointing out little things. He was like, \u201cOh,\u201d but he published the review anyhow. I didn\u2019t feel great about it because I don\u2019t like to slam people for things, but it was just so awful I had to point it out.   Sharon: So, we should do our own reading, both online and with books.   Jo Ellen: Absolutely.   Sharon: Let\u2019s talk about a book or books and talk about the history. If you want to learn about the history of jewelry through the ages, what would you look at?   Jo Ellen: There are a couple of really good books. When you write a book, it seems like the best formula is always to start at the beginning and take them through the ages. That\u2019s what they do with jewelry history. Usually, they\u2019ll start with prehistoric jewelry and how jewelry first came to be\u2014it\u2019s one of the oldest things that humans have done that marks them as humans\u2014and then it goes through medieval times and Renaissance, and then to Georgian and Victorian and Arts and Crafts or the Aesthetic Period, and then through Art Nouveau and Art Deco and Retro and on up to modern jewelry for today. That\u2019s usually how a book on jewelry history is set up. There are couple of really good ones out there that encapsulate what you need to know in terms of jewelry history.   Sharon: Before you tell us that, I wanted to tell our listeners that we will have all this information on the website. Yes, take notes, but you don\u2019t have to write everything down; it\u2019ll be on our website.   Jo Ellen: Yeah, I created a list of things that you can look for. One of the main books I recommend for overall jewelry history is a book called \u201cUnderstanding Jewelry.\u201d It\u2019s by David Bennett and Daniela Mascetti, who were both cataloguers at Sotheby\u2019s for many years and very knowledgeable in their field. It really helps to set up all those different ages of jewelry and gives wonderful examples and photographs. It\u2019s a picture book as well as an informative book, but all the information they offer has always been spot-on. I\u2019ve learned so much from that book. It\u2019s one that I would definitely recommend.   Sharon: I\u2019ve probably seen it in every jewelry office that has books. I see that book.   Jo Ellen: It\u2019s a great book. It really is. Another good one that\u2019s much simpler and has more pictures is a book called \u201cWarman\u2019s Jewelry.\u201d   Sharon: Warman\u2019s?   Jo Ellen: Yeah, W-A-R-M-A-N. The second edition was actually written by a good friend of mine, Christie Romero, who has since passed on. She used to be on the Antiques Roadshow. You\u2019d see her on Antiques Roadshow a lot, a very knowledgeable woman. She had started her journey by traveling down to Mexico and learning all about Mexican silver and then just expanded from there. She used to give classes on jewelry at Valley College in Los Angeles. She just knew how to present things in such a way that it was very easy to assimilate that information.   It has tons and tons of pictures. It also has a jewelry timeline. It\u2019s very thorough for being such an easily read book. There are even some prices in there, I think. It\u2019s now an older book, and I think there have been other editions that have been written since hers, but I always liked hers because I\u2019m familiar with it. So, that\u2019s another good one that I would offer.   Sharon: What about a book if we want to be more specific, like Georgian or Victorian jewelry? It\u2019s funny that when you say prehistoric, you could take many of the prehistoric pieces and wear them today and nobody would know the difference. But it seems to jump then to Renaissance.   Jo Ellen: Because it has to do with the Dark Ages. A lot of it is about human history and civilization. During the Dark Ages, people were in such terrible shape as a civilization, they didn\u2019t have time to decorate themselves, so they usually used items from the past. There wasn\u2019t a lot of information coming out between, let\u2019s say, the 5th and 13th centuries. Then things started rolling again once society got more stabilized.   Sharon: Is there a particular book we should look at if we want to pick up where society picked up? Let\u2019s say Georgian.   Jo Ellen: There\u2019s a really good book on jewels of the Renaissance by Yvonne Hackenbroch. It\u2019s quite a tome. It\u2019s big, and it goes through the history of civilization as well as jewelry. It talks about the light occurring in the beginning of the Renaissance, when people started realizing there\u2019s more to life than just eating and sleeping and staying alive. You can decorate yourself. You can show your social status by what you wear, some of it being jewelry. That\u2019s a very good book for the Renaissance period.   There\u2019s also another Renaissance book called \u201cRenaissance Jewels and Jeweled Objects: From the Melvin Gutman Collection\u201d by Parker Lesley. It shows wonderful examples of Renaissance-oriented jewelry. There\u2019s one called the Hope Pearl Jewel. It\u2019s this big, baroque pearl that\u2019s decorated as the body of a man. It\u2019s very well known. It demonstrates jewels like that.   Sharon: From there, does it continue to Georgian and Victorian?   Jo Ellen: Yeah, there\u2019s a really good book, \u201cGeorgian Jewelry 1714-1830,\u201d by Ginny Redington and Tom Dawes with Olivia Collings. It\u2019s great because I had never seen a book specifically on Georgian jewelry. It\u2019s not glamorous jewelry because the techniques weren\u2019t there. It\u2019s just that people wanted to adorn themselves to help their social status. It\u2019s very collectable today. People collect Georgian jewelry all the time. It goes through the period before Queen Victoria took the throne and clarifies a lot of things. And, again, the information is spot-on. I\u2019ve never had a problem with these books. When I go to confirm that information, I\u2019ve never had a problem with it.   Sharon: I don\u2019t collect Georgian jewelry, but I do know it\u2019s very hard to find.   Jo Ellen: Yeah, it is, but it shows up at different auctions, sometimes in the most unusual places. Even at Abell Auctions you\u2019ll see it. People just hold onto these things. A lot of Georgian jewelry isn\u2019t available anymore because people would melt down those items to make new items in a newer fashion, such as a Victorian fashion. They would take the stones out, melt down the metals and then either recast them or remake them in some way into a newer-looking form. That\u2019s why you don\u2019t see a lot of Georgian jewelry anymore.   Sharon: How about Victorian jewelry? There seems to be a lot of it.   Jo Ellen: There\u2019s a lot of Victorian jewelry. Even though people also did it then, where they would melt things down and make a new piece out of older pieces, there is a lot of Victorian jewelry because Queen Victoria, whom that period is named after, wore a lot of jewelry. She was a big jewelry person. She loved jewelry and she used it for sentimental reasons to give imagery, to bestow favor on people. So, there\u2019s a lot of it around because people would want to copy her. Everybody started doing that. You\u2019ll have mourning jewelry from Victorian times.   A lot of historical things happened during her reign, such as the finding of diamonds in South Africa, which changed the diamond market forever. Before then, there were diamonds from Brazil, primarily, or India, but they\u2019re very hard to come by and very, very expensive. Once they opened up the diamond fields in South Africa, you started getting a lot more diamond jewelry.   Sharon: By mourning, you mean if somebody dies?   Jo Ellen: Yeah. A lot of times, when someone would die, they would leave a certain amount of money in their will to make mourning rings or pendants for their friends and family to remember them by. So, you have this memento mori-type jewelry which has its own collecting base. People collect their little pendants, which are like little baskets with a little enamel skeleton inside, little rings that say the man or woman\u2019s name written around the inside of the band, all sorts of things like that. It\u2019s kind of sweet because, when you think about it, jewelry is one of the few art forms that\u2019s worn close to the body. It makes it more sentimental.   Sharon: And the diamonds from South Africa, were they different than the other diamonds, besides being less expensive?   Jo Ellen: The thing with Brazilian diamonds in particular is that they had what they call a lot of knots in them, where their crystals grow into crystals. You would have these harder-to-polish areas. With African diamonds, it\u2019s such a pure form that they\u2019re easier to polish. They didn\u2019t take as much time to polish, and they didn\u2019t break on the wheel the way that some of the Brazilian diamonds would break.   Sharon: They used those diamonds in Victorian jewelry?   Jo Ellen: They did.   Sharon: What books should we look at if we want to learn about Victorian jewelry?   Jo Ellen: There is a wonderful book\u2014in fact, I used to know an antique dealer that used to give out these books to his clients because they were wonderfully organized. There\u2019s a book called \u201cVictorian Jewelry\u201d by Margaret Flower, and it goes through the different phases of Victorian jewelry. There\u2019s an early, a mid and a late phase. What she does is describe exactly what you can see during each of the phases, what types of jewelry. It\u2019s very interesting, and it gives you an overall picture of how things came to be during that time period. It\u2019s really nicely done.   There\u2019s a much larger book I\u2019m still reading because it\u2019s so big. It\u2019s called \u201cJewelry in the Age of Queen Victoria\u201d by Charlotte Gere and Judy Rudoe. That also has a lot of very specific information on different types of jewelry, the makers during that time. What\u2019s interesting is you\u2019ll see the same authors over and over again because these people really use it. It\u2019s their way to express themselves as a lifestyle, almost. They\u2019re wonderful authors, and they do their research and know what they\u2019re talking about. So, those are two Victorian jewelry books I would highly recommend. I think they\u2019re wonderfully done.   Then, if you want to go into French jewelry, there\u2019s another book called \u201cFrench Jewelry of the Nineteenth Century\u201d by Henri Vever. It\u2019s an enormously fat book. I\u2019m still reading that one as well, but again, it\u2019s jewelry makers. It\u2019s huge. It gives makers\u2019 information and techniques, and it\u2019s beautifully done. That\u2019s a good book to have as well.   Sharon: First of all, it strikes me that you seem to look at the pictures a lot more. You read. Most people don\u2019t read any of the book. They look at the pictures. That\u2019s different.   Jo Ellen: They have pictures with jewelry; that\u2019s sure to entice you to continue looking.   Sharon: Then what do you go into? Edwardian and Art Nouveau?   Jo Ellen: Before that, there\u2019s actually a period called the Aesthetic Period, which is also covered in the \u201cJewelry in the Age of Queen Victoria\u201d book. It was in the late 1870s through the 1900s. There were certain makers that specialized in it, like Child & Child of London. They would make these beautiful pieces that harkened back to classical times but using new techniques and materials. That was a specific period. It was a very small period, but all the jewelry that was done during that time is beautifully done. There\u2019s a book by Geoffrey Munn called \u201cCastellani and Giuliano,\u201d and it talks about that specific time period. For example, Castellani was known for taking antique or ancient jewelry and refiguring it for that time period around the 1900s.   Sharon: He was a goldsmith?   Jo Ellen: He was a goldsmith. It was actually two brothers who were goldsmiths. One of the brothers was very politically active and lost an arm when they were demonstrating or something. He got put in jail, but the other brother kept on, and then their children took over after them. In Giuliano\u2019s case, which was another manufacturer in Rome, he was known for his enamels. You will see jewelry specifically with black and white enamel accenting other colored enamels. The work is beautifully done, and it\u2019s very detailed.   Sharon: We may be going back a few years. What was Berlin iron, and when was that popular?   Jo Ellen: Berlin ironwork, I believe, was like 1840 through 1860. It was a result of people giving up their precious metals for the Prussian Wars that were happening at that time. They would make this Berlin ironwork, which is very delicate and lacey, but it was made out of iron because they didn\u2019t want to use precious metals for that; they wanted to use it for warfare. So, they would use ironwork as a substitute for precious metals. There are some beautifully intricate bracelets and necklaces. It looks like lace. It\u2019s really beautiful.   Sharon: Is it wearable?   Jo Ellen: It is wearable. It\u2019s kind of a Gothic look, so it\u2019s a heavier look. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019d want to wear it every day because, again, it\u2019s kind of\u2014I hate to say gloomy, but it is kind of a sober look because it\u2019s black and the tracery is so fine. But it\u2019s certainly wearable.   Sharon: After the Aesthetic Period, we have Edwardian and Art Deco. What do we have?   Jo Ellen: What we start with is Arts and Crafts, which is actually my favorite period. I have a lot of books on it, but there are a couple that were really good in terms of pushing forward the information I knew. One is a book called \u201cJewelry and Metalwork in the Arts and Crafts Tradition\u201d by Elyse Zorn Karlin, who\u2019s a very active member of the jewelry industry. She gives lectures. It\u2019s this wonderful book on Arts and Crafts jewelry and metalwork and leads you through the making of it with the guilds.   They tried to restart jewelry guilds in England where everything was made from first to last by the same person. The metal would be drawn and shaped by the person. If enamels were used, they would make the enamels themselves and apply them themselves. The stone setting was done by the same person. That was the beginning of Arts and Crafts, the person making the piece from beginning to end. Usually they\u2019re not terribly intricate, but they\u2019re beautifully fashioned with a lot of feeling. It\u2019s a very comfortable look, and it\u2019s infinitely wearable. The first part of Arts and Crafts started around 1883 through 1900. Then there was a repeat of it between around 1920 and 1935, around the same time as Art Deco.   What I forgot to mention during the Aesthetic Period was Carl Faberg\u00e9 from Russia. He did a lot of Aesthetic pieces.   Sharon: He did the eggs, right?   Jo Ellen: He did the eggs for the Russian monarchy, but he also did jewelry for everyday people. He would make little, miniature enameled eggs for the general Russian population. Those still come up today once in a while. I saw an entire necklace of Faberg\u00e9 eggs, all in different enamel colors beautifully done. Everything is so beautifully fashioned. You can tell they really took time in every single aspect of the making of that jewel. That\u2019s what I love about it. It shows so much attention to detail.   Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to the JewelryJourney.com to check them out.     ","author_name":"Jewelry Journey Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/thejewelryjourney.com\/","html":"