...a custodian of black spinel, jet, and other shiny jewels...

 “I’ve never thought of my jewelry as trophies.

I’m here to take care of it and to love it,

for we are only temporary custodians of beauty.”

~Elizabeth Taylor

 

I like purchases that lead back to me somehow blaming my fella. You see, he’s actually the one who got me to purchase jewelry from the television and online. I’m not sure why I had not considered it before; I mean, it was safer back then but I was not being a snob thinking, “oh, one shouldn’t (fill in the blank)”… it honestly had not dawned on me that that would be a *good idea*. Of course, my savings account doesn't consider it a good idea now.

This story begins in the same way many of my stories about my fella begin: he was annoyed with something. In this story, he was annoyed with how much he paid to the cable company so he cut his cable to opt for all the zillion other services he now pays into to rent television shows. He cut cable and then when he sat down to drink and watch mindless television, it wasn’t there… except for a local community channel and JTV (Jewelry Television). Somehow his mindless watching became amusing and on many Saturday nights when we were drinking and talking and laughing, we also opted to watch JTV. They have a nice collection of black diamonds, onyx and hello Black Spinel! 

Spinel comes in a range of colors with black being the rarest. It is often considered the "great imposter" gemstone since they are mistaken for more *precious* gemstones. The Black Prince's Ruby and the "Timur ruby”, considered to be the largest known ruby in the world, in the British Crown Jewels are actually spinels.

Spinel encourages passion and increases the duration of one’s life. See, I’m getting younger just wearing them ;) Black Spinel is said to ameliorate sadness, help resolve issues, and re-establish relationships. It is also considered a protective stone.

What I like about buying rings from JTV is that they’re usually made of silver so they’re at a lower cost. This way, I can mix and match my daily look.

While I was happily buying Black Spinel, one day I came across the W. Hamond Whitby Jet on their site. Okay, so since I explained Black Spinel, let me give a brief history of Jet. 

I feel like I could be dramatic with this sentence—over a million years ago, there was a tree somewhat like today’s Monkey Puzzle. It has fossilized and formed a blackness so intense that we say “jet black” as an expression, and so shiny that it could be used as a mirror. *swoon* Jet could be considered the world’s most gothiest stone since it was a popular go-to for mourning jewelry. The gothiest of them all, Queen Victoria wore Jet throughout her life after her precious fella passed. And, of course, Whitby Jet is supposed to be the best quality of Jet… and hello, the Dracula connection!

Back to my accidental JTV find-- What in the world?!? It was the pendant of the upside down bat with Whitby Jet eyes. The best part is that JTV often runs a 20% off everything sale so I scored my bat pendant and necklace for nearly $70 cheaper (by today’s conversion rates but we know what happened to the British £ recently so it was closer to $100 last year… sorry y’all). 

I almost feel a bit bad writing about the price since this piece was a MILLION YEARS in the making! Wow, I enable myself.

Right now, JTV doesn’t have any of W. Hamond’s Gothic collection but they do pieces if you want to look around.

Loving my bat pendant for a little over a year now, I kept itching for the Commemorative Dracula Blood Red Ruby Limited Edition ring because you know, I (sort of) have a thing for that book, right? A few months ago, I decided that I would treat myself as an end-of-chair-gonna-lose-a-big-chunk-of-money-when-I-drop-these-additonal-duties-(but-will-have-a-life-again)-contract. I mean, why wait for a holiday?  The ring arrived about a month ago with a little imperfection that was quite noticeable to me. I sent it back (ouch postal rates!) and I finally received a new one last week. I love it so much that I just bought one more piece.

 

Since I write about jewelry somewhat often (it is one of my favorite things to buy), I will note that I have most of my jewelry from when I was a teen. The piece that I wore to see The Cure last week is the same piece that I wore to The Cure concert in 1989, twenty-seven years ago. I have had that piece and several others since I was 15. In my world, jewelry lasts and thank goodness my taste doesn’t change ;) 

My fella does smile. In this picture I think he looks adorable and a bit like a train engineer with the cap and the stripes. He was intentionally trying to dress as the "most cheery" person at the concert :p