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End of March Book Review by
Manon Kavesky

How to be a Jewelry Detective
By C. Jeanenne Bell, G.G.


QUANTITY OF PICTURES: 7
QUALITY OF PICTURES: 8
QUANTITY OF INFORMATION: 9
QUALITY OF INFORMATION: 9
USER FRIENDLY: 8

This is a great hands-on how to book. In ten concise chapters the
author
teaches the reader how to deduce information from the clues presented
by a
piece of jewelry.

Chapter one Getting Started instructs the reader how to use their basic
built in tools, sight, touch, teeth, smell plus the loupe. Yes your
real
teeth, they are used to test pearls.

The next chapter, Clues for Fine and Costume Jewelry walks the reader
through the deduction process to determine if several pieces of jewelry
are
fine or costume. There are photographs of the pieces and the author
tells
the reader what to look for. For example, how the stones are set,
prongs or
glue or a mixture of both. She also shows the reader what to look for
on the
back of a piece of jewelry, the findings, marks, open backed settings,
foiled stones.

There is a section on Maker?s Marks. You probably already have better
books
for this purpose but another list won?t hurt. She shows drawings of
marks
for fine, silver and costume jewelry makers.

A chapter on Metals and Marks, decodes the hallmarks on fine jewelry
from a
variety of countries. She also discusses testing metals with acid
solutions
to determine their content scientifically.
A recent mystery that I solved with How to be a Jewelry Detective was
the
marking on a bangle bracelet. I purchased a mangled ?gold? bangle
bracelet
for $1.00 it looked like 14K and was marked so I bought it for my scrap
gold
box. When I got home and looked at the mark under strong light and used
my
loupe (yes I forgot it that day) I noticed the marking was 14KP. I
thought,
as did the seller who priced the bangle that this marking means 14K
plate.
But no, according to Jewelry Detective, this marking means 14K plumb
gold!
In the USA gold content can actually be 13 1/2k instead of 14K. The KP
mark
was introduced in 1978, and it certifies that my bracelet is 14K gold.

Stone Clues illustrates the cuts of stones and the different parts of a
stone. There is discussion of marcasite, rhinestones and paste as well
as
doublet and triplet stones. Plus, how to use your loupe to determine if
a
stone is glass. She does not claim you will be a gemologist but you
should
be able to determine if you have a glass stone in your piece.

Fittings and Findings is one of my favorite sections it is well
illustrated
with black and white photos showing different types of clasps, ear
wires and
hinges. There are also hand drawn illustrations of different findings
with
dates when they were introduced or popular. This is a very useful
section
for zeroing in on correct dates for your shiny mystery pieces.

Testing Other Materials covers ?Black Jewelry? of interest to those who
collect Victorian Mourning Jewelry (Whitby Jet, Black Glass, Bog Oak
and
Crepe Stone). Testing Bakelite, Ivory, Coral, Celluloid, Amber,
Tortoise
Shell and more. Unfortunately there is no information on Turquoise in
this
section.

In the last chapter ten fun jewelry mysteries are presented for the
reader
to solve. The answers are on the author?s web site
www.jewelryboxantiques.com.
There are also extras like bibliography, glossary, a resource list and
an
order form for basic ?tools? of the trade. My only complaint is that
this
book could use an index.

This is a basic book in my collection, and it will make a great
addition to
your collection too.
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