Jewellery
Decorating women goes back way beyond the stone age. Rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches and hair ornaments are as old as the hills. The birth of jewellery probably came about when it was thought that such items possessed magical powers. After winding strings from a vine around his woman’s head in order to ward off the evil spirits, the man probably said, “the magic isn’t working, the cave is still full of evil spirits, but she sure looks a lot better! Let’s keep decorating!” Today jewellery is major business all over the planet, and the evil spirits are with us more than ever!
Almost any material one can think of is used to make jewellery. Primitive man probably used pieces of bone, wood or iron to put in his or his woman’s ear, lip or nose. They also made bracelets or necklaces from strings of teeth, pebbles, seeds or shells. Man began to use gold and silver as soon as these metals were discovered and made workable. Gold is still the favorite medium of most jewellery because of its attractive color and the ease with which it can be shaped and worked. Precious and semi-precious stones or gems are also widely used in modern day jewellery.
In recent times the art of jewellery making changed from handmade and individual creation to large scale mass production in manufacturing workshops. Certain expensive pieces of jewellery still require handwork, but most jewellery is machine made. London, Paris and New York were until recently the centers of jewellery manufacture. Things have changed dramatically in the past few years.