Symbolic coral vintage costume jewelry

Symbolic coral vintage costume jewelry

One of the very first materials that humans began to use as decoration was coral. Framed with gold or silver coral was found during excavations of ancient cities. The beautiful gem stone of up to 350 color shades has attracted people for so many centuries. As a result, there are almost no natural corals left in the world. Accordingly, jewelry with corals is becoming more expensive and every year its price will rise.
Like pearls, coral originates in water and there are more than 6,000 species of corals inhabiting salt waters.
However, only 27 of them can be processed, and only 7 are used in the jewelry industry.
According to belief, coral brings happiness, and different peoples used it as a talisman against the “evil eye”.
The Portugese believed that wearing red coral beads helps relieve headaches, while in England they used it to treat sore throat, and in Mexico – fever.
Noteworthy, people in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan believed that coral brings wealth and many children, carnelian – prosperity, joy and abundance, and turquoise bestows victory. Therefore, the combination of red (ruby, carnelian, and coral), blue and green (turquoise) has become traditional in oriental jewelry.

Traditionally, Japanese vintage costume jewelry of the 1950s-1970s demonstrates grace and beauty of coral. However, after the ban on coral mining in 1973, corals are no longer mined in Japan.
Italian jewelers also made decorations with the use of natural coral, and in particular, Sciacca coral. Sciacca is a rather rare species of Mediterranean coral, and its extraction ended in the 50s of the last century.

Symbolic coral vintage costume jewelry