The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts proudly presents:

The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts proudly presents:

How to tell a True Princess?

Once upon a time... there was a queen-mother that wanted to check if her future daughter-in-law was the real princess she claimed to be.

She went into the bed-room and hid there a beautiful Art Deco clip. In the morning the princess was asked how she had slept. "Oh, very badly!" said she. "I hardly closed my eyes all night. I felt a presence of sheer beauty."

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that!

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a 'real' princess; and the clip was put in the Adin Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts, where it may still be seen, provided no one has bought it!

Click the picture for more information on this magnificent Art-Deco clip.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts reveals historic secret:

The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts reveals historic secret:

What was Nappy holding in his right hand?

Once upon a time... it must have been shortly before Valentine's day when Napoleon's court painter took an instant snapshot of the emperor when he was on his way to the woman he loved. Napoleon with the jewel in his right hand, in a reflex, hid the jewel under his waistcoat.

For a long time the existence of this jewel has been a source of dispute between jewelry historians around the world. It's only shortly that Mr. Elkan Wijnberg, chief conservator of the Adin Antique Jewelry Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts revealed what it was.

Mr. Wijnberg told us: "Napoleon, being way ahead of his time, loved jewelry from the 1950's. And what was better then to express his emotions to the woman of his dreams then by offering her a pendant with the romantic text: 'Because I love you more and more each day, today more than yesterday but less than tomorrow'. It is not a public secret that Napoleon, a man of little words, prefered to speak French above English thus the text was translated into '+ qu'hier et - que demain'."

Now it is with great pride and ultimate joy that the Adin Antique Jewelry Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts exibits the actual piece of jewelry that Napoleon held in his right hand on this picture.

Click the picture for more information on this antique jewelry love token.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts proudly presents:

The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artifacts proudly presents:

Dazzling Art Deco Platinum pendent jade eardrops.

Once upon a time... long, long ago, there was a snow-white Jade Dragon, living in a rock cave on the east bank of the Celestial River. In the great forest across the river lived a beautiful Golden Phoenix.

Leaving their home every morning, the dragon and the phoenix met each other before going their different ways. One flew in the sky, while the other swam in the Celestial River. One day, both came to a fairy island. There they found two shining pebbles and were fascinated by their beauty.

"Look, how beautiful these pebbles are!" Golden Phoenix said to Jade Dragon.

"Let's carve them into pendants," said Jade Dragon.

Golden Phoenix nodded in agreement. Then they started working on it, Jade Dragon using his claws and Golden Phoenix her beak. They carved the pebbles day after day, month after month, until they finally made them into perfect pendants. In high spirits Golden Phoenix flew to the sacred mountain to gather diamonds and Jade Dragon carried a lot of clear platinum from the Celestial River. They sprinkled and washed the pendants with diamonds and platinum. Gradually the pendants turned into dazzling earrings.

It is with great pride that the curator of the Adin Museum of Fairy Tale Artifacts presents these dazzling earrings in his collection.

Click the picture for more information on these beautiful pebbles.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artefacts proudly presents:

The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artefacts
proudly presents:

A royal seal!

Once upon a time... there were three kings that went on a relic-quest to the Holy Land. Their remains were transported to Cologne by Frederick Barbarossa where they rest today. As a reminiscence to this quest the family de Grammont intergrated the three heads in their family crest.

The family de Grammont are among the five most noble families in France and come from the family of the barons de Granges, barons of the county of Bourgogne in France. This family had many great officers at the court and armies of the Dukes of Bourgogne, and three archbishops of Besançon. Four Grammonts were lieutenant generals in the armies of the King of France in the eighteenth century. The family crest of de Grammont bears also the crosses of Bourgogne.

Click the picture for more information on this "utensil".

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artefacts proudly presents:

The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artefacts
proudly presents:

The original Cinderella gold sewing kit!

ANTWERP, Januari 17 (Reuters) – A master plan released today will dramatically overhaul the Garden of Adin, incorporating the innovative feature of "The Adin Museum Of Fairy Tale Artefacts”. Garden of Adin Education Commissioner Elkan Wijnberg released the master plan today after presenting it Friday to the Board of Regents, where it was enthusiastically received.

He also announced the first exciting donation to the Museum and gave us the story behind it: Once upon a time there was a princess that we will call Cinderella. Cinderella had an exciting life covered well by all the glossy magazines. For old time sake she repaired the clothes of the rest of the noble family but as privilege entails responsibility she did so with this gold set.

Click the picture for more information on this sewing kit.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Angels and demons?

Bishops ring with intriguing mystery!

Top notch quality!

A bishops ring is not an every day object in our inventory. In the almost 30 years of experience in the antique jewelry trade we can recall to have purchased only two before. (One of them was used in the movie "The Da Vinci code" based on the best seller by Dan Brown. It was worn by Alfred Molino playing the role of Bishop Aringarosa.)

There is something odd about this ring. Not the bishops ring itself but the ring that comes with it. Inside the bishops ring we found a silver ring hidden with in relief a gold wolf. Bishops rings are normally worn on gloves so their size is "a bit larger then normal". But to find another ring hidden into such ring puzzles us. A hidden ring with a non-Christian motif. What could be the story behind this? Why would a person wearing such ring find it important to add an extra symbol to this high profile ring and hide it?

Click the picture for more information on this ring.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Christian jewelry
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Merry whatever-you-celebrate and peace for all!!!

Thank you
for having the good taste
to call upon our expertise.


From Elkan Wijnberg, CEO
and the entire Adin-team

www.adin.be

Don't sit under the Christmas tree with anything else but me!

2 more days to order (till December 21st) to have your presents in time for Christmas!

- all orders will be specially packed in a free gift wrapping -

Don't sit under the Christmas tree with anything else but me!



Victorian locket with rose cut diamond star motif

It could be well possible that this locket was made to celebrate the passage of Halley's comet. The passage of Halley inspired jewellers to make jewels in the shape of celestial bodies. This comet appears every 76 years. In 1705 Edmond Halley predicted, using Newton's newly formulated laws of motion, that the comet seen in 1531, 1607, and 1682 would return in 1758 (which was, alas, after his death). The comet did indeed return as redicted and was later named in his honor.

Or the maker of this beauty was just into stars.... who will tell after so many years?

Click the picture for more information on this beauty.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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Flowery icicles discovered in the Garden of Adin

4 more days to order (till December 21st) to have your presents in time for Christmas!

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Flowery icicles discovered in the Garden of Adin

So it was that blizzard came up at evening and covered the Garden of Adin, and in the morning the snow lay all around the camp. And when the layer of mist lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small sparkling substance, as fine as frost on the ground. And the Gardener picked it up and he was happy.

Click the picture for more information on this beauty.

Antiqualy yours,

The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Winter merriment in the Garden of Adin

5 more days to order (till December 21st) to have your presents in time for Christmas!

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Winter merriment in the Garden of Adin







In the frosty Garden of Adin,
(while pelting snowballs at his beloved offspring)
much to the Gardener's joy and surprise
a bracelet was found
sparkling with glimmering ice.


Click the picture for more information on this beauty.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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Neo Etruscan crucifix in original box

6 more days to order (till December 21st)
to have your presents in time for Christmas!

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Neo Etruscan crucifix in original box

Top notch quality!

There are crosses and there are crosses but this one is one of the nicest in its sort that we have ever come along. Skilfully crafted with filigree and granules, a real joy for the eyes. The corpus is 3-dimensionally worked out and the aureole is also made in the finest filigree and granules technique. It comes in its original box with the text: "Luigi Freschi - Via Condotti - 55, 55a, 56 57, Corso Umberto 1º 401 - ROMA".

In the second half of the 19th Century goldsmiths of that era sought and found their inspiration by excavations such as Pompeï and the Etruscan treasures. Especially in Italy the so-called Neo-Etruscan style reached high levels as we can see here with this beautiful refined cross.

This jewel features a filigree decoration, which is in fact thin golden wire twisted into refined motifs, in this case elegant little balls. You can also notice the use of granulation on this piece. Granulation is a technique where the goldsmith uses very small balls (granules) of metal, which are not soldered to the piece but welded. Both techniques demand very high skills and precision from the maker.

Click the picture for more information on this beauty.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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crosses
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Belgium and diamonds...a marriage of centuries

10 more days to order (till December 21st)
to have your presents in time for Christmas!

- all orders will be specially packed in a free gift wrapping -

Belgium and diamonds... a marriage of centuries

all diamond rings

all diamond earrings

all diamond pendants

all diamond brooches

all diamond jewelry

~ A kiss on the hand may be quite Continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend. ~

Although Marilyn Monroe sang about them in 1953, diamonds are thought to have first been recognized and treasured as gemstones and religious icons in ancient India (where they were mined too). The usage of diamonds in engraving tools also dates to early human history. The name diamond is derived from the ancient Greek "adámas" meaning "unbreakable, untamed".

In 1475 Lodewyk (Louis) van Berquem, a Flemish stone-polisher from Bruges, Belgium, introduced the concept of absolute symmetry in the placement of facets on the stone. 17th century French jeweler, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605 -1689, and also with Belgian roots), was one of the early pioneer's of diamond trade with India. In his book "The Six Voyages of Jean-Baptist Tavernier" he documented many historically significant diamond cuts.

Popularity of diamonds has risen since the 19th century because of increased supply, improved cutting and polishing techniques and growth in the world economy. And in our days we at Adin, based in Antwerp - Belgium, are offering the splendours of craftmanship from diamond polishers and goldsmiths of many centuries. This reflects itself in the diamond jewelry we have to offer from the 17th century and onwards.


Antiqually yours,

The Adin team
www.adin.be


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Adin's Antique Jewelry Christmas suggestions

Dear friend,

This time we take the liberty of sending you a mail without any special picture or back-ground information on symbolism, style or era. Just a list of present suggestions. We also would like to inform you that all orders till December 21st are still in time to be delivered before Christmas and that all orders will be specially packed in a free gift wrapping.

Hoping to be at your service with this,
do we remain,

antiqually yours,

The Adin team

Thoughtful and exclusive presents under $500

rings up to $500

earrings up to $500

pendants up to $500

brooches up to $500

all jewelry up to $500

Thoughtful and exclusive presents between $500 and $1,500

rings up to $1,500

earrings up to $1,500

pendants up to $1,500

brooches up to $1,500

all jewelry up to $1,500

Thoughtful and exclusive presents between $1,500 - $5,000

rings up to $5,000

earrings up to $5,000

pendants up to $5,000

brooches up to $5,000

all jewelry up to $5,000

Thoughtful and exclusive presents between $5,000 - $10,000

rings up to $10,000

bracelets up to $10,000

pendants up to $10,000

brooches up to $10,000

all jewelry up to $10,000

Thoughtful and exclusive presents $10,000 and above

rings $10,000 +

bracelets $10,000 +

necklaces $10,000 +

brooches $10,000 +

all jewelry $10,000 +

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In the hands of the beholder...

French Art Deco platinum lorgnette
(a real eye-catcher)

A lorgnette (or face-à-main) is a pair of glasses (or opera glasses) held by a long handle at one side mostly used by the (well-to-do) ladies.

This particular type of lorgnette has a hidden system in its stem that, by moving it slowly down with the tip of your fingers, will release a spring that will open the closed lorgnette with one glass and makes it into a double-glassed lorgnette.

Craftfully worked out in platinum and richly covered with rose cut diamonds and little carré calibrated stones makes this utensil a true jewel.


Click the picture for more information on this beauty.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Look what we found!

Antique head parure from Zeeland, Holland.

Although we do not think this is something you would wear it can be a valuable addendum to an antique jewelry collection. A very complete headset from Zeeland which is in the west-southern part of Holland, to be more specific from the area called Walcheren. To find a complete set is special because mostly these sets are split up to different heirs at legacies. This typical wear for a Zeeland country woman (or farmer's wife) was worn in the 19th Century till our days. Today there aren't nearly any people left who wear the dress of this local distinctive style. While the youngsters do not wear it at all any more the older people do wear it occasionally. And in 2003 the last two men wearing the traditional clothing died and most probably in another 10 till 15 years no woman will be wearing it any more either.

What is she wearing you would ask. Well, she is actually wearing more then you can see. First of all, over her back-combed (long) hair with the front of her hair in what is called in the local dialect “toer” (pronounce “tour”) she is wearing a starched so called “ondermuts” (Dutch for the little lace coif that is worn under the cap you see). Over this coif the actual head set was placed. This headset is called “ijzer” (Dutch for “iron”). The reason why it's called “iron” doesn't do it much justice as it is made of a U-shaped silver brace that goes over the back of the head to both temples. At both ends of this brace the gold curls are attached. Most of the times, the weight of the golden curls is engraved in the back of the silver brace as is the case here. It gives us the weight of 32 grams.

Then over this brace the final cap, called “langette”, (also stiffly starched) was placed and hold into its position with three gold needles at both sides of the head. These three needles are in three different sizes and made in gold filigree. Then last but not least, to finalize the outfit at both curls the actual jewel, a pendant, was attached, a sort of triangle plate with low pyramid shapes on it and a baroque pearl hanging underneath.


And then when it started to rain the women hated it because when their stiffly starched caps became wet and soft all their work was for nothing.

Click the picture for more information on this antique jewelry rarity.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Art Retro

Retro Style is a recent designation for the period in the forties when large scale, stylized geometric forms, drapes, bows or ribbons were all the rage. The Retro style was strongly influenced by its predecessor: the Art Deco style. Using the same type and language of geometrical shapes but with bolder heavier lines, shapes and stones.

Typical for the Retro style is its imitation of three dimensional folds of fabric with the ribbon bow as its most popular motif, often highlighted in the center with a calibré cut ruby or sapphire knot (mostly lab-produced stones were used (see also Verneuil rubies and sapphires) and diamonds in various cuts as white accents.

That gold regained its popularity during the Retro period was due to the fact that platinum was not available to the goldsmiths and jewellers since this was being used for the war effort. This was the main reason that during the Retro period different colors of gold became popular - yellow gold was combined with rose gold and green gold in striking combinations. In France goldsmiths worked with no less then 27 shades of colors of gold.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this strong design retro brooch.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be




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One of the joys of life...

Cherry picking in the Garden of Adin!


Click the picture to see a close-up of this elegant brooch.


Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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Autumn in the Garden of Adin

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas


In all we do, and hear, and see,
Is restless Toil, and Vanity.
While yet the rolling earth abides,
Fashion comes and goes like ocean tides;

And ere one style dies,
Another trend shall rise;
That, sinking soon into the grave,
Others succeed, like wave on wave;

part of the poem "Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas."
by Anne Brontë (1820-1849)
(freely rendered)

In the arts, vanitas is a type of symbolic still life painting especially associated with Northern European painters in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The word is Latin, meaning "emptiness" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity.

By the 16th century flowers would appear (again) as symbols of the seasons. Starting in Roman times is the tradition of the use symbols of mortality, transience and earthly remains. These so called vanitas images have been re-interpreted through the last 400 years of art history, starting with Dutch painters around 1600. It is from these paintings that the Gardener took his inspiration for this Garden of Adin Vanitas Vanitatum.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this beautiful Dutch rose cut diamonds brooch.

Antiqualy yours,

The Adin team
www.adin.be


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flower inspired jewelry
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flower symbolism
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Flowers are love's truest language

(But sometimes even the truth needs a little help)

Flowers are part of our daily life. For virtually every event we have assigned a special flower. Flowers for love, church, church graveyard, marriage, etc. In the 16th century inn's use to have a branch or flower stalk as signboard which later often changed only into the name of a specific tree or flower. Many times one finds flower gardens in mythological sceneries. The allegoric use of flowers is uncountable: attributes for the springtime, the youth, the sunrise, the rhetoric, the virtue etc. Lots of countries carry a flower as national symbol: Hungary had the tulip and Scotland the thistle, etc.


On our site we have dedicated a page to flower symbolism where you can read much more about the symbolism behind the use of floral motifs. Enjoy!

Click the picture to see a close-up of this magnificent Art Deco ring.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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flower symbolism
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Yes, love grows on trees...

In the Garden of Adin,
in a gentle morning breeze,
Adin's paladin,
bent to his knees
and found love...

growing on trees.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this beautiful heart-shaped pendant.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


P.s. Perhaps you know someone who might be interested in receiving our mails? Forward them this mail and they can subscribe themselves at:our subscription page

See our:
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extensive antique jewelry glossary
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