1830s Choker Necklaces

This refreshing, bright minty green jadeite jade necklace from the Art Deco era is just sixteen inches in length and features an elegant clasp of 18K white gold centered with a gemmy little natural oval cut sapphire of about one-quarter carat. Small it may be, but it's a lovely little unheated sapphire in a very pleasing shade of blue distinctly reminiscent of blueberries. A smattering of tiny full-cut white diamonds adds just enough glitter. The seventy-one (71) lab-certified natural and untreated jadeite beads graduate in size from 4.70 mm near the clasp to 6.55 mm in the center. This is a petite though spectacularly chic necklace with translucent, evenly-toned light mint green beads that have retained their original mirror polish. I am normally drawn to much darker green jade but these beads stopped me in my tracks. They are just so lovely. I never use that word, lovely. But it's exactly the right word to describe these beads. They glow even in the shadows. I took the second-to-last photograph in dim natural light and I mean, just look. That's what the necklace looks like when you're in a dark room. And the first shots on the white bust is what the necklace looks like in indoor, office lighting. It's permanently beautiful. I love the combination of the minty green and blueberry sapphire. My grandmother from Atlanta who absolutely worshipped All Things Jade would have traded her husband for this necklace. You know how I know? Because she loved to make mint juleps by taking a handful of ice from her pastel pink GE Frost Guard refrigerator/freezer, tossing the ice into a stainless steel cocktail shaker, adding a handful of the mint that grew on both side of the red brick walkway that led to the kitchen door and a handful of blueberries from the bushes that grew with wild abandon near the little shed where she kept her rakes and other gardening implements. Then she would take one of her daddy's mortars (he had been a pharmacist) and she would crush the blueberries, mint, and ice all up together. Finally, she would add a tablespoon of sugar and a few glugs of bourbon. Then she'd screw on the top of the cocktail shaker and shake it so hard and fast her blond hair—which was cemented into position—would shake atop her head. Finally, she would poor the icy beverage into a tall cut-crystal glass and carry it out front onto the porch where she would take a seat in one of the old white wicker rocking chairs...

This necklace is absolutely ravishing. It comes directly from the early 19th century, circa 1830. It was made in France under the reign of Charles X. It presents a stunning work of f...

20 brightly foil backed oval amethysts graduate to a length of 16.5 inches in a rose gold mounting. The center stone measures 7/8 inch by 5/8 inch graduat...