Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-06
Reflections of Andrew Lang
on Personal Ornaments.
MAGIC HIDDEN IN TRINKETS
Belief in the Wonder Powers Of
Precious Stones.
FINGER RINGS BEGINNINGS
First Necklace Was of Hair-Pin
Evolved From a Thorn or
Sharpened Bone.

Evolved from a InOru OF
Sharpened Bone.
Andrew Lang. in London Post.
The subject of jewelry. as we see when
We go into a museum or turn over the
pages of Mr.. Clifford-Smith's new book.
is full of matter" Jewelry has its
origins in practical use in belief in magic.
and in human vanity, or love of orna-
ment The usefulness of the simple pin.
perhaps a long thorn or sharpened
piece of bone. is obvious. AS soon as
man has a beasts skin to cover him, he
finds it convenient to pin it, and if he
started with a long thorn or sharp fish
bone, he soon began to decorate the bone
with a few notches ana an ornamental
knob. In the old civilizations buttons,
like pockets. were conspicuously absent.
though neolithic man in this country has
left plenty of buttons made of shale. The
Greeks and old Mediterranean people
dealt much In long pins, like those worn
by the ladies on the Francois vase, and in
the hands of women infiamed with politi-
cal passions these pins were dangerous
weapons. The Athenian Cor was it the
Eretrian?) fair killed with such pins a
messenger of evil tidinss. Wy recol-
lection of this atrocity is vague. but
think that legislation put down the jewels
In question.
Sharp pins. however. were soon found
to be awkward things to the wearer and
her young man. The common safety pin,
which need not be described, came in
after the period of the royal graves at
Mycenae. Whether it was domestic in
vention or introduced by invaders from
the north is disputed by the learned. The
outer surface of the safety pin was then
broadened and fiattened. and the brooch
was being evolved. Usually the surface
was decorated: often it took tie form of
a leaf; often. like the brooch Of Odysseus,
it was decorated with sporting subject
in relief-a hound selling a fawn, for
example.
Magical Virtues of Necklace.
The necklace was originally Of hair.
often with magical virtues. or was
string Of berries or shells. or of small per-
forated stones incised with rude orna-
ments. little pits or cupules, or chevrons,
or concentric circles. Neolithic man made
necklets of beads and plaques of Jet. One
of these was found last year in a grave
at st. Andrews. 1t was in very good
taste. with larger pendant to hand in
the center, and each plague was decorat-
ed with a set of isosceles triangles. as In
the neolithic art of Portugal. There is
the stone churinga of Central Australia
and the Jewel, till the churnga, with
It's archaic patterns, grows too heavy for
wearing. though still retaining the hole
for suspension. The marks have their
own magical meaning, which clings even
now to various precious stones in the
opinion of people who have a large ball
ance of belief to invest.
The ring began when man thrust his fin
ger through hole in a pretty shell, and
tof or Ia rT,o6 4 n ka VI n Of tot hn
ring Is very magical Lord Ruthven. who
helped to kill Riccio, gave Queen Mary a
ring which was sovran against poison,
and she generously replied with the pres
ent of her fathers wonderful jeweied dag
ger. OF French work, no longer in exist
ence. Whether Ruthven fooled with this
magnificent weapon in the affair of Rio
clio or used a cheaper article is uncertain.
At all events, Mary based on the ring
that was an antdote to poison a charge
of sorcery against Ruthven. The judges
Of Jeanne dare regarded with much sus-
picion her little ring Of base metal, a gift
from her parents, inscribed with the sa-
cred names Jesus Maria. But at that pc
Rod rings with the holy names were COM
monty worn In Scotland plenty of exam
Piles exist. usually in silver. and at st.
Andrews I picked up a bronze ring, in
the shape of a buckle, with a sacred in
scription In ungrammatical Latin. Fig
ures of gods commonly occur on ancient
Egyptian rings. which were probably sup
posed. like the Jesus Maria rings, to be
prophylactic against epilepsy and other
diseases, or merely to bring a luck.
Rings and Relics.
1t was usual to touch the relics OF
saints with rings: Jeanne dare said that
her ring had touched the body of st. Cath
crime, whether she meant of the actual
saint or relic Of the saint. brought from
Sinai to Fierbois. The ring might con-
tain a relic: or later, miniature-a dan
gerous device. for, casually washing my
hands while wore a miniature of Charles
l, found the features of the royal mar
tyr melted into dissipated aspect very
painful and uncharacteristic. To wash
the hands while wearing a ring that con-
tanned poison must have diluted the ven
ON and saved the cardinal. or other per-
sons for whom you meant to try the
poison. / fear that do not believe in the
virtues or vices of poison rings Our an
cestors practically knew no poison but
arsenic. and Carthaginian science can
scarcely have enabled Hannibal to poison
himself with a drug contained under the
stone of a ring.
Egyptian jewelry was mainly theologi-
cal; not so the Minoan jewelry Of times
before Homer. for which Mr.. Clifford
Smith can find but scanty space. We do
see figures OF godGesses and OF religious
rites on Minoan rings, but as rule the
designs are military or sporting. The
seals We're used mainly for sealing col
lections of accounts on-clay tablets. and
vases<filed with objects Of portable prop
erty. Sometimes the seals offer property
marks. sometimes the characters of a
syllabary. often scenes from domestic life,
a lady with her little girls in the garden
or two women playing "Diabolo" while a
third looks on.
Jewels of the Ancients.
The Etruscans. il they did not invent,
worked much in granulated gold jewelry
The secret of this art was lost till, as Mr.
Clifford Smith writes. Castellani hunted
for its survival through Italy and at last
found kind Of hereditary caste Of art
lists in a village on the marches of UNI
bria. A glance at the photograph Of
Greek jewelry shows that many de-
signs have been borrowed in our own
time. They are delicately beautiful. Little
use was made of precious stones, except
as the material of the gem engraver's
art which is as old as the later Minoan
age. Enamel dates from the age Of
bronze, in western Europe at least The
5ewelry of the barbaric invasions was
linr RI cs1,n inv