The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-21
Frederick Haskin's Letter
An Art Threatened With Extinction

made beautiful ornaments for 81
gorgeous potentates of that do 'li9
Fine Handieraft FormarI,'
Until the introduction of mscb;.
cry the making of jewelry rem 7-'i.i'
ed a fine handicraft In coio-.l l,
days in this country. and - 0' Ia
early days of the republic tbs s-e
were many goldsmiths. SOM - =
whom enjoyed considerable reD,.e
tions, although they were npt
be compared with the great a~ti. "
OF Renaissance Italy. The MAILS 5'9's
of cheap jewelry by machine l-,-D Ing
blow to fine work by hand j,,-s
as machine work was to the r5 sSs'
ing Of pottery, fabrics and mo-
othsr things. 1t is true. the A.
signer still was necessary. but 1ora
series of articles We're made ~,
single design, and both the aroc,
ton Of designs and the materi.Is
to be used were limited by macbins
processes.
Modern designers of jeweIrv 4,
not seem to achieve regulations
outside of their own trade r +.
characteristic of modern Industrial
ism that the artists are buried nm
der the business, so that an psneci
ally beautiful piece OF work Is
known by the name of the firm tbas
sold it but never by that of M
man who created il.
Furthermore, the designer and
the workmen are now distinct
where once they were the Same
person. Sometimes the jevelrv
manufacturer himself is the do.
signer, while he employs the high
ly skilled workmen to carry ont
mis- ideas. The designer is an arr.
list possessed with a thorough
knowledge of jewelry construction
and usually one who has grown m
in the business.
How Jewels Are Designed.
When customer desires A
brooch or pendant or ring mount
ing, the designer paints in water
colors on celluloid or paper an ex-
act picture of the article as it will
look when finished. PERHAPS sew
eral designs will be submitted be-
fore one is accepted by the Gus
toner. In the case of very exDen-
sive and elaborate pieces of work,
a wax model is sometimes made.
This is extremely difficult work
which only a few Of the designers
are able to do artistically. In this
wax model the metals and Jewels
are shown in their natural colors
as nearly as possible.
According to jewelry manufac-
turer who also designs jewelry for
folks in the national
capital, there is d constantly in
creasing demand for well designed.
well made, hand wrought jewelry.
AS he explained it, it gives discern
ing people an opportunity to ex-
press their individuality and taste.
Everybody likes something differ
ent. People are now going to max
ers Of iewelry, he said, in much the
same way that they go to their
tailors-to have something distinc-
tive made to meet certain condi-
tons of purpose, fitness and per-
5onal taste. AS the designs for
1duu- " IOGSAL jew els dAG ocluuulr
Il ever, repeated, the product is
unique.
One thing which has worked for
The survival of hand work against
machine competition is the popu-
Iarity of platinum. Fine platinum
ieweIry is very hard to stamp by
without losing the fine
and artistic execution. This, how
ever. is now done, and some de-
signs can be reproduced in that
way, but platinum lacks the fine
which makes gold 80
Easy to work by machinery. Pla,i-
lum, on the other hand. has dis
inct advantages over gold for the
land worker. 1t is possible to do
much finer work with it. and it is
more enduring.
Hence, the making Of platinum
ewelry promises to remain, what
III jewelry once was and probably
till should be-one Of the hne
.rts.