January 25th, 2018 - Ecole des Arts Joaillers : Tavernier's diamonds
After three full months chest-deep into GemSuite, I really needed a break, but Disneyland just no longer makes the cut (400 000 points at Buzz Lightyear, and I was lazy - plus they had a shortage on the 25th birthday pièce montée! Drats!). That was yesterday. Since I can't make it to Tucson to get a proper fix, today I went to the very small but very nice exhibition of the replicas of some of the best diamonds that Louis XIV (think Versailles! BTW I'll have exclusive stuff directly related to Versailles to share with you guys by the end of March) bought from Tavernier back in the day. Excellent reconstitution work masterfully done by Patrick Dubuc (pesky mobile version won't let me quote properly) with all the info and drawings that the researchers found in the archives. CZ definitely is a winner for such work. If you happen to be in Paris or nearby, I highly recommend you visit this while it lasts (until wednesday 31rst January), plus it's a stone throw from the Louvre (31 rue Danielle Casanova, bus stop "Petits champs - Danielle Casanova"). Yes, the catalog of the exhibition is also available in English - and it's all free. I mean, the first two pictures speak for themselves! I also got to talk gemstones and jewelry with refined and tastefully cute ladies, and see very cool antique jewelry machinery there too (the exhibition is hosted in a private jewelry school which main sponsor is Van Cleef and Arpels). Just check this laminator and this wire drawing bench! What's not to love? I wish I had known of this exhibition earlier, the conference was sold out :(
Tom, a.k.a. Ludwig Von Sodabowski