Image Credit: Art Nouveau Lotus Booch Thayne Tuason CC4.0

The History of Jewellery from Elizabeth 1 to Elizabeth Taylor

with John Benjamin

17th February 2026

What an interesting day!  John Benjamin took us through jewellery from the 16th century to the 1970’s.  He used portrait and still life paintings, photographs and posters to show us how the use of precious stones and gold, silver and latterly platinum have shaped and changed jewellery throughout the ages. His knowledge of the subject coupled with his very amusing presentation made for athoroughly enjoyable day.

We were entertained by John’s attitude to some of the earlier portraits, he was not enamoured by the sitters but used their jewels to show us the evolution of jewellery design. Over the centuries fashions change but jewellery has an enduring fascination for both men and women, tokens of love, of superiority and ostentation, tokens of mourning and remembrance and tokens of celebration.

The use of diamonds changed once the Dutch learned how to cut them using diamond cutting.  The popularity of diamonds developed with these new techniques and the discovery of diamonds in South Africa.  In the 20th century we find diamonds can be grown in a laboratory.  Pearls too featured in jewellery throughout the ages from pearls found in Perthshire to cultured pearls from the Far East and now to Baroque or misshapen pearls finding popularity. We learned how different jewels have their own meanings which can be written into the setting as messages of affection.  

The value of jewellery can be in its provenance. Fake pearls worn by Jackie Kennedy Onassis sold for thousands of pounds even though they had no monetary value.   At the other end of the financial spectrum John showed us a stunning brooch by Lalique that sold for over £1,000,000.

Through the day we celebrated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes and Chinese New Year of the Horse with Red Packets with chocolates after a delicious meal.   After lunch John offered to do a swift and approximate valuation of the jewellery owned by attendees of the day.  About 30 people brought along a wide variety of items for him to assess and some people were delighted and surprised and others just enjoyed learning more about their possessions.