The Louvre Jewellery Heist: what we’re really losing when jewels are stolen

The Louvre Jewellery Heist: what we’re really losing when jewels are stolen

by | Opinion

Theft of historic jewellery

The Louvre Jewellery Heist: what we’re really losing when jewels are stolen

Published October 22, 2025

It’s like a plot straight out of Ocean’s Eleven: one of the most famous museums in the world, the Louvre in Paris, gets robbed in broad daylight of dazzling jewellery. For me, as an archaeologist and jewellery historian, 2025 is turning out to be quite a disconcerting year: this is not the first high-profile jewellery heist, and it’s not all tiaras and diamond parures — irreplaceable archaeological artefacts are still missing, too. So, let’s look beyond the daring movie plots to what is really lost — and that is much more than just jewels.

The Louvre Jewellery Heist: a cultural loss beyond value

On 19 October 2025, four thieves disguised as construction workers entered the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre through a maintenance lift and smashed their way into display cases.

In just under seven minutes, they stole eight pieces of historic jewellery, including items once belonging to Empress Eugénie, Queen Hortense, and Empress Marie-Louise.

Each of these pieces was a link to a moment in France’s royal past. The stolen items formed part of France’s national crown jewel collection. The museum emphasised that the real loss is not financial, but cultural and historical. Their theft severs those historical links I just mentioned. But the estimated financial value is still what you’ll find in most news items.

The Drents Museum robbery and the Dacian gold of Romania

Like I said, 2025 is a very disconcerting year. It began with another devastating loss: on January 25, the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, was robbed of the Dacian gold of Romania — unique archaeological jewellery loaned for a temporary exhibition.

When artefacts like these are stolen, the break is not only in possession, but in continuity. They carried evidence of how societies valued adornment, craftsmanship, and trade — insights now vanished along with the jewellery itself.

Its true worth lay in what it represented: a tangible connection to Romania’s ancient past and cultural identity. One of the stolen pieces, a stunning gold helmet, even features on the national banknotes – this is far more than treasure that has been taken.

Jewellery is a historical source, not just an ornament

You know my main conviction: jewellery is never just an object. It is a bearer of stories — about the person who wore it, the society that made it, the techniques used to craft it, and the routes through which it travelled. Jewellery is, in itself, a historical source.

And that is not just because of the links with historic events, such as France’s jewels. When jewellery is melted or broken apart, we lose for example the opportunity to gain technological insights.

Did you know that studying metalwork, alloys, settings, and components shares an incredible amount of insights? It tells us about trade contacts, developing techniques, social stratigraphy within a community, economic booms or crises… And there’s so much more, down to the ways a piece of jewellery was dangling, swaying, or pinned onto fabric. Can’t research that when the piece is gone.

Even if an item resurfaces, the web of relationships that made it historically meaningful is probably damaged, or worse, gone.

Melted history: how high gold prices threaten jewellery

These heists starkly illustrate another loss: the reduction of jewellery to its bullion value. I’ve argued before that jewellery is more than the worth of its components – see more about that here.

Thieves – and the networks they feed – increasingly treat centuries-old goldwork as raw material. This year’s record-high gold prices only add to that risk. In October 2025, gold briefly topped $4,000 per ounce. That’s a strong incentive to convert historically significant jewellery into meltable assets.

When thieves target archaeological artefacts, like the Dacian gold bracelets stolen in the Drents Museum heist, they are often stolen for their material worth, and the headlines in the news often seem to focus on that, too. It seems to be the first reaction – what was it worth?

And even then, these jewels are not stolen for resale on the art market. Because, think of it: who is going to buy that Dacian bracelet or that sapphire parure? These things are impossible to fence off.

So, what do we often see happening? Destruction. In search of financial value, stolen jewellery ends up melted down, broken apart, stones altered…and gone is your historic source.

The vanishing record: why so little historical jewellery survives

And that brings me to a lesser-discussed but super important aspect: there is not that much historical jewellery to begin with. Jewellery heritage survives selectively.

For example, those jewels stolen from the Louvre are among the few that remain of France’s turbulent royal past: the majority was already destroyed during past events.

And the further we travel back in time, the scarcer jewellery becomes: the Bronze Age artefacts stolen from St. Fagans in the UK, also in 2025, represent unique pieces of prehistoric Welsh gold jewellery – there aren’t that many others. With these pieces gone, we lose sight of a significant part of prehistory.

Heists and theft: what’s really at stake is losing history, not just objects

As a jewellery historian, my greatest concern is not just about spectacular thefts, but about the long-term loss of knowledge. We lose voices from history.

Obviously, a heist like in Paris, Assen or St Fagans shocks me: I simply cannot believe anyone would take cultural heritage from the public to serve their own benefit and profit. It’s maddening. It hurts. A jewellery theft of this magnitude sends shockwaves through a community as it is robbed of its tangible connection with history.

So, while news outlets highlight what was stolen, I’m trying to grasp the enormity of what has been lost – and can only hope the pieces will be recovered.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

This blog is free: if you’d like to support independent research, please consider enrolling in a course or a jewellery talk. The proceeds directly fund my research work: thank you so much for your support!

When jewellery is called museum quality — and when it’s not

When jewellery is called museum quality — and when it’s not

by | Opinion

Rethinking jewellery’s worth

When jewellery is called museum quality – and when it’s not

Published September 11, 2025

The other day, I received an email from someone saying they had purchased a museum quality bracelet from the Middle East and wanted me to validate it. That’s not the first time I’ve heard someone describe jewellery as museum quality – sellers use the phrase too. But what does it really mean?

What people think ‘museum quality’ means

The email about the bracelet mentioned that a similar piece was in the collection of a large museum. Could I please confirm whether their bracelet had the same value? Behind this seemingly simple request is a set of common assumptions. When non-museum people use the label museum quality, they usually mean one of three things:

  1. There is a piece just like it in an actual museum collection;
  2. It’s very beautiful, undamaged, and, oddly, sometimes size matters too;
  3. It’s rare or unique – you will not find a comparable piece easily.

Put together, these often add up to a fourth meaning: expensive. If it’s museum quality, surely you’ll be willing to pay more for it.

To put it bluntly: in my view, the term museum quality, more often than not, is used mainly to add prestige for both sellers and buyers: ‘look what I managed to find!’ Maybe it could even play into the desire of collectors to share and show their pieces: what better way to acknowledge your excellent taste than to own a piece similar to one admired by thousands? Of course, it’s always nice to find a parallel in a museum, but does that mean your piece is exceptional?

The thing is that this has very little to do with how museums themselves think about jewellery – and why the question of the e-mailer is impossible to answer for me.

Examples of jewellery in museums: from plastic beads to diamonds

Let’s start with jewellery that is actually in museums. I’ll share two examples with you, which you can also see above: click to enlarge them.

A few years ago, I loaned a few strands of plastic eye-beads to our National Museum of Antiquities. They were literally airport purchases, you know the type – cheap, mass-produced bracelets and keychains.

Does being in a museum suddenly make them museum quality? Nope. Although they were mass-produced and of little material value, they were included in an exhibition on beads because they showed how an ancient symbol, the eye, continues into modern souvenir culture. They illustrated a particular storyline the museum wanted to tell.

Another case is the Zeeman diamond pendant, sold for €30 in 2025. One of these pendants now sits in Antwerp’s diamond museum DIVA. Clearly, a silver pendant with a tiny lab-grown diamond isn’t museum quality in the sense of rarity or luxury.

See more about that particular pendant here, it’s quite the story!

It’s hardly comparable to the diamond necklace of Marie-Antoinette that led to the French Revolution, to name but one famous example. But it is important as cultural evidence. It marks a shift in how diamonds are marketed and consumed, and that makes it valuable for a museum narrative – specifically the story that DIVA aims to research and share.

These examples, both cheap and mass produced items on display in a museum, show why assuming museum quality means ‘expensive’ or ‘rare’ can be misleading.

Parameters that define ‘museum quality’ jewellery

So, what does make a piece of jewellery museum quality? As I said above, the term is often misused in the market as a synonym for ‘exceptional’ or ‘expensive.’ But in reality, museum quality jewellery is defined by a set of parameters that relate to cultural, historical, and ethical significance. Museums decide what to collect based on their mission and research priorities. These are some of the key factors you could think of:

  • Cultural or historical significance – A piece may be important because it reflects social identity, ritual, or everyday life.
  • Representativeness – Museums often collect typical examples of a style or tradition, not just the unusual ones.
  • Rarity and survival – A fragile bead that has survived for centuries may be more important than a mass-produced gold bangle.
  • Condition – While good condition is preferred, damage can sometimes add meaning if it tells a historical story.
  • Contextual value – A piece may be collected because it contributes to a wider narrative.
  • Ethical considerations – Provenance matters more than ever. Museums increasingly reject objects of dubious origin, regardless of their other qualities. A piece of jewellery may be big and beautiful, or filling a lacuna in the collection, but if its provenance can’t be traced, museums will more and more decide to pass on it. Provenance matters, people, I can’t stress that enough!

Taken together, these parameters show that museum quality jewellery is about meaning, not money. Actually, what qualifies as significant for one museum may not even be considered for another.

What about aesthetics…?

But surely, you might think, a truly beautiful, well-preserved piece must be museum quality? Aesthetics do play a role, of course, especially for display. But beauty alone is never enough. It’s almost like real life here.

In fact, aesthetic appeal can be misleading. Some Turkmen jewellery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has come under scrutiny because several pieces are suspected to have been created more recently, to satisfy collectors’ demand for something ‘museum quality’.

Those pieces have no parallels, no clear provenance that would explain their virtually pristine condition despite being over a century old, there are no old photographs, no historic sources. And…they’re unusually large compared to well-documented Turkmen jewellery of the same age. It needs more research, of course, but firm fact is that copies of traditional jewellery are increasingly sold as authentic, and, there it is again, as ‘museum quality’.

Misuse of the term ‘museum quality’

If you’ve ever browsed antique shops or online listings, you’ve probably seen the phrase museum quality splashed across descriptions every now and then. And for sure, that sounds impressive! It suggests that you’re buying something authentic, rare, and important.

But more often than not, it’s just marketing. Sellers use it in three main ways:

  • To push up the price – labelling a piece as museum quality can make it seem more valuable than it really is.
  • To imply authenticity – if a museum owns something similar, then surely this piece must also be genuine and significant… right?
  • To increase pressure on you to buy – you would not want to pass up that single opportunity to acquire something truly unique, would you?

As a buyer, you can protect yourself by treating museum quality as a red flag rather than a guarantee. It’s not a term used in museum cataloguing. It’s not an accepted standard in the jewellery trade. It’s marketing.

Just to be clear: that doesn’t mean the piece in front of you has no value! It may be exquisite, rare, or historically interesting, or all of the above. But those qualities deserve to be weighed against your personal collection preferences.

Let me just say this: I know of one dealership that has actual museum quality jewellery that makes my jaw drop whenever I visit. I could think of several museums where part of these collections would make for a superb addition. But take note: these dealers never use the term themselves, simply because they don’t need to: their visitors know what they’re looking at and whether that matches their collection preferences.

A piece of jewellery needs to be a right fit for a specific museum – slapping a general term on a random piece just does not make sense. There’s literally no need to loudly and visibly stress that something is ‘museum quality’ – the right museum will decide that for itself, and if their curators are any good, they will spot a right fit for their collection just as easily in a thrift shop as in a high-end gallery.

So, museum quality jewellery is not a universal standard. What one museum chooses to collect, another might not even consider. The term only makes sense when tied to a specific institution and purpose.

What does ‘museum quality’ really mean…?

So, what is museum quality jewellery? It’s not a universally acknowledged label, but a very specific thing. It considers provenance, cultural meaning, representativeness, and context. Museums collect jewellery because it tells human stories: of identity, of daily life, of tradition, and sometimes of global change.

When sellers use museum quality as a catchphrase, it often misleads buyers and blurs the difference between cultural significance and market value. But when we use the term carefully, it becomes a reminder that jewellery is more than material: it’s heritage, story, and identity.

So next time you see that phrase in an Ebay-description…Hold on for a second. Think. Ask questions. Dig deeper. What, exactly, is it about this piece that would make it suitable for a museum? And which museum would that be? And why? As always, it boils down to doing your own due diligence – so you’ll recognize that museum quality piece when it does cross your path!

 

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Bodemjuweeltjes/Gems Unearthed

Bodemjuweeltjes/Gems Unearthed

by | Museums & Exhibitions

Archaeological jewellery

Bodemjuweeltjes/Gems Unearthed

Published July 4, 2025

Humans have been making and wearing jewellery for thousands of years. In fact, the first non-utilitarian objects ever created by humans were items of personal adornment. When you have been following this blog, you know jewellery is more than decoration—it’s a genuine historical source. Each excavated piece gives us a new perspective on our past and ourselves. It reveals trade routes, cultural connections, social hierarchy, and spiritual beliefs. Bodemjuweeltjes/Gems Unearthed is an exhibition in the Zeeuws Museum, The Netherlands, that discusses precisely these themes – so I had to go and see!

Gems Unearthed: the theme of the exhibition

Gems Unearthed invites visitors to think about these meanings while appreciating the objects themselves—pendants, chains, rings, bracelets, brooches, buckles, and hairpins, some several thousand years old. I appreicated that the introduction included an explanation of what we miss: only what has survived is on display. Metals like bronze and gold, glass, and gemstones have endured, while organic materials such as textiles and plant fibres have largely decayed.

The exhibition also features a strong selection of pieces from the early Middle Ages (my favourite!), a time when it was common to bury people in their finest clothes and jewellery. The exhibition fills three rooms in the museum – so let me walk you through!

Medieval glass beads in vibrant colours against a black background. This photo is part of an article on archaeological jewellery on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.
Showcase with rings in the exhibition Bodemjuweeltjes, with four photos of gold rings inserted into the image. This photo is part of a blog article on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.

Gems Unearthed: archeological jewellery

The first room focuses on archaeological jewellery. One thing I appreciated was the way the pieces were displayed at different levels, corresponding to their age: older items at the bottom, newer ones higher up – just like archaeological layers. You can see what I mean in the photos above: click to enlarge them to take in the details. It’s a great way to show development over time, and I thought it was well designed. The display levels even use different earthy tones to enhance the layered effect.

However, I’m not sure all visitors will pick up on this… because the room is very dark. Like, well and truly dark. While the jewellery itself is well lit and stands out, the overall lighting (or should I say lack of it) makes it hard to read the explanatory texts on the brochure that visitors receive. The texts on the sides of the showcases, indicating which level corresponds to which time period, are also hard to read.

This room opens with one of the oldest known pieces from the Netherlands: a boar’s tooth pendant dating from around 9000–4000 BCE. The showcases are organised by jewellery type, so you’ll find showcases dedicated to pendants, rings, necklaces, bracelets…I like how the chronological layout helps place them in context, so even when you’re just admiring the pieces, you’ll get a sense of their relative age and development.

Glass chevron beads against a dark background. The image shows how these beads are constructed, and is part of an article on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.
Photo of part of a bone, from which small discs have been perforated to serve as beads. This image is part of an article on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.
Image showing a brigh showcase with chunky amber beads, and three beads enlarged next to it. The beads were excavated in the Netherlands. This image is part of an article on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.

Gems Unearthed: production and craftmanship

The next room is dedicated to jewellery production, and it’s much brighter. I found this section especially interesting because it explains how these items were made, showing techniques and tools that help you understand the craftsmanship involved. It shows moulds and half products, and touches on recycling: this happened quite often in the past. Just one example is a fibula (a clothing pin) made with an Arab coin which was found in the province of Friesland.

There is a selection of stones and gems, including a practice stone for intaglio cutting – every craft needs practising, and this is a piece I love! A beautiful set of chunky amber beads, along with garnets, Meerschaum, jet and more illustrates the range of materials used.

A separate showcase deals with the production of beads: Roman mosaic glass inlays, recycled for their glass in the early Middle Ages, 17th century glass beads known as chevron beads, consisting of multiple layers of glass (and a few misfits), a piece of bone used to cut out small beads in a monastery…while small, this room manages to pack in quite a few techniques and materials!

Photocollage showing traditional Dutch clasp and head ornaments in gold, against a background of jewellery drawings. This image is part of an article on the Bedouin SIlver Jewellery Blog.
Three gold rings from Zeeland, the Netherlands, and a drawing of a woman in traditional Zeeland dress. This collage is part of an article on the Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.
Photocollage of archaeological jewellery. This image is part of a blog article on the reliabe and fully referenced Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog.

Gems Unearthed: traditional Zeeland jewellery

The third and final room is even brighter and focuses on traditional jewellery from the museum’s own region. I really enjoyed this part! It features a careful selection of local gold and silver jewellery, jewellers’ drawings, and images of people wearing these pieces. There’s also a section on filigree, which played an important role in local traditions. In this way, the last room ties together what you’ve seen earlier: design patterns that go back centuries and a continuing story of skilled production.

Gems Unearthed: an overview of archaeological and traditional jewellery

This is a lovely exhibition: small, but with a lot of beautiful items presented in a coherent manner! The publication accompanying the exhibition is also a delight: a magazine-style publication, offering more insights on some of the pieces shown as well as personal insights by collectors and curators alike on a really wide variety of jewellery-related topics.

The exhibition texts are available in both Dutch and English, so you’ll be able to enjoy the full range of information.

All in all, should you find yourself in The Netherlands, this exhibition is definitely worth a trip to Zeeland!

More on the exhibition is on the website of the Zeeuws Museum.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Jewellery Museum Pforzheim

Jewellery Museum Pforzheim

by | Museums & Exhibitions

new perspectives

A visit to the Jewellery Museum, Pforzheim

The Jewellery Museum (Schmuckmuseum) in Pforzheim, Germany, is a must visit destination for anyone interested in jewellery and jewellery history. Here is what I saw during my last visit!

View into the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim

Bedouin Silver | Pforzheim Schmuckmuseum

Sigrid van Roode looking at the waterfall of jewellery in the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim

Bedouin Silver | Sigrid in Schmuckmuseum

View into the exposition room filled with rings in the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim

Bedouin Silver | Pforzheim Ring Room

Four stunning rings from the collection of the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, against a black backround.

Bedouin Silver | Pforzheim ring selection

The museum houses a vast collection of jewellery, both from Europe and from other parts of the world. That jewellery is something that connects us, and expresses shared values, is highlighted in the room ‘What Is Jewellery?’. I featured an in-depth exploration of this theme by the museum in this blog, and seeing it for myself was a treat!

In this room (you’ll see an impression in the gallery of images above), the first thing that caught my eye was a sparkling waterfall of gold and gold-tinted jewellery cascading down from the ceiling in the central showcase. Jewellery from all eras and geographical locations is presented here in a seeming jumble that still is perfectly harmonious. As you can see by the slightly bewildered look on my face in the second photo, I enjoyed spending time peering into this showcase from all its sides, there is so much to see here! There is a sense of joy and playfulness in this installment that I believe is really important, too, in between the more serious aspects of jewellery history: just enjoying jewellery, simply for its own sake.

That same combination of jewellery from different times and places continues throughout the room. In every showcase, a different topic is highlighted that is shared by multiple cultures. The use of specific colours for example, or the values attached to jewellery, or the protective capacities it holds, or the social status it communicates. You’ll find jewellery here from North Africa, Oceania, Central Asia, India, Tibet, Nepal and other places combined with European jewellery. It is a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to what jewellery means to the society that used and created it, and I found it very valuable to start out my visit to the museum by pondering what jewellery is, exactly: it gets one thinking and provides context for the other collections.

Next were two rooms filled with jewellery history, from the Classical world until the revival pieces of the 19th century, and everything in between. I stayed here for a considerable time, because the museum boasts a formidable collection of historic rings, and these are shown here, too. Hundreds of them! If you have a thing for rings, this is the space for you. They are neatly organized in separate showcases, that each present a selection of rings in chronological and geographical order. You’ll see what that looks like in the third photo above. I did not really notice how brilliant this display was until I was done: because the rings are displayed in so many showcases, it feels like peeking into yet another treasure chest. Each showcase has just the right amount of rings, too: you’ll be able to enjoy them instead of reaching that point of overwhelm. I can’t recall having admired hundreds of rings and still being eager to see more: well done in terms of managing the attention span of visitors!

But there is more than rings: the showcases along the walls present necklaces, bracelets, earrings, tiaras and so much more, also in chronological order. A separate section with pocket watches brings jewellery and technique together, but I must admit that I spent most of my time with the jewellery exposition. The quality of the pieces shown here is also breathtaking: I created a collage of a few rings in the last photo above, to give you an idea of what awaits you. The exhibition continues with a bright, large room dedicated to more recent jewellery. Here, I saw dreamy, delicate Art Nouveau jewellery and modern jewellery creations: the art of jewellery craftmanship is still very much alive in Pforzheim.

After all that, it was time for a coffee in the pleasant museum café and perusing the well-stocked bookshop. I really like the themed publications such as Landscapes in Jewellery, Animal Myths in Jewellery, and Sun, Moon and Stars in Jewellery, but of course there is much more (see the bookshop here – the list of publications can be downloaded), and you will be able to find many jewellery pieces and other gifts.

I highly recommend visiting the Schmuckmuseum if you have the opportunity: with several temporary exhibitions every year, there is sure to be something that is of interest to you. The signage is bilingual in both English and German. Also check out the online magazine Melting Pot: lots of thought-provoking and interesting jewellery articles!

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Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, Germany: see practical info on their website (using the toggle in the upper right corner, you can set the language to German, English or French).

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Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Recognizing reproductions

Recognizing reproductions

by | Tips for collectors

five tips

Reproductions: how to check for authenticity

Updated Jan 12, 2024

How to tell if a piece of ethnic jewellery is authentic? Many pieces are sold as “antique” or “traditional” when they are actually modern reproductions. But what is ‘authentic’, and how does that show in jewellery?

Authenticity in traditional jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa

First off, authenticity is a complex issue. Because who determines what ‘authentic’ is? [1] Often, the notion of authenticity is both visual and pinned to a moment in time: this is what it looked like then, and so this is what it is supposed to look like forever.

That is often the result of available sources like books and online image searches, as I wrote about here, that provide that reference of what jewellery should look like. But personal adornment is always subject to change, so comparing a piece of jewellery to an image frozen in time is not enough in itself.

Factors such as age, materials, craftsmanship, provenance, motifs, and designs should all be considered when determining the authenticity of a piece.

So, what should you look for? Here are 5 points to consider.

1. Age and patina in traditional jewellery

Older jewellery will show signs of age and wear, which can be relevant indicators of authenticity. Just picture in your mind how a bracelet has sat on a wrist for years, a necklace moved over textiles every day, an anklet jingled along with its wearer on her way to the market…Just like with humans, age shows.

Scratches, dents, and tarnish may indicate that a piece is authentic and has been used, rather than being a modern reproduction. But be aware: tarnish can have been artificially inflicted upon a piece as long ago as, well, yesterday.

Patina, that soft silk-like shimmer on a piece of jewellery as a result of years of contact and wear, is difficult to replicate in reproductions. So that can also be an indicator of authenticity.

And then there is the fact that there are truly antique pieces out there, that do not necessarily show signs of use and wear. Simply because they might not have been worn frequently or they have been carefully preserved over the years – read all about that phenomenon here.

Signs of use and wear alone are not definitive indicators of authenticity. Therefore, it’s important to consider these signs together with other indicators of authenticity, such as materials and craftsmanship, provenance, motifs and designs, and hallmarks and stamps.

2. Materials and craftsmanship of jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa

Craftsmanship can be a telling sign. Authentic traditional jewelry was made by skilled artisans who used techniques passed down from generations. These techniques, materials and designs are specific to each culture, region and timeframe and can be difficult to replicate in reproductions or forgeries.

As craftmanship varies even within the same culture and region, and also changes over time like anything else in personal adornment, it is absolutely essential to have a good understanding of the traditional techniques, materials, and designs specific to the culture, region and timeframe the jewelry is claimed to be from.

No piece is created equal, in terms of craftsmanship: some pieces will be more intricate, detailed, and finely made than others.

It really depends on the maker, the time period and the intended usage. For example: many silversmiths throughout the region were Jewish. After 1948, they migrated to Israel, leaving a lacuna in skill and knowledge behind. The finesse of their work is hard to imitate.

And as for materials, a main question is whether the material did exist in the period the piece is supposedly from – it would not be the first time you’ll find a necklace with early 20th century trade beads advertised as genuinely 18th century (and that is even without the possibility of the beads themselves being reproduced).

3. Motifs and designs: see, study, learn

Original jewellery often features unique motifs, patterns, and designs that are specific to the culture and region that the jewellery comes from.

This is where more research comes in: familiarizing yourself with particular motifs and the execution of those motifs requires lots of reading and, of course, seeing. One of the things I enjoy the most is endless comparing of pieces.

And as with many other fields of research, the devil is in the details: the overall composition may be featured in a wide area, but the execution of the details is mostly telling of the exact origin of a piece. Modern reproductions often get those tiny details not quite right, including the level of craftmanship, so getting a handle on these is key.

4. Hallmarks and stamps in vintage silver jewellery from Southwest Asia and North Africa

Check for the presence of hallmarks or stamps. These may indicate the metal content, maker, and sometimes the date of the piece. As they are mandatory, they can often not be forged (a modern reproduction of an old piece still needs a current hallmark to comply with the law). Checking for hallmarks that are contemporary with the period the piece is supposedly from, may help in determining its authenticity.

But, be aware that not all pieces are hallmarked, especially older ones. Most countries in North Africa and Southwest Asia only adopted a hallmarking system in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many pieces older than that will not have been hallmarked, or may have been hallmarked only when a piece was eventually sold.

5. Provenance: this can be of great help

And finally, there is the provenance of a piece that may help determine its authenticity. Provenance is the history of a piece of jewellery, and this is where the paperwork comes in.

Particularly for older pieces, provenance may help to establish whether a piece is indeed as old as is claimed: are there any sources that will confirm this exact piece has been in a family for decades? With traditional jewellery, this is a difficult path.

See 15 reasons why provenance matters in this article – did you ever think of reason no. 3?

Many heirloom pieces that are sold do not come with receipts of purchase, as they have been handed down within a family for generations.  And like anything else, provenance can be forged, too: it’s not that difficult to provide an old-looking piece of paper (if it can be done with papyri, it can be done with receipts!).

Recognizing reproductions: learning by doing

Determining the authenticity of a piece of jewellery is a process that involves all of these together: the more you familiarize yourself with jewellery through handling, seeing and reading, the easier it will be to distinguish reproductions from authentic pieces!

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References

[1] Broekhoven & A. Geurds 2013. Creating authenticity : authentication processes in ethnographic museums. Sidestone Press (read online for free)

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Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.