Noya Jewelry

Background

The fundamental characteristics of brightness, color and perhaps the extreme softness of silver were recognized in antiquity and used for the creation of decorative objects which were often related to religion - tracing back to old Egyptian civilization. Silver was very rare and therefore called “white gold”. Silver was also called the “lunar metal” - cold and luminous like the moon’s reflection on water. Because of it’s richness it was used to make ornamental objects for decoration and for people. Eventually silver was used to manufacture objects of daily use such as “table metal” par excellence (tea service, coffee service, trays and cutlery in general). It has always maintained it’s inclination to be considered as a symbol of comfortable living, if not downright wealth!

The Beginning (3,000 BC)

Silver jewelry was found in modern day burial excavations of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. The first major sources of mined Silver were the mines around Anatolia, which is in the area of modern day Turkey and they originate from this time. The Chaldeans were the first culture to extract Silver from other ores around 2500 BC.

About 1,000 BC the cultures of South and North America were using advanced silversmithing techniques.

One hundred years later, the Larium mines near Athens were the leading Silver-producing mines for the next 1,000 years.

At about 200 BC, Chinese immigrants in Korea brought their silversmith’s techniques to Korea. From Korea, Silver use spread to Japan, but never really caught on there.

Excavations in Rome and in it’s once parts of the Empire, Archaeologists discovered that the Romans used Silver in Coins and Household items.

In the first Century AD the Indus culture of India produced Silver drinking vessels similar to Hellenistic types.

Around the year 600, silver-work became very important in China during the T’ang dynasty, which lasted from 618-907 AD. Before this time, Silver was very rare in China.

Fine Silver techniques are said to have reached the Oaxaca region of Mexico during the year 900.

In the year 1,000, the Repoussé technique became common during China’s Sung Dynasty. Spanish mines began to be important sources of Silver around this time, as well as those in Eastern Europe (Germany and Austria-Hungary and others).

In the 16th Century the Spanish who conquered the Mexican, Panamanian, the Andean and Costa Rican Indians in the new world during this century found that the skills of the Silversmiths were comparable to their own in their level of technique and artistry. European exploitation of New World Silver began in Bolivia and Bolivia, Peru and Mexico grew to produce nearly 85 percent of the world’s Silver between 1500 and 1800.

Native American tribes in New York (the Seneca, Iroquois, Cayuga and the Onondaga) began turning European Silver coins into jewelry at the beginning of the 17th century. India’s production of Silver vessels for royalty increased. They had mastered the Gold and Silver techniques of cold hammering, embossing, annealing, false filigree and false granulation.

During the 19th century Silver Jewelry became more affordable because of advances in technology. Electroplating was invented. Tiffany and Company began producing Silverware in New York in the mid 1850s. The Navajo tribes of the American Southwest began working Silver (learned from Mexican artists) around the same time as well and had passed their skills onto the Zuni tribes by the 1870s.

In England, Queen Victoria’s fancies dictated fashion in almost every aspect. She started the revival of ancient Celtic motifs in jewelry design that began in the middle of the century and at the end of the 19th Century, she started the aesthetic period that lasted until her death in 1901.

During the Aesthetic period, fashions in Silver jewelry began to move away from the mass produced pieces that were prevalent at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Japanese royalty began wearing Shibuichi jewelry during this period. Nevada’s Virginia City enjoyed the boom days of the Comstock Lode in the 1860s and 1870s, during which the mine produced millions of dollars worth of Silver. The Mayflower Silver mine in Nevada was discovered in the 1890s.

The modern center of fine Silver-work is the city of Taxco in Mexico. William Spratling, an American, revived it there and began training Silversmiths in 1931. Along with the jewelers of the Aesthetic period, the craftsman of the Arts & Crafts Movement (1894-1923) also rebelled against the mass produced jewelry that dominated the time. Silver was their metal of choice and they combined it with uncut stones and cabochons. The quality of most of the pieces from this movement was low, mainly because jewelry makers from this period were untrained novices. The best jewelry of the Arts & Crafts Movement came from C.R. Ashbee, Henry Wilson, and Harold Stabler, Liberty & Co., Charles Horner’s, and Murrle, Bennett & Co.

Coinciding with the Arts & Crafts Movement, the Art Nouveau period (1890-1915) drew design inspiration from the new cultures encountered during the period’s colonialism. Louis Comfort Tiffany was one of the best known Art Nouveau Jewelry designers. During the Retro Period 1935-1949, Silver became less available to jewelers because of the war in Europe and as the period began to close, American jewelers began to become more popular because of the rising dominance of American pop culture. In 1963, the US stopped issuing silver certificates, which up until then had supported the paper currency and by 1968, the Silver certificates were no longer redeemable for Silver. Silver use in coins had also decreased significantly by this time.

STERLING SILVER

Pure silver, also called fine silver, is relatively soft, very malleable, and easily damaged so it is commonly combined with other metals to produce a more durable product. The most popular of these alloys is sterling silver, which consists of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper.

Although any metal can make up the 7.5 percent non-silver portion of sterling, centuries of experimentation have shown copper to be its best companion, improving the metal’s hardness and durability without affecting its beautiful color.

The small amount of copper added to sterling has very little effect on the metal’s value. Instead, the price of the silver item is affected by the labor involved in making the item, the skill of the crafts-person, and the intricacy of the design.

Like other jewelry Sterling Silver has to be maintain. Please, check our page for instructions on how your jewelry will last forever.

For information about the Healing Power of Silver go to our page.

For the Power of Silver according to Astrology go to our page.

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING BLUE "COIN" PEARL DROP US $29.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:08:48 PST

Harley .925 Silver Belly Ring US $0.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:44:22 PST

Harley .925 Silver Belly Ring US $0.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:44:23 PST

Harley .925 Silver Dangling Belly Ring US $2.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:44:25 PST

Harley .925 Silver Dangling Belly Ring US $2.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 13:44:28 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING BLUE CZ JOURNEY DANGLE US $28.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 14:38:50 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLY RING "SLEEPER" US $17.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 16:09:02 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING MULTI SHAPE CZ DANGLE US $29.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 16:14:56 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER CZ BELLY RING US $39.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 16:39:14 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING TIGERS EYE TEARDROP US $29.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 17:50:52 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER CZ BELLY RING US $39.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 18:09:14 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING TRIBAL SKULL CHARM US $19.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 19:26:34 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING SYNTHETIC AMETHYST DROP US $31.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Mar-11-2010 21:02:35 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLY RING MOONSTONE US $51.95 End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 4:00:54 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLY RING HANDCUFF CHARM US $34.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 7:08:40 PST

Vintage 925 Silver Filigree FLOWER Belly Navel Ring 14G US $11.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 8:34:05 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLY RING PEGASUS CHARM US $19.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 9:20:43 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING DOUBLE HEART CHARM US $32.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 11:39:42 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING "OPAL" & SILVER BUTTERFLY US $36.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 13:50:55 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLYRING BUTTERFLY CHARM US $29.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 16:08:46 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER BELLY RING "SLEEPER" US $17.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 16:08:47 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER CZ BELLY RING US $39.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 16:38:47 PST

TUMMYTOYS BODY JEWELRY SILVER CZ BELLY RING US $39.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 18:08:54 PST

TUMMYTOYS SILVER BELLY RING SHAMROCK CLOVER CHARM US $22.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 18:20:45 PST

Playboy Bunny silver with pink eye belly ring/belly bar US $0.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Friday Mar-12-2010 18:39:18 PST