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by Angela Magnotti Andrews

Set in an etched 18k white gold band, these four rectangular-cut synthetic sapphires are among those made in Paris by L. Heller & Son, the leading manufacturer and importers of synthetic stones between the years 1910 and 1935.

Heller & Son cornered the market in synthetic gemstones with their laboratory-created pearls and rubies by the late 1890s. In 1909, Lazarus Heller decided it was time to add blue sapphire to his popular synthetic line. On the cutting edge of scientific research himself, Mr. Heller was familiar with the work of the Paris scientist, Auguste V. L. Verneuil (1856-1913).

A Professor at the National Conservancy of Arts and Sciences in Paris, Mssr. Verneuil spent most of his time teaching his courses in Industrial Chemistry. However, with every free moment he attempted to crack the code on blue sapphire. By 1909, the persistent scientist was certain that the prevailing theories about which elements transformed colorless corundum (sapphire) into the shimmering blue of the coveted gemstone were off base. At this critical juncture in his research, Mssr. Verneuil was employed by Mr. Heller.

In his book, 50 Years Progress in Crystal Growth, Robert Feigelson writes that Mssr. Verneuil was given laboratory space and resources to solve “the problem of the nature of the blue sapphire.” In 1910, he discovered the mystery elements (titanium and manganese) and developed a pristine formula for manufacturing perfect blue sapphires in the lab.

By 1911, L. Heller & Son had their patents in place, and Mssr. Verneuil returned to his professorship a very satisfied, and hopefully wealthy man. With the secret formula secured by the patents, L. Heller & Son added their Hope Sapphire to the most successful ad campaign for synthetic gemstones in jewelry history.

Fortunate are they whose birth month is September for to them is given the Sapphire—oft considered more beautiful, more precious than the diamond. As gifts, choose either the Natural Stone, found deep in the earth, or the Heller Hope Sapphire, made in the Heller Laboratories at Paris. Both are true Sapphires, precious stones, equally beautiful, equally everlasting. Great scientists have verified by every known test the facts that they are absolutely identical in all respects.

This brilliantly written advertisement was featured in Cosmopolitan and Hearst’s International in September of 1921 by L. Heller & Son, Inc. This is just one example of their extensive endeavor to maintain their edge in synthetic sapphires, rubies, and pearls.

Despite the fact that many of these synthetic sapphires have more recently found their way into antique pieces as substitutions for missing gemstones, experts agree that the small synthetic stones, like the ones set in this Art Deco ring, do not decrease the value of pieces from the 1920s and 1930s. This is largely due to the wild success of L. Heller & Son in preserving their corner of the market in synthetic stones well into the 1930s.

It is an absolute certainty, as is the case for all true synthetic blue sapphires made during the Art Deco Movement, that the accent stones in this antique engagement ring are the real deal, made by L. Heller & Son, Inc. with Mssr. Verneuil’s famous formula.

Bibliography
1. Bell, C. Jeanenne. Answers to Questions About Old Jewelry: 1840-1950, 7^th Edition. Iola: Krause Publications, 2008.
2. “Briefs Submitted.” The Jeweler’s Circular, Vol. 84, No. 22, June 28, 1922.
3. Colby, Frank Moore and Allen Leon Churchill. The New International Yearbook: A Compendium of the World’s Progress for the Year 1910. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1911.
4. Feigelson, Robert S., ed.. 50 Years Progress in Crystal Growth: A Reprint Collection. San Diego: Elsevier Inc., 2004.
5. “New York Notes.” The Jewelers’ Circular Weekly, Vol. 75, No. 18, November 28, 1917.
6. “Patent on Synthetic Gems.” The Jeweler’s Circular, Vol. 84, No. 17, May 24, 1922.
7. Prisant, Carol and Chris Jussel. Antiques Roadshow Primer: The Introductory Guide to Antiques and Collectibles. New York: Workman Publishing, 1999.
8. “Sapphires for September (advertisement).” Cosmopolitan, September, 1921, p. 124.
9. “Win Patent Suit.” The Jewelers’ Circular, Vol. 84, No. 24, July 12, 1922.

Crafted of solid platinum, this antique engagement ring features a stunning 1.16-carat genuine Old European Cut diamond center stone. Flanked in openwork design by glittering emerald-green glass accent stones and symmetrical lines of twelve round Single Cut diamonds, this magnificent Art Deco ring is a showstopper.

Known as Art Moderne when it first emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, Art Deco was an arts movement that influenced design in the disciplines of architecture, decorative arts, graphic arts, and the art of jewelry design. Drawing inspiration from the “streamlined, elongated, and symmetrical” designs of modern industry, proponents of the new movement aimed to “upgrade industrial design as ‘fine art’.” {1}

Synthetic rubies and sapphires were all the rage during the 1920s and 1930s, and many Art Deco engagement rings featured such synthetic stones. In the case of the above ring, the green glass accent stones stand in for the coveted synthetic emerald. The French chemist who cracked the code on created rubies and sapphires, Mssr. Auguste Verneuil, was unable to produce emeralds by his flame fusion methods, as the necessary elements to grow emeralds do not have the same melting points.

It was American chemist Carroll Chatham who unlocked the secrets of growing beryl crystals in 1930. Five years later, in 1935, he grew his first emerald from the beryl seeds. By his methods, it could take up to one year to grow an emerald. His first created emerald, 1 carat in size, is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

Unlike imitations, such as the green glass featured in this ring, synthetic emeralds are chemically identical to natural emeralds, they are just grown in a laboratory instead of in the recesses of space or in the bowels of the earth. This in no way devalues the above ring. Brightly colored accent stones were a popular feature of Art Deco rings, and since the advent of synthetic emeralds would come well after the Art Deco style faded into the Modernist Style of the 1930s-1960s, green glass was a popular and acceptable stand-in for the time.

Notes
1. Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through Ages: A Global History, 13th ed., 2011.

This beautiful antique engagement ring features an ornately carved mounting in the Art Deco style. Nestled snugly within a solid 18k white gold bezel setting, the Old European Cut diamond solitaire radiates brilliantly.

Old European Cut diamonds enjoy distinction in a long evolution of diamond cuts as the precursor to the modern Round Brilliant Cut. Famous for their hardness, diamonds are notoriously difficult to carve, cut, and facet. Hence, they kept their shine hidden deep within for many millenniums.

It wasn’t until 1475, when Belgian stone polisher Lodewyk van Berken invented the scaif, that diamonds acquiesced to release some of their fire. Based upon the concept of placing facets with absolute symmetry, Mr. Van Berken’s scaif consisted of a rotating wheel drenched with olive oil and diamond dust which successfully polished the individual symmetrical facets upon the stone’s surface.

Much later, in the 1500s, Giacomo Tagliacarne and Giovanni delle Corniole managed to coax even more fire out of the diamonds they cut. This new faceted cut, called the Rose Cut or the Rosette, remained the most popular cut for over a hundred years. However, gem cutters worked continuously toward releasing even more of the diamond’s inner luster. These cuts continued to use the industry standard of eight facets on the crown of the stone.

It was in the 17th century that the Brilliant Cut was invented. Two men are credited with eliciting even more radiance from the reluctant gemstone. The first, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, introduced in the 1650s a method for cutting 17 facets on the crown. The Cardinal’s cut became known as “Mazarins” or “Double-Cut Brilliants.” Later, in 1681, a Venetian diamond polisher, Vincent Peruzzi, doubled Mazarin’s facets to 33, introducing the “Peruzzi” or “Triple-Cut Brilliants.”

Both of these cuts were made by first cutting the crown into a square or rectangle and then adding “cushion cuts,” or rounded corners. We now refer to these brilliants as “Old Mine” or “Old Miner Cuts.”

Though they had been “around” for many centuries, it would be almost 300 years before Round Brilliant Cuts would dominate the diamond cutting scene. In 1874, Henry D. Morse and Charles Field joined forces to create a steam-driven bruting machine which allowed a diamond cutter to round the diamonds symmetrically, which allowed for perfect symmetrical distribution of the facets.

Once Morse’s patent ran out on the machine, the European cutting houses swiftly reproduced the machines and adopted his cutting methods. So prolifically did these European firms produce these “new” Round Brilliants that they became widely known as “Old European Cuts.”