Update: The Society now has its own website complete with a table of contents listing and a form to order back issues of its journal. Wonderful! Please consider my page obsolete. <hooray!> Dec 2009
Jewellery Studies, the journal of the Society of Jewellery Historians (London) ISSN: 0268-2087, is a wealth of articles of value to the historical jeweler and jewelry researcher. Some of the best articles I have come across are from this publication. I reasoned that if the small sample of articles I had in my possession (via interlibrary loan) were valuable, then it is likely that there are several others available but unknown to me.
Unfortunately, my efforts in locating an index that covers this publication were fruitless. The Society of Jewellery Historians itself is an elusive member of the World Wide Web. They have no website and scant contact information appears online. I did manage to locate a listing for them in The 1998 Directory of British Archaeology: National Bodies webpage. My email to the listed address was unanswered. So the data in this dated directory may no longer be valid. A directory entry with mailing address for the publication was available at The PUB List. Unfortunately, the site was changing as of Aug. 10, 2002 and I was unable to re-retrieve the same results. Here is the information as posted on June 11, 2002:
Title: Jewellery Studies
Publication Type: Periodical
Status: Active
Frequency: Irregular
ISSN: 02682087
Country: UK
Language: English
Publisher: Society of Jewellery Historians
Publisher Address: British Museum, London WC 1B 3DB United Kingdom
Publisher Contact Information: Fax: 011 44 1588 620558
I gave up on the search for an index to the publication. If I could look at the journals, I could make a simple one myself. My next tact was to determine which libraries owned the journal. With the help of my interlibrary loan librarian we determined that three libraries in my "area" (Pennsylvania/Maryland/D.C.) owned the journal. They are: The Smithsonian, The Frick Fine Art Library at the University of Pittsburg, and the Walters Gallery (in Baltimore).
Living less than 2 hours away from Baltimore, a trip to the Walters Gallery was appealing. I owe many thanks to the staff at the Walters Library. They allowed me to spend a day during a normally closed time of year and were terribly helpful in my pursuit.
The first volume of Jewellery Studies was the 1983-84 issue. It continues to be published at "odd" intervals. The initial issues dealt with a variety of subject matter, but as the publication grew (more issues were published, more advertising appeared, higher quality paper was used, and more color photographs were introduced) each volume became devoted to a single topic.
Each issue contains a series of articles & book reviews. Volumes 1 -3 also contained a review of the literature, a listing of recent publications by category. This feature does not appear to be continued in the newer volumes (a pity).
Note: A recent communication with the Society's Chairman, Nigel Israel (Israel, Nigel. "Jewellery Studies." E-mail to L Stevens. 1 April, 2004) indicates that the Society will (finally) be publishing a "comprehensive cumulative index" with volume 11. Volume 10 is the most recent publication. In this email, he confirmed the mailing address of the Society is indeed as shown above.
Since reviewing available volumes, I have discovered the Society provides a listing of the contents of each volume in their membership brochure and on a back issue order form.
Back Issues are available directly through the Society and their North American distributor
Derek Content
Bulland Lodge
Chipstable Taunton
TA4 2QB
derek-content@email.msn.com
Fax: +44 (0) 1984 624 540
Mr. Content is also a dealer in scholarly books on jewelry and engraved gems. He is the only source for back issues of volume 1, as it is now out of print.
In general, most literature indices provide subject indexing to all volumes. With the small amount of issues related to our areas of interest available, a more simple approach to article citation is quite suitable for our needs.
What follows are selections from the existing issues of interest to myself, and potentially other jewelers researching Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance jewelry and technique. I have NOT included any articles that focus on a time period more recent than these. So consequently, not all volumes are covered by this "index."
If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. Contact me at the email address below.
Oddy, W.A., N.D. Meeks & J.M. Ogden. A Phoenician Earring: a Scientific Examination. 3-13.
Buckton, David. The Beauty of Holiness: Opus Interrasile from a Late Antique Workshop. 15-19 + color photographs on an unnumbered page appearing between pages 64 & 65.
Westermann-Angerhausen, Hiltrud . Tenth & Eleventh-Century German Brooches: New Discoveries and Deliberations. English Summary. 20
Westermann-Angerhausen, Hiltrud. Ottonischer Fibelschmuck, neue Funde und Überlegungen. 20-36.
Williamson, Paul. Daniel Between the Lions: A New Sardonyx Cameo for the British Museum. 37-39.
Seidmann, Gertrud. Jewish Marriage Rings. 41-44.
Cherry, John. A Late Medieval Love Jewel. 45-47.
Stronge, Susan. Mughal Jewellery. 49-53.
Book Reviews 82-89
Recent Publications of Interest (covers 1981- June 1984)
General topics 89
Technical topics 89-90
Engraved Gems/Gemstones 90
Historical/Ancient: Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Roman etc. 91-92
Historical/Medieval (c. 400 - 1500 AD) 92-93.
Historical/Renaissance to Modern 93-95
Ethnographic and Oriental, Including Islam, India & the Far East. 95-96
Exhibition Catalogues 96-97
Volume 2 1984-1985
Maxwell-Hyslop, K.R. Recent Discoveries of Western Asiatic Jewellery. 3-10.
Lightfoot, C.S. Roman Double Finger Rings. 11-22 + color photographs on an unnumbered page appearing between pages 80 & 83.
Lewis, J.M. The Oxwich Brooch. 23-38.
Tait, Hugh. The Girdle-Prayerbook or 'Tablett'': an Important Class of Renaissance Jewellery at the Court of Henry VIII. 29-57 + colored photograph on an unnumbered page appearing between pages 80 & 83.
Reviews 73-83.
Recent Publications
General topics 83
Technical topics 83
Engraved Gems/Gemstones 84-85.
Historical/Ancient: Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Roman etc. 85-87.
Historical/Medieval (c. 400 - 1500 AD) 88-91.
Historical/Renaissance to Modern 91-93
Exhibition Catalogues 95-96.
Volume 3 1989
Duval, A.R., C. Elvère and L.P. Hurtel. Joining Techniques in Ancient Gold Jewellery. 5-14.
A Comparison of Recent Analyses of British Late Bronze Age Goldwork with Irish parallels. 15-24.
Bayley, Justine & Sarnia Butcher. Roman-British Plate Brooches: a Composition and Decoration. 25-32.
Hockey, Marilyn. The Composition and Structure of a Byzantine Torc. 33-39.
Volume 4 1990
Ogden, Jack & Simon Schmidt. Late Antique Jewellery: Pierced Work & Hollow Beaded Wire. 5-12.
Whitfield, Niamh. Round Wire in the Early Middle Ages. 13-28
Ward, Rachel. Goldsmiths' Work at the Court of Süleyman the Magnificent. (1520-1566.) 29-32.
Swersky, Ann. The Choschen Presented by the Jews of Prague to Kaiser Rudolph II (1600.) 33-35.
Kidd, Dafydd. The 'Lombard Treasure' 1930-1990. 59-71.
Volume 5 1991 Classical Gold Jewellery and the Classical Tradition. Papers in Honour of R.A. Higgins.
Swaddling, Judith; Oddy, Andrew & Nigel Meeks. Etruscan and Other Early Gold Wire from Italy. 7-21.
Nicholls, Richard. The Early Bejewelled Lady of the Acropolis. 23-28.
Bailey, Donald. Some Classical Gold Finger-rings in the British Museum. 33-41.
Baines, Robert. The Significance of Double-row Granulation from Palestrina. 43-48.
Henig, Martin. Antique Gems in Roman Britain. 49-54.
Johns, Catherine. Some Unpublished Jewellery from Roman Britain. 55-64.
Henderson, Julian. Technological Characteristics of Roman Enamels. 65-76.
Williams, Dyfri; Tatton-Brown, Veronica and Susan Walker.. A Lady from Miletopolis. 77-83.
Jenkins, Ian. Pendants for Eunuchs. 85-93.
Ogden, Jack. M. Classical Gold Wire: Some Aspects of its Manufacture and Use. 95-105.
Volume 6 1993
Griffin, Patricia. Jewellery from Kiev. 5-18.
Silva, Nuno Vassallo e. The Portuguese Gem Trade in the Sixteenth Century. 19-28.
Tintó, Margarita. The 'Llibres de Passantia' of the Silversmiths of Barcelona (16th - 19th Centuries). 29-36.
Volume 7 1996
Stronge, Susan. The Myth of the Timur Ruby (16th-17th Century Ruby). 5.
Ogden, Jack. The Pearl in Classical Jewellery. 37-42.
Cessford, Craig. Jewellery and the Gododdin Poem (6th-7th Century). 57-62.
Marshall, Rosalind K. The Jewellery of James V, King of Scots. 79-86.
Volume 8 1998
Bowman, S.G.E. & C.P. Stapleton. The All Souls' Jewel: the Enameller's Art, Deliberate or Accidental Tinting? 5-10.
Thorton, Dora. Valerio Belli and After: Renaissance Gems in the British Museum. 11-20.
Middleton, Andres; Shearman, Fleur; Stapleton, Colleen and Susan Youngs with contributions by David Buckton. The Guilton Brooch: The Earliest Medieval Cloisonné Enamel in Western Europe? 27-36
Plantzos, Dimitris. Medicus Liquidis Astris: apricorn, Aquarius and Pisces on Graeco-Roman Amulets. 37-48.
La Niece, Susan. Niello Before the Romans. 49-56.
Whitfield, Naimh. The Manufacture of Ancient Beaded Wire: Experiments and Observations. 57-86.
Niemeyer, Barbara. A Byzantine Gold Collar from Assiût: a Technological Study. 87-97.
Volume 9 2001
Cartier: Papers of the Symposium Held Jointly by the British Museum and the Society of Jewellery Historians 1997.
Volume 10 2004
Is based on the joint Society of Jewellery Historians/ British Museum symposium around the Treasures of India. It is in the final stages of editing. (Israel, Nigel. "Jewellery Studies." Email to L Stevens. 1 April, 2004.) Please note: As of January 16, 2006 volume 10 has not yet been published.
Last Updated: Thursday December 10, 2009 jewelryhistorian AT jewelryhistorian DOT com