Helen Molesworth

What shines through is Molesworth’s deep love of her subject and the tactile joy of wearing such gems.

Traces the journeys of different stones from their discovery to their sale … Explores the history, geology and famous wearers of 10 beloved jewels.

A magnificent compendium of everything one could ever want to know about jewels: their symbolism, physical construction, worth and history . . . I shall never look at a diamond in the same way again.

This is - fittingly - a gem of a book. Rich descriptions, fascinating histories and, at times, just pure, dazzling bling. A joy to read.

Tracy Borman, author of Elizabeth’s Women, Thomas Cromwell and The Private Lives of the Tudors

Reading Precious is like opening history's treasure chest, to discover a trove of fascinating information.

Jane Robinson, author of Trailblazer, Hearts and Minds and Bluestockings

Merging knowledge with fascination she shows us that the preciousness of gems does not lie solely in their sparkle but in their story.

Clare Hunter, author of Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle

Engaging and illuminating, Precious is a masterclass in the history of gems. It’s also great fun to read - one of those books where the learning is effortless as Helen invites the reader to join her while she visits glittering palaces, explores muddy sapphire mines and values some of the most phenomenal jewels on the planet.

Francesca Cartier Brickell, author of The Cartiers

Beautifully written and superbly interesting, Helen Molesworth tells a compelling, global story of gems - their unending allure and continuing impact on human history.

Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

Those who read Precious are in for a treat; I could not put it down until I had read every page. It is a rich and seamless web of gem history, gemmology and personal encounters with jewellery including the author's amazing and fearless journeys to the sources of rare stones, and of handling incredible stones prior to sale. This book is destined to remain a classic.

Rev Dr Martin Henig, Senior Research Associate, Institute of Archaeology, Oxford (also Honorary Professorship at UCL, Institute of Archaeology)

Precious is part history, part travel memoir, and part declaration of love towards gems. Like an overflowing jewellery box, its pages are bursting with stories of the sumptuous and luxurious, as well the perilous and arduous.

All the jewelry and gem history you’ve ever wondered about

From the story of a fragile emerald watch lost for centuries under the floorboards of a London house to tales of Burmese warriors who embedded rubies into their skin before battle, The V&A’s Senior Jewellery Curator Helen Molesworth takes readers on a sumptuous and sweeping history of humanity’s love affair with jewels. What’s more, the book is furnished with 16 pages of detailed colour photography, which showcases particularly astonishing pieces in all their glory.

The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time

'A gem of a book' - Tracy Borman 
 
When Helen Molesworth joined the gem and jewellery industry she began her own love affair with one of humanity's oldest and richest fascinations. For as long as people have known about gemstones they have treasured them. Born of violent geological events and the chance meetings of minerals, their stories are an extraordinary journey through time, and are significant to the human narrative in as many ways as they boast sparkling facets. 
 
Selecting ten of nature's most dazzling jewels, Helen Molesworth makes journeys across the world to trace stones from their discovery to the moment a glimmering cut and polished masterpiece is traded, and then fought over, adorns emperors and kings, falls out of favour, and then raises eye-watering sums in another age. Touching on history and politics, archaeology and engineering, geography and geology, chemistry and physics, psychology and romance, fine art and high finance, her book is rich with great stories and has something for everyone.

Helen Molesworth

Praise for Precious

What shines through is Molesworth’s deep love of her subject and the tactile joy of wearing such gems.

Traces the journeys of different stones from their discovery to their sale … Explores the history, geology and famous wearers of 10 beloved jewels.

A magnificent compendium of everything one could ever want to know about jewels: their symbolism, physical construction, worth and history . . . I shall never look at a diamond in the same way again.

What shines through is Molesworth’s deep love of her subject and the tactile joy of wearing such gems.

Traces the journeys of different stones from their discovery to their sale … Explores the history, geology and famous wearers of 10 beloved jewels.

A magnificent compendium of everything one could ever want to know about jewels: their symbolism, physical construction, worth and history . . . I shall never look at a diamond in the same way again.

What shines through is Molesworth’s deep love of her subject and the tactile joy of wearing such gems.

Traces the journeys of different stones from their discovery to their sale … Explores the history, geology and famous wearers of 10 beloved jewels.

A magnificent compendium of everything one could ever want to know about jewels: their symbolism, physical construction, worth and history . . . I shall never look at a diamond in the same way again.

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