Transcript
A (0:00)
This episode is brought to you by Leibish, the coloured diamond jewelry experts. Did you know that pink diamonds are amongst the rarest diamonds and over 90% came from the Argyle Mine in Australia, which closed in 2020?
B (0:22)
I mean, I'm such a romantic and a sucker for those sayings we have, like Forever and Love Never Dies and Be Lucky and lots of sayings that feel like people can instantly resonate with. And actually, our new collection coming up is all about love. It's about fairy tale love. So the love that you read in stories that's absolutely epic and they run off into the sunset.
A (0:45)
I'm Carole Houlton, the voice of jewellery. Welcome to if Jules Could Talk. I'm an author and broadcaster and the woman who initiated the role of jewellery editor at magazines like Tatler and Vogue. This is a podcast for everyone, for people who do like jewellery, for people who don't realise they like jewellery, and anyone intrigued by fascinating facts, new ideas and forgotten histories. So join me as I tell sparkly tales and meet all sorts of people delving into four centuries of jewelry culture and investigate what's happening now. This is our Valentine's Day special. It's a gift to all of you and to our sponsors, Leibish. We're all united in our love for jewellery and we want to thank you for your support. I also want to thank you for reacting to our podcast on the Tudor Heart. It was a special episode that. That we recorded before all the newspapers had the information about the history and research of the Tudor Heart jewel dating back to 1511 and Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. And last October, the British Museum launched a campaign to raise? 3.5 million to secure the jewel for the nation and keep it within the British Museum collection. And I want to thank all of you because, A you told us how much you enjoyed that episode, but B, I know how many people actually did support the campaign from the if Jewels Collabor Talk community. And I want to share with you a wonderful email that we've received from Dr. Rachel King at the British Museum saying what an important part the podcast played in the campaign. She writes. And finally, there is the not so small matter of donations. 45,000 individual gifts were made and many were clearly the result of hearing us speak your generosity in featuring the jewel and galvanized and mobilized a community. So I want to thank all of you because together we made a real difference and a contribution for that wonderful jewel to be acquired for all of us to see and visit. And of course, it's a love jewel so it's a good jewel to talk about today. And if you haven't heard that episode, do go back to the library and hear it. It's the H and K for Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, tied in a lover's knot. It's about Henry's love for Catherine. She was his queen and wife and regent, sometimes in times of his absence, for 24 years. That's way longer than any of his subsequent wives. Underneath their initials is a banner reading Toujour always, which is a poignant declaration of an eternal connection. So it's wonderful news that that jewel will be on permanent display at the British Museum. So if you haven't seen it, you should go and see it. And then I know it's going to go on tour on a sort of global tour, so I'll keep you posted as to where it will be and then if any of you are nearby and want to go and see it, you can. Now we're going to talk about other love jewels and I'm delighted to welcome my guest today, Cece Fine Hughes. I'm here on Valentine's Day to talk about love jewels. Now, there is a posy ring. Posy rings were given as love tokens from about the 15th century which were engraved with little messages. And there is one in the British Museum that's engraved with the words, this gift is small, but love is all. When you see this, remember me, mb. So we don't know who MB is, but I kind of think that this is the sentiment that all jewellery is given in. It's given as a love jewel for whether that's love, romantic love, friendship, parental, sibling, it's given for somebody to think about the receiver. And I'm here with British jeweler Cece Fine Hughes, who's known for her fine and detailed craftsmanship using hand painted enamel. But more than that, she uses symbolism and classical references to narrate stories of love through her jewellery. Cece, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
