Memorials and Mementos

Memorial Day came and went while most of us enjoyed our 3-day vacation doing chores around the house or kicking back with friends and family. In April my friend Mary Ann and I were in Washington DC touring the memorials there. At the Vietnam War Memorial we listened to a volunteer veteran explain the notations after the names and watched him help people take a rubbing from the wall. The Lincoln Memorial was very crowded with people from all over the world. The new Martin Luther King Memorial is quite grand and the word monolithic came to mind.  This larger-than-life full-length portrait of King is carved from stone reminiscent of Mount Rushmore or Stone Mountain in Georgia. He is looking towards the water and the Jefferson Memorial, surrounded by a wall carved with quotes from his speeches.

The one that was the most poignant for us, however, was the new Korean War Memorial. The day we were there, a Sunday, we ran into a large group of older veterans, called Honor Flight from Montana, making the rounds. Many of the vets were in wheelchairs and one Korean War veteran was telling the story of landing on the beach in Korea the same day as Gen. MacArthur. A female representative of the VFW recorded his oral history as he talked and asked him questions.  I was absorbed in his story and keeping it together until I turned and saw a group of Koreans leaving a wreath and wiping their eyes and then I shed a few tears myself. Mary Ann took these pictures as mementos of that day.

Korean War Veteran with figures of the Korean War Memorial in the background.

http://www.koreanwarvetsmemorial.org

A memento is an object made or saved to remember a person or an event by and it can be a piece of jewelry. Queen Victoria is frequently credited for starting a fad for mourning jewelry. Her reign from 1837-1901 coincided with the development of photography and mass produced jewelry making it possible for ordinary people to own a photograph or a locket.  She loved jewelry and when her husband Albert died, she went into mourning wearing black clothes, black stones and jewelry made from his hair for the rest of her life.  You can still find Victorian hair jewelry in antique stores today though not all of it is about death. People exchanged locks of hair for many reasons including friendship and betrothal.

 Queen Victoria wearing a bracelet made with the hair of her late husband, Prince Albert.

I have integrated hair in my work off and on for many years. A brooch I made in the early 1990s intended as an amusing comment on hairdressers has inadvertently become mourning jewelry for me as it contains a lock of my sister's hair. Hair doesn't rot and preserves the DNA of the person it came from.

No More Bad Haircuts, 1994, brooch, silver, gemstones and found objects. Copyright Nancy Worden 

Dull at Dulles

I have just returned from a trip to our nation's capital and I had many experiences worth blogging about there, but the one that comes to mind today is the difference between how Washington DC and Seattle display art. While in the other Washington we went to the memorials and saw plenty of art at the different museums in the Smithsonian. However I can't recall seeing any public art on the street and certainly there was none to be seen at Dulles Airport. Dulles was renovated three years ago and everywhere you look there is glass and steel but no art. We did see a sculpture stand with a plastic box on top, but there was no art inside. Instead, there were wax models of the food that can be had at McDonald's on display.

This is sharp contrast to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. There is art everywhere at SeaTac, on the walls, above the elevators, in the restrooms, on the ceilings, in the windows, and above the baggage carousels, I mean EVERYWHERE. It is as if Washington DC believes that art belongs in museums whereas in Seattle we believe art should be seen in museums AND everywhere else.

Traveling Light by Linda Beaumont, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Here is the reason why. 40 years ago, in 1973, the city of Seattle and King County both adopted legislation creating the 1% for Art program where 1% of certain project costs are set aside to purchase and display art that visually enhances public facilities. In 1974, the state of Washington established the AIPP program to acquire artwork for K-12 public schools, colleges, universities, and state agencies, funded by one half of 1% of the states portion of construction costs. This is why we have art all over the city of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington. If you Google on Dulles Airport you will not see art listed anywhere on that site. However, click on http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Passenger-Services/Airport-Art/Pages/default.aspx, and you will see a link for a map of all the artwork at SeaTac Airport and there is A LOT of it. The Port of Seattle, who oversees the airport, actually started buying art in 1969 when the Port Commission voted to set aside $300,000 for permanent works. When the Port remodeled and expanded Concourses B, C, and D in 1990, 1% of the construction budget was set aside for art. The Port invested an additional $1.8 million in art with the opening of Concourse A and the expansion of the South terminal area.

As an artist who creates work for the human body, I haven't applied for any commissions at the airport, but I have made one public art piece. In 1994 I was selected to create something for the City of Seattle Portable Art Collection.  I came up with, The Importance of Good Manners, a collection of tiaras celebrating different aspects of the culture of Seattle. The three tiaras celebrate philanthropy, hospitality, and political correctness. The crowns live in a beautiful gilded display case and travel around to different public buildings and offices in Seattle. Can you guess which is which?

So who chooses this stuff?  In 2008 I was asked by 4Culture, formerly known as the King County Arts Commission, to serve on a jury to select artwork for a new county employee office building and parking garage in Seattle. The jury was made up of me, two county employees who actually worked in the building, and a representative of the contractor who constructed the buildings. We went through more than a hundred applications over several days and weeks and finally agreed on two artists who would create the work. It was a difficult process and I learned a lot about how public art must integrate with the lives of real people. Similar committees were formed for all of the public art that we enjoy.

Next time you are visiting an airport, look to see if there is any art. My guess is that the ones that do have art also have legislation to finance it. 

What is a hero?

What is a hero? 

The tradition of decorating heroes is very old and common to human cultures all over the world throughout time. Joseph Campbell spent his lifetime studying the hero archetype in mythology and defined a hero as an individual who leaves the community to embark on a difficult quest or adventure and then returns home to share knowledge gained from the journey.  The concept of hero is often confused with athlete or pop culture role models in contemporary America, however the US military clearly defines a hero. The military hero is an individual who has performed above and beyond expectations and risked or gave their life to save the lives of others.  Special jewelry is awarded for extraordinary conduct. For instance, the Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military wounded or killed in combat. It is the oldest medal still given to members of the US military. It bears the profile of George Washington because it began as the Badge of Military Merit, initiated by General Washington in the Revolutionary War.  Why is it purple? During Revolutionary wartimes, firearms were made of both iron and wood and the preferred wood for rifle stocks at that time was the Purple Heart wood.

The highest medal given to a member of the armed forces for valor in combat is the Medal of Honor aka the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is sparingly bestowed, especially on living soldiers, as most recipients do not survive the action they are awarded for.  It is the only military medal worn around the neck and is always presented by the President of the United States. Different versions of the medal are designed for different branches of the service, but it is always in the shape of a star and usually includes the figure or profile of the Goddess Minerva, wearing a helmet in the center. Minerva was the Roman Goddess of War.  I have seen an Air Force version on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle made of gold with pearls and enamels, a beautiful and fitting tribute to the airman it belongs to.

                                                      Former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha

Recently, a new medal has been designed for military computer techs and drone pilots, the Distinguished Warfare Medal. It will be given for extraordinary achievement in cyberwarfare or combat drones operations since September 11, 2001.  It was designed for actions that do not include valor in combat:  pilots of Predator or Reaper drones who assist the war effort, and techs who devise computer defenses or attack enemy networks with poisonous code are eligible.

In 2000, Helen Drutt asked me to create a medal and I came up with a decoration for the Order of the Ear. This medal is to be awarded to a politician who demonstrates an extraordinary ability to listen to their constituents. So far, it has not been bestowed.

Ostentatious Display

Ostentatious Display

Wednesday's Seattle Times (February 20, 2013) was literally bursting with information about jewelry. Page A5 had a full-page ad for Porcellos Estate Buyers claiming they were desperate to buy jewelry and coins. Page A7 had an article about a big diamond heist at the Brussels airport. The robbery was timed to the minute and went so smoothly that police are convinced it was an inside job. Pages A8 and 9 had an illustrated article entitled, Dark Side to Glitter of India's Gold Love addressing how the Indian cultural traditions of buying gold jewelry for a daughter's dowry and hoarding gold is actually damaging the economy of India. Page A8 and A10 gave us an update on the famous diamond rings of Linda Mastro. Linda is the wife of Michael Mastro, a former Seattle real estate magnate currently being held after fleeing the country to avoid turning over Linda's humongous (27.8carat and 15.93 carat) diamond rings to bankruptcy court. And to think there are people out there who consider jewelry silly stuff!

All of this attention to diamonds and gold is no surprise to me. While most of the work I make is about expressing an idea, the majority of the jewelry in the world is made for a different but very traditional purpose. Ostentatious display, or flaunting your wealth, is as old as jewelry itself. Diamonds are beautiful and gold is the queen of all metals and when you wear them on your body you send a message about what you value to the rest of the world. A diamond engagement ring declares that a woman is betrothed but it also shows the world what kind of money her prospective husband has.  Michael Mastro wanted to display his success so he purchased outrageously extravagant baubles for his wife. You can't wear a mansion or a Bentley but diamonds can go everywhere. And while parents in India claim they are buying gold as an insurance policy for their daughters, it is also about impressing the community with how big a dowry you can give her.

The Marilyn Monroe version of, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) says it all in the lyrics of the title song, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend:

“Men grow cold as girls grow old

and we all lose our charms in the end.

But square-cut or pear-shaped

these rocks don't lose their shape

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

So you don’t like diamonds? The materials used in jewelry are always political. Jewelry made from more modest materials also communicates your values. A contemporary jewelry artist, Gustav Reyes, makes rings from salvaged wood and his customers are often people concerned about the environment. (See the current issue of Ornament Magazine Vol.36#2) I have been using real money in my jewelry for a very long time as a comment on American culture. Below is a new bracelet we are making made from copper pennies (1981 or before) and shredded American paper money. I keep changing the title of this bracelet, but right now I'm calling it, “I Have Money”. It is completely handmade and retails for $450.  I’ll let you decide if it is ostentatious.

An Insider's Guide to Selling Silver & Gold

An Insider’s View: Tips on Selling Gold & Silver for Cash

Do you have a small fortune sitting unused in your jewelry box? Gold and silver prices are still high enough to warrant unloading those broken serpentine chains and single earrings now. What follows are a few guidelines and some personal experience on selling gold and silver.

   

Do Your Homework

When you walk in to see a buyer, you need to be armed with as much information as possible. That way you will know when to take a good offer, and when to walk away.

Determining Iron Content:

Begin by checking your jewelry with a magnet to see if it has iron content.  If the magnet sticks, it won’t have scrap value, though it may have value as an antique. Show it to someone who knows antiques, if you suspect it is a valuable piece. Some antique jewelry has a value greater than that of the metal it contains.

Maker’s Marks

 Look for a maker’s mark that could add to the value of the piece, especially if it is a famous maker name like William Spratling. I have a copper and brass Art Smith bracelet that is worth nothing as scrap, but around $5,000 on the antique market.  Trolling on eBay might help you find an approximate value.  A maker’s mark is like a logo:  it could be a name, initials or special image.  I have two maker’s mark stamps, one for flat metal that says WORDEN and my registered hallmark, a tiny safety pin image for the curved inside of rings. 

Quality Marks

 Next, check for quality marks on the jewelry. You may need magnification for this. Quality marks are stamps on the jewelry or flatware to indicate how much gold or silver content is in the metal. For silver, look for Sterling or 925, which indicates a sterling alloy, 925 parts silver to 75 parts alloy, usually copper.  Coin silver contains less silver, but is still worth something.  Nickel silver, German silver, and pewter have no silver content at all.  If you see the word Plate or Silver Plate, the piece is silver plated over a cheaper metal like brass, and no one will buy it for scrap.  English silver is easiest to evaluate because there are at least four marks: quality (sterling is sometimes shown as a lion), a maker’s mark identifying the shop where it was made, a mark identifying the assay office where it was evaluated, and a mark for the reigning monarch when the piece was assayed. Unfortunately, many countries do not have the documentation traditions the English do. Also, the weight of silverware knives can be deceiving; they are usually die formed from thin silver sheet and then filled with resin to add weight.

The quality mark for gold is a number followed by a K for karat, which means the percentage of gold in the alloy. 18K (75% gold), 14K (58%), and 10K (42%) are common in jewelry.  Pure gold is 24K and too soft to be used for jewelry, but can be found in coins.  Asian cultures prefer 22K gold (very yellow, but very soft) and dental gold is 18K.  If the mark has a number followed by GF, that means it is gold fill, or primarily a base metal like brass with a thin sheet of gold fused to the surface and therefore junk.  Also, please keep in mind that buyers never offer 100% of the market price.  You are selling scrap that will have to be refined before it is sold again.

Weight Measurement

 After quality, gold and silver scrap prices are determined by weight.  The jewelry world uses two measuring systems, grams (metric) and troy ounces (unique to the jewelry trade). If you have a gram scale, weigh what you have, stones and all.  If you don’t have a gram scale, you could weigh the gold on a letter scale. HOWEVER, do not confuse the avoirdupois ounce (used by the US Postal Service) for troy ounces; they are different systems.  (To convert avoirdupois to troy ounces, multiply the weight of gold or silver by .91146.)  If you don’t have a small scale to weigh your jewelry, I would avoid selling it online.  It’s better to sell to someone who weighs and evaluates the quality in front of you. 

Valuing Stones

If the jewelry contains stones, especially bigger diamonds, check them out with a reputable jeweler. Used diamonds are a whole other market and their value is determined by cut, clarity and carat weight. (Carat is another specialty weight system unique to gemstones.) If the stones are quite large, a certified appraisal might be worth the money just to know what you have. A written appraisal by a certified appraiser costs around $100.  

 

Finding a Buyer

I sell scrap metal on a regular basis directly to refineries, but most only buy and sell to established businesses that have accounts with them.  I always weigh the scrap on my scales before sending it in. Recently several people have asked me where an ordinary person should go to sell gold jewelry. I decided to do some sleuthing and checked out some places in the Seattle area.

 The first place I went to was Bellevue Rare Coins on NE 4^th Street in downtown Bellevue; my husband found them by Googling Where to Sell Gold Coins/Seattle.  The family-owned and -operated company opened its first store, West Seattle Coins, in 1979. They are experts on coins, precious metals, and estate jewelry.  Their website offers helpful advice and they give free verbal appraisals. 

I brought two early 20^th century American silver dollars and some old Chinese coins.  They offered me a fair price on the silver dollars but were not interested in buying the Chinese coins. Although the coins are very old, they aren’t rare because many were minted.  They gave me a receipt for the silver coins and paid me in cash.  Thumbs up to Bellevue Rare Coins! It was a very pleasant experience.

 My second choice was American Gold in the South Center Mall area, a company that employs people to stand on street corners and wave signs at cars driving by.  I found the store in the back of an empty strip mall, hidden from the street and up a stairwell.  I got as far as the stairs and hesitated. I realized that no one from the street could see me enter with gold or leave with cash.  It was a perfect hold-up situation and gave me the creeps.  Many years of working in the jewelry biz have taught me to be paranoid. They might be legit, but the location felt wrong, even in broad daylight.  American Gold????? I kept moving.

Warning: don’t enter any establishment that is hidden from public view or gives you the creeps. Trust your instincts and take a friend.

 My third stop was Renton Cash for Gold, located in a room about the size of a closet on the side of a gas station on Rainier Avenue, a very busy street.  The entrance was visible from the street and there were lots of folks at the gas station mini-mart, so I felt safe.  I dressed down for this session, yoga clothes and no jewelry.  I presented a pleasant gentleman sitting at a desk behind a security door with a baggie of stuff: three silver costume jewelry pieces; a small, old gold ring with rubies and an emerald; and a ring I made for my mom in the 1980s of 14K gold set with a large piece of bright green jade and five high quality small diamonds on the side.  Since I made it, I knew what it was worth.

The gentleman went through the usual tests. First, he touched all the pieces with a magnet to see if they had any iron content. When nothing stuck to the magnet, he examined each piece with a jeweler’s loupe, searching for quality marks. Then he sorted the silver pieces into a pile and rubbed each one on a black touchstone until they left a mark.  He then applied drops of nitric acid to each mark and none of them fizzed. (Fizzing indicates the strong presence of more lowly metals like copper or brass.) Then he rubbed the two gold rings on another black touchstone and applied a drop from a different bottle of acid (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric) to those marks. No fizzing again, a good sign.

 Last he weighed the silver pieces all together on a digital scale and punched some numbers into a calculator.  Then he did the same with the two gold rings, stones and all, and offered me 6 bucks for the silver junk and $200 for the two gold rings.  I laughed and said I’d keep them for that.   When he asked me why I laughed, I explained that I had made the jade ring and knew the value of the stones and karat and weight of the gold.  He raised his offer to $500 even after I told him I didn’t want to sell.  We had a candid chat after that and he admitted he knew nothing about stones.

 Because he used orthodox methods for testing gold and silver content, I told him I would recommend him to a friend who has some gold to sell and I will, if all she has to sell is gold jewelry without stones or antique value.  However, he never told me the price he was paying for scrap, so there is no way to compare his prices with online sites.  His prices also seemed to be negotiable. What’s my verdict on Renton Cash for Gold? The owner is honest, but ignorant about jewelry.  If you are going to go that route, be a comparative shopper and get other quotes.

A Word for Posterity

 Finally, I want to put in a word for posterity.  The history of gold and silver jewelry has been compromised because every time there is a war, recession or depression, people tend to yank the stones from the settings and melt down the metal for money.  That is probably why we have no surviving hat ornaments made by the famous Italian Renaissance jeweler Benvenuto Cellini although he claimed in his autobiography he made hundreds of them. King Henry VIII was notorious for having the royal gems pulled from jewelry every time he remarried, reusing the same stones in gifts for his new queen.  It was good business for the Tudor period jewelers, but bad for the history of jewelry. 

Please be careful you aren’t destroying something that has value as art.  Do your homework, and let the jewelry and its history live on.

Snapshots From the Past

 When my Grandmother Worden died in 1988, I found a box of old photographs amongst her things labeled, "Friends and Family".  She was a great saver of everything and there were many photos from the early 20th century. Most of the snapshots had writing on them identifying who, where, and when the pictures were taken. I brought the box home with me knowing that I wanted to spend some time with the contents.

 20 years later I began sorting the photographs into categories such as, People and Pets, Old Boyfriends, People and Cars, etc.  Some of the categories overlapped, such as the one above left of an old boyfriend with the ship's mascot, a cat, and the one on the right which is probably an old boyfriend with his dog and wife. The quality of the photographs and the soft sepia tones were irresistible. I was just waiting for an idea to hit me when I had the opportunity to hear Billy Collins read his poem, The Revenant. The Revenant is told in the voice of his deceased dog and it's humorous because the dog unleashes (couldn't resist, sorry) his real feelings towards his former owner.  I realized that all of the pets in my grandmother's pictures were also deceased and each one had a story to tell.

 My friends at Panda Photo Lab helped me clean up the images and printed them so I wouldn't have to destroy the originals to set them in a necklace that I call, The Revenants. On the back of each photograph is a narrative I wrote etched in copper. However, the interesting contexts for the people and animals were lost when we cropped the images to fit them into the necklace shown below.

  The necklace idea then led to five brooches where we were able to use the entire photograph.

 I have no idea who these people are but I made up a pretty good story about them etched in copper on the back of the piece.  By the way, that is a real wasp set under plastic which is proof that you really can get just about anything on eBay.

Lady Liberty

This morning as I was looking at images of the storm on the east coast, I thought of the Statue of Liberty, my favorite American sculpture. Two weeks ago my friend Mary Ann and I were in NYC and went out to see her. In 1987 I climbed all the way up into her crown for the fee of $1.00. Because I am a metalsmith I am always blown away by how she was constructed. The sculpture, designed by French artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, was hammered out of solid copper sheets by French craftsmen. The giant sheets are riveted together and hung from steel springs that are attached to the iron infrastructure designed by Eiffel, one of the best structural engineers who ever lived. In the two closeup images below you can see the individual giant copper plates on her arm and the bottom of her foot and even some of the copper rivets.

The photograph below was taken at the French workshop of Gaget, Gauthier et Cie, the craftsmen who actually made the colossal statue. Note the size of the torch compared to the men in the shop.

 By the early 1980's Liberty was showing a lot of wear and tear so she was restored for her 100th anniversary by a combination of French and American craftsmen and engineers. Below is a photo from July 4, 1986 after the restoration was complete. The flame in the torch was completely remade and covered with pure gold leaf.

 Liberty Island is a national park and they have a great souvenir shop. I bought the exact same thing I bought the last time I was there, a flashlight in the shape of Liberty's torch. It is the item on the right below. The object on the left is a horrible Chinese interpretation of her torch which I bought a few years ago from a costume supply shop. I bought it because I was teaching mold-making at the time and it was an excellent example of bad design, bad molding and a knock-off-on-steroids.  If you look closely you will see that the Chinese version says Made In China. It is a crude misunderstanding of a classic American icon. There is a political metaphor in there somewhere, but I'll let you figure it out.