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FIRE IN THE EARTH
Russia. Charles I of England had a French Huguenot de­signer named Chardin whom religious troubles had forced into exile in London. Chardin, born in Paris, was a world traveler as well as a jeweler and had seen the fabulous treas­ures of Turkey, Persia, and India. He died Sir John Chardin and was buried in Westminster Abbey, certainly a tribute to his genius. The queens of the earth have been leaders in fur­thering new styles in diamond designs, and among these were Elizabeth of England, Catherine of Russia, Marie Antoinette and Eugenie of France, Victoria and Alexandra of England, and Marie of Rumania.
At the turn of the present century, France experienced the beginnings of a great epoch in fine jewelry design in which it led the way. For the first time in history diamonds, the hardest substance known to man, were set in "soft" shapes. Collars, necklaces, and bracelets which formerly had been as stiff as court etiquette were now designed in flowing lines and feather fronds. Big pear-shaped diamonds were set on almost invisible platinum wires to move, like limpid water-drops, in pendant necklaces and earrings. Carrier's of Paris probably was the first jeweler to set any gems in platinum. Carrier's also was the first to create jewelry from the standpoint of its use with prevailing fashions. Deeply fringed necklaces, for instance, appeared when the evening decollete" was low. The diamond dog-collar, which was literally named for the wide leather collar of the lap dog, followed the fashion for a long throatline set by Consuela, Duchess of Marlborough, who possessed the truly "swan­like" neck. The breastpin of the eighties followed the collar-pin of the sixties. When the neckline was finished with a little round turned-down collar, the ladies wore a collar-pin. When the fashion emphasis was on bosom,
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