PASTE GEMSTONES:
JUNK OR JEWELS?
We all know that paste gemstones have a bad rep. I blame it on the 1970s Rhinestone Cowboy era of country music, but paste gemstones weren't always viewed as tacky... they have a fascinating history and, imho, a unique charm. But first, let's be clear on some terminology and basic facts:
- Simulation Gemstones is the catch-all term for any man-made material designed to look like (imitate) naturally occurring gems. The term was coined by GF Strass (more on him later).
- Paste is the trade term for glass, coloured or otherwise, that has been designed and fashioned to imitate natural cut gems.
- Rhinestones are rock crystals treated to imitate diamonds, originally they were sourced from the river Rhine hence the name. (Note that the term has been used pretty loosely since the 1950s_
- Diamanté is a more contemporary term: "a glittering ornament, such as an artificial jewel (e.g. a rhinestone) or a sequin."
But we're here for "paste gemstones", so lets begin at the top: Paste is a particular type of flint glass that, through the addition of lead (and metal salts for colouration), can be used to replicate virtually any gemstone.
The somewhat odd name, paste, comes from the way these gems are made: the leaded glass is crushed and ground down to a powder, mixed with the relevant colouring salts, then formed into a “wet” paste to ensure an even colour distribution through the stone. This paste is then placed into a mould and fired at high temperatures to create the final gem, which can be "faceted", domed like a cabochon or bead, or even an intaglio or cameo.
But there's a little more to paste than simply imitating natural jewels: some paste stones have properties unlike anything else around - natural, or otherwise...
Saphiret, for example, changes colour as light hits it from different angles, shimmering between a hazy peachy-orange and a vivid turquoise blue. The effect is created by adding molten gold to the blue liquid glass mixture before it's allowed to cool. Real molten gold. Glassmakers from the town of Gablonz, Czechoslovakia, made the discovery during the early 1900s, and saphiret articles were produced there during the early decades of the 20th century.
Etched Saphiret Hearts - VintageRoseFindings, etsy.com
Faceted Saphiret Paste - huntingpetra, poshmark.com
...BUT THEY'RE NOTHING NEW
Glass imitation gemstones have been around longer than the 1970s. Way longer. In what must have seemed like a wild and magical form of alchemy, ancient Egyptian artisans created paste gemstones out of glass and other silicate materials - namely, sand. Archaeologists have found examples of glass lapis lazuli, turquoise, and steatite gemstone, set in gold, that would have certainly adorned the nobility, and probably even the Pharaohs themselves. Remember that glass was a highly sophisticated new technology 3500 years ago.
The Romans loved it too, and developed a particular aptitude for creating replica emeralds and lapis lazuli. Indeed, the Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder (23 - 79AD) famously wrote:
“There is no fraud or deceit in the world which yields greater gain and profit than that of counterfeiting gems.”
A bold claim, no?
Gold and glass earring - Greek, 2nd-1st century BC
Gold earrings set with stones and glass - Greek, 3rd-2nd century BC
THEN STRASS PULLS A BLINDER!
Zip forward to the 18th century when things get interesting again. Since ancient times, many paste gemstones have doubtless yielded much deceitful profit. Then one man comes along and changes everything.
The Alsatian jeweller Georg Friedrich Strass (1701-1773) made it business to perfect the art of imitation diamonds. The man knew how much the Georgians liked bling (and how they didn't much care about authenticity). Strass is actually credited with 'inventing' the rhinestone (rock crystals pulled out of the river Rhine and treated to enhance their lustre), but his ultimate achievement was perfecting a recipe for a new type of flint glass that looked so, so similar to actual diamonds that his stones would command as much - if not more - than the real thing. They became all the rage at the French royal court.
Paste Earrings - European, 1760-1775
Flint glass is basically glass with added lead (think a cut crystal decanter), and it was 'invented' in 1675 by George Ravenscroft (who we can probably call the 'father of modern paste jewellery'). Lead softens the glass, but also dramatically improves its clarity and dispersion (aka fire, the thing that makes gemstones sparkle with rainbow colours).
This stuff was around way before Strass got involved, but he figured out a way to increase the refractive index even further by adding a mix of powdered bismuth and thallium. His final trick was simple: he stuck foil to the undersides of the stones to reflect light back out and significantly enhance their brightness. If you take a close look you can probably differentiate Strass pastes from diamonds, but from more than a foot away... even the well trained eye would struggle. He eventually went on to become Louis XV's official jeweller, given the title of "King's Jeweller" in 1734.
18th century diamond and paste ring - Lost Owl
19th century paste earrings - Lost Owl
FINAL THOUGHTS...
So, returning to my original point: that pastes have a bad rep. It's true, and that's fine - I know a bunch of antique jewellery collectors who are instantly put-off by pastes. But think about it… just like the flame-fusion synthetic sapphires and rubies of the early 20th century, the fascination lies in the ability of humans to replicate and harness the powerful forces within the Earth's crust that are required to produce gemstones; the ability to re-create some of nature's most beautiful marvels in a laboratory using cutting-edge technology impressed people. They literally wanted a piece of that (and could get it!).
Rhinestone jock strap belonging to Elvis Presley - Paul Fraser Collectibles
And paste gemstones ticked the exact same boxes 200 years (and 4500 years) earlier - from the ancient Egyptian 'alchemists' turning sand into turquoise and lapis, to Strass's genuinely-convincing 'glass diamonds', it's important to remember that the value of paste gemstones lies in their aesthetic appeal and historical significance, not their intrinsic material value. In precisely the same way that an 17th century poesy ring is worth far more than the weight of its gold, good quality antique paste gems are more than just melted sand with a bit of lead sprinkled in - they're the culmination of countless life times work, of humanity pushing its own creative and technological boundaries again and again. Sometimes to amaze; sometimes to deceive. But either way, they're marvellous. And, dare I say, magic.