I know it may seem hard to conceive of jewelry as a simple gift; and in some ways it’s not. On the other hand, the best of jewelry gifts usually signify love, a simple gift we gladly give to others. Take, for instance, the following story.

Back in February one of our long time customers came in to the store, greeted me, and after a little social discourse, revealed his purpose. He wanted to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his marriage by “upgrading” the center diamond in her engagement ring. As the beneficiary of long experience, I said, “I wouldn’t do that without checking with her first.”

Somewhat perplexed, he asked, “Why not?” I responded that she may well have strong sentiments attached to it. He acknowledged that he’d not thought of that; and after a little more conversation, he left. A week later he returned, saying, “You were right. She doesn’t want a new diamond; so what do we do now?” At this point I offered my analysis of the problem. He wanted to make a vivid statement of the success of his marriage, his love for his wife and his personal economic success. He had no inhibitions about an obvious display, she was more modest. In this light, I suggested that (as she did not have a matching wedding ring) I could make a wedding ring ‘jacket’ for the ring that would meet his need for a statement while not offending her sentiments. Intelligent and shrewd man that he is, he said, “I think you’d better talk to her about it.” That was a lot harder than it sounded. Business soon put them into Phoenix for a month or so; and this meant that I had to carry on my interview with her over the phone and via e-mail.

In the initial interview she made it clear that she didn’t want something that was ‘flashy’ – too ‘blingy’. In response, I asked her what kinds of things she thought were beautiful. She responded, “Flowers.” I then asked her if it were possible for her to e-mail me a picture of her ring next to a ruler (I’d not seen it in years) so that I might prepare some sketches for her. A day or so later a shaky (she’d done her best with what she had) cell phone camera picture arrived in my e-mail. From it I was able to get an idea of the general character of her engagement ring and (roughly) the sizes of the gems with which it was set. I submitted three rough sketches to her and she picked one, a pair of wedding rings set with teardrop shaped diamonds that would snug up to her round center diamond in a floral arrangement. I then suggested that we use some natural yellow diamonds in the arrangement to ‘soften’ it and add interest to it. After some thought, she agreed; and I knew at this point that I’d nailed her husband’s desire for a statement piece. Now the questions were that of assembling the diamonds, agreeing (with the designer who would execute the job) on the details of the design and doing it all in such a way that her appreciation of beauty would triumph over her her natural modesty (the ring I had envisioned would extend over a good 3/4ths of an inch down her finger) . Glarch!

The first problem was assembling the fancy yellow diamonds in the size I needed; and with a huge jewelry show going on in Hong Kong at the time, most of them were there. I persevered and managed to get a lovely suite of four matched fancy yellow teardrops with less trouble (it only took 10 days) than I’d imagined. The two larger ‘colorless’ diamond teardrops were harder. While this may seem odd to you, the fact was that they not only had to match one another in over all appearance, they also had to match her center diamond well enough for a critical eye to see the three as a seamless continuity. More perseverance was called for, but I was finally able to assemble diamonds I could be proud of. So the next step was the designer.

To my dismay, the designer (a charming man and an artist) was in the process of getting married (to a very nice woman, I might add)! This slowed the whole thing down. Then my client’s father became ill! (How easy is it to celebrate when a close member of the family is grievously ill?) Thankfully, the designer, after a false start, put together the ring I’d imagined and sketched; and the client’s father got better. So I delivered the ring a week ago. He was delighted with the ‘statement’; she was stunned at the sheer display. But it was (and is) beautiful; and its beauty swept all doubts before it. They left happy and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Some simple gifts are simple for the giver, but not always simple for those who labor to produce them. Nonetheless, I derived great personal pleasure from the ‘exercise’. It was, and is, jewelry that can travel proudly into any company; and this is as it should be. This is why we celebrate Hearts On Fire diamonds and offer them to you as simple – and stunningly beautiful – gifts to celebrate your love. Check out our website, hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then call us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment that will start us, and you, on our next great adventure in romance. We’re’ Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers; and we have the stuff of dreams waiting here for you.

As you may recall, Edward, Prince of Wales, abdicated the throne of the British Empire to marry a divorced American, Wallis Warfield Simpson. It rocked Britain in the 1930s; and as recently as November of last year, news about Edward – claiming that he had sought to deny Elizabeth II the throne – made the British press. A, perhaps, more interesting story, however, emerged in 1987 when Sotheby’s sold jewelry belonging to Edward and Wallis – the Duke and Duchess of Windsor – at auction.

The Duke had died in 1972, but it took another fourteen years for the Duchess to expire. Childless, or at least apparently so, the Duchess’ will left the proceeds of her jewelry collection to the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Since that time several books about famous jewelry collections or the Windsors have included descriptions of her jewelry and a couple of books on her collection, alone, were published shortly after her death. While most of the jewelry was remarkable for ‘the Windsor Style’ one rather humble piece, a charm necklace, has sparked a ‘conspiracy theory’. Ironically, it was purchased by Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed, an Egyptian businessman and father of Dodi Fayed, killed in the same automobile accident that took the life of Princess Diana. There are twelve charms on it, and the theorists contend that at least four of them are sentimental mementos of the Duke’s child by Wallis. As with all such ‘conspiracy’ theories, it rests on strictly circumstantial evidence; but for what it’s worth, the charms and the interpretations placed on them follow.

Chronologically, the first is a simple plate with a red enamel numeral ‘3’ on its front and on it’s obverse, three dates – 9/4/34 March 12th,1934 and 14/5/34. The conspiracy theorists see the ‘3’ as symbolic of Wallis’s putative pregnancy and the dates (remember, they were Europeans, so the first number is that of the day of the month) they see as veiled references to significant dates in their relationship and her ‘pregnancy’. The second is a hinged notebook engraved and enameled on the inside with the (then) Prince of Wales initials. It is dated: June 1934 1st-4th; and the theorists insist that the Duke had given it to Wallis in memory of her stay in a hospital giving birth. The third is a heavy, oval charm reading ‘OK’ while it’s reverse side is engraved ‘I doo too July’. The conspiracy theorists see this as a reference to ‘the baby’; but it beats me how that connection was made. Finally, the fourth charm is a locket dated “April ’35”. The inside of the locket, insist the theorists, is a ‘hair compartment’ (designed to hold a lock of hair and common in 19th century England); and it is engraved ‘Wallis-David’. In fact, this charm is connected to a bit of ‘provenance’ – at least it is if you subscribe to the conspiracy theory. It is, the theorists insist, a ‘coded’ reference to Wallis being a mother (the ‘real’ message hidden in the form of underlined letters). Pay attention, here, the point of all of this analysis of the meaning of the Duchess’ jewelry, of course, leads to a question, “What happened to the baby?”

Secret British files opened in 2003 revealed that the romance between King Edward VIII and Wallace Warfield Simpson had been closely monitored by detectives from police ‘Special Branch’, who, incidentally, reported that she was two-timing Edward with another man. The revelation that there had been secret government behavior set the theorists off and running (What would a conspiracy theory be without secret agents?). Wallis and Edward, they insist, were told that their child had died at birth. Unbeknownst to Wallis and Edward (conspiracy theorists always have a lot of ‘unbeknownsts’), however, their child, a daughter, had been spirited away by the British Government and given a new identity in – of all places – Marietta, Ohio. Now, I’ll leave all further investigation of this conspiracy theory and any questions about the fate of ‘ Elizabeth Marie Francis’ to you.

Rather than secret messages and dark stories, the best of our contemporary romances are played out in the open; and while jewelry does play a part, it is joyously above board. Hence the beauty of the Hearts On Fire diamond. It is the world’s most perfectly cut diamond; and that means that its beauty is simply without peer. No diamond equals it; so when you give it as a gift it very obviously carries with it the most joyous of messages – “I love you and I want everyone to know it!” Check out our Hearts On Fire collection on line at hurstsberwynjewelers.com; then phone us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment to select the very most perfect diamond for the love of your life. We’re Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers and we’ll help you realize your most beautiful dreams (even if we don’t have any ‘black helicopters’ at our disposal).