All My Jewelry Was Stolen…What Should I Do Now?

You arrive home after a nice evening out with friends and you find your backdoor wide open.   “Oh my god, did you leave that door open you idiot” you yell at your husband.  But as you enter your home, you realize something isn’t right.  In your bedroom, you find your bed has been disturbed.  What's going on?  Where are my pillow cases?  Things are thrown about the room and the top drawer of your bureau is on the floor.  You slowly realize what has happened…that's where you've always kept your good jewelry - right there in the top drawer, rather than in a locked box or a safe where it should be…and now it’s all gone and you want to throw up.

A theft like this takes less than ten minutes.  It’s so quick you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it happen.  Backdoor kicked in, run upstairs to bedroom, remove pillow cases, go directly to woman’s bureau and stuff cases with jewelry that is right there (like it always is), run out back door.  Jewelry is small, easily transported and easily pawned.  It means nothing to the thieves, but when you realize every piece of jewelry you own is gone, including your Grandmother’s wedding ring, you are crushed.

Family heirlooms can never be replaced, but hopefully, your most important pieces were insured so you can start to rebuild your jewelry wardrobe.  If you’re lucky enough to have a homeowner’s policy that includes $5,000 in blanket coverage for lost or stolen jewelry, take that money and here’s what you can buy.

You need a good watch.  Buy the best you can afford – a Michele Deco is fashionable and won’t break the bank… and you won’t have to use the sun to tell time anymore. 

Michele Deco Watch, 16mm New Deco Stainless Steel Bracelet ($250) and Deco 16mm Stainless Steel Watch Head with Diamond Dial ($425).  FYI-Michele watches are often sold in two pieces so be sure to price accordingly.

 

Buy a good pair of gold hoops.  I think yellow gold is the classic color to buy.  If you have extra money you can purchase a pair of white gold hoops as well, but yellow gold hoops are the classic and where you should make the investment.  I still have mine from high school.

Roberto Coin18K Yellow Gold Hoop Earrings, 1 ¼” diameter, $520

 

Pearl studs are feminine and stand the test of time.  Buy Mikimoto if you can and, if you’re over 30, buy at least 7.5- 8mm in size.  Anything smaller will look like you have boogers on your ears, especially if you have long hair.  They must be at least 8mm to be seen, even if you pull your hair back.

 Mikimoto Akoya Pearl Studs, 7.5-8 mm.  White or yellow gold, $730

 

David Yurman Bracelet:  It seems everybody has one, but that’s OK, join the cult.  You get a lot of look for your money and wearing one tells your friends you’ve arrived.  Buy a 7mm Onyx Color Classic Bracelet.  And, remember you are an adult…the 7mm size is the middle size…not too big and not too small, and, onyx will go with everything you wear, plus it’s one of the cheapest stones he has available.   

David Yurman Onyx 7mm Color Classics Bracelet, $595.

 

A diamond solitaire pendant is the type of necklace you can wear all the time and never take off (this way you will never lose it).  It would look nice with your pearl studs and Michele watch.  H, VS2 is excellent quality for a diamond pendant.   

Blue Nile .50 ct., H, VS2, diamond solitaire pendant, $2475.

Speaking of insurance...  depending on how much jewelry you have, you may want to do the following:

Check your homeowner’s policy to see if you have any coverage for "unscheduled" jewelry that is lost or stolen.  Some policies offer minimal coverage ($2,500-5,000) for the loss of unscheduled pieces (not listed and insured individually), and some policies offer nothing.  Check yours.  

Appraise, schedule and insure your most expensive and sentimental pieces.  This is called an insurance rider and you pay extra for it.  Big ticket diamond items like your engagement and wedding rings, tennis bracelets, studs, or antique diamond pins, etc….anything that exceeds the minimum coverage your policy provides should be covered separately if you can afford it .  Consider listing any other important items where the replacement value is more than you can handle out of pocket, or where you feel the need to be compensated for an appraised amount.  Scheduled jewelry is expensive so don’t list (and pay) for anything you can easily replace out of your personal budget.

If insurance is too expensive, buy a good safe and use it.  Lowe's has a good, fireproof safe with a digital combination that is easy to use.  If possible, have a handyman permanently attach your safe to the closet shelf or floor so thieves cannot simply walk away with it (however, some of these safes are very heavy already and not easy to walk away with).  Then, be religious about securing your things when you are not using them.  I’ve met many people over the years who learned this lesson the hard way.  You can’t believe how careful people become with their new jewelry after they’ve lost all their old jewelry.

Have You Been Vajeweled?

A vajewelectomy in progress.

If you watch the Real Housewives of New York City, you’ve already met the newest addition to this season: Cindy Barshop (one and done - I understand she may not be returning next year).  Cindy’s claim to fame is she owns and operates multiple locations of the “Completely Bare Spa."  One of the services they offer is Vajeweled – or, jewelry for your hoo-hah.  After you get a complete waxing of your girly parts, for a nominal fee you can add Swarovski "elements" (more like shards) down there in various shapes and designs.  Ms. Barshop prides herself on the ultimate waxing experience, including a service for inner AND OUTER buttocks.  Thank God girls born with permanent mink thongs have someone to turn to.

Now I'm all for jewelry but I didn't realize I needed to adorn my girlgyna on top of all the landscaping I already do.  It 's an established destination point in my house and is highly sought after - so do I need to decorate it as well?  And what happens when the hair starts to grow back and some of the sparkles have fallen off...do we maintain the vaginal rejuvenation experience or do we let it turn into one of those skankaroll Halloween decorations that are still  hanging around at Thanksgiving...just sayin.

Here are some options:

Do I have to spell it out for you?

I think you know what to do.

Piece.

This one's for the guys.

The Jewelry Catherine Duchess of Cambridge Wore Through The North American Tour

Catherine and William are back in England now that their North American tour is over.  William wants to fly helicopters and Catherine wants to grow herbs and get pregnant.  However, she’s going to have to eat a little something because developing embryo's don't do all that well on watercress.  At 5' 10", some say Catherine is hovering around the 100-105 pound range.  Jewelry doesn't look good on a broomstick.

Kate’s royal tour fashion was nice but I feel a little meh about it because the royal corporation has a lot to say about how she must dress when on these official visits, i.e., British designers, no short skirts, pantyhose is usually a must, discreet hairstyles, and even closed toe shoes most of the time, so – kudos to Kate for going against the grain and wearing those Jimmy Choo, five inch heeled, silver, Housewives of London foot jewelry while in LA.   

Although tasteful and demure, the jewelry she wore (some her own – some on loan) was very pretty.  She didn’t establish any new trends (other than pantyhose, ugh) so don’t worry...I don't think we'll be wearing maple leaf pins on our shoulders this fall but if we're not careful, there might be a Ruth Buzzi sighting in my neighborhood.

I'm warning you...do not bring pantyhose back.  Do I need to say anymore?

Something new, the human fascinator.  
No, wait - that's William's hand, Ottawa, 7/01/11.

Really very beautiful - and you know how I feel about pins.

While in Yellowknife, Catherine and William received beautiful gifts of a diamond polar bear pin and diamond polar bear cuff links made with Canadian diamonds, by Northwest Territories Diamonds.  It was presented to them by Premier, Floyd Roland to commemorate their Royal tour of the country.  Both of the gifts were created with diamonds mined at the Diavik Diamond Mine and donated and designed by Harry Winston.  Diamond is the official gemstone of the Northwest Territories and the region produces about 15% of the world’s rough diamonds.  Who knew Canada was the world’s third largest diamond producer (in value) after Botswana and Russia.  I could almost drive there.  Yellowknife, 7/6/2011.

Fashion alert!  Let's see if any of the bear jewelry is ever worn.

Kate is a real fan of jewelry designer, Kiki McDonough.  A British designer who specializes in pieces made with semi-precious  stones with diamonds, Kiki McDonough has been in business for more than 25 years.  It only takes a celebrity with the status of Catherine to completely sell out many of the pieces she’s is offering on her website.  McDonough’s well priced jewelry features vibrant stones in contrasting color combinations set in 18K gold.   

Arriving at a private reception in Los Angeles, California.  Kate wears a Roksanda Ilincic Peridot dress. Her earrings are Kiki McDonough Grace Earrings, £695.00 ($1125, US).  Of course, they are currently out of stock.

California, 7/8/2011.

If you have a good local jeweler, these earrings are not hard to have made.  The white topaz is not an expensive stone and the diamonds are rather small.  The stones are approximately 9mm in size and, set if you set them in 14K gold (instead of 18K) you could have these made for much less than $1125.

Kiki McDonough white topaz and diamond earrings.  
Here's a closer look in case you want to have them made.

Kate is wearing Kiki McDonough citrine earrings featured in the photo below. 
Los Angeles, 7/09/2011.

One of Catherine’s favorite Kiki McDonough earrings.  
18K citrine drop earrings.  £495.00 (about $800 US).  Los Angeles, 7/9/2011.

Hard to see what earring she is wearing.  See below...

Cassandra Goad "Temple of Heaven" 9K gold earrings.   
£1,100, roughly $1750, US.  Seems very high for 9K gold.  
Check out Ippolita below for similar earrings but in 18K.

Ippolita 18K gold Open Oval Cascade Earring.  $2095 but 18K gold instead of 9K.  

I don't think I would invest that much money in 9K gold!

Catherine in Alexander McQueen and diamond earrings 
from the Queen's jewelry box.  Los Angeles, 7/10/2011.

A hard to find closeup of the diamond earring loaned by the Queen.  It's a posted earring with a bezel-set diamond at the top with three diamond stands, made with baguette and round diamonds attached.  Suspended from the center strand is what looks to be quite a large pear shaped diamond. Those LA beeyatches didn't have anything on her.

Almost jewelry.  That nice.

Field Trip! Part VII - Personalities at the Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

I know it’s about time I brought this thing to a close but I've been having so much fun researching, writing and viewing all the beautiful jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels. However, something even more interesting exists...the back stories behind the jewelry, as well as some of the photos where the jewelry is being worn.

For example, did you know Muhammad Ali’s wife, Veronica, is the other woman in the photo above being pushed out of the way?  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994) is wearing her gold VC&A “Wonder Woman” cuffs and hoops (actually they are an early “Perlee” creation) and is doing a pretty good job of arm wrestling Muhammad Ali.  Ali's wife, Veronica, is the woman being ignored.  Jackie and Ali met in 1977 at the Rainbow Room kicking off festivities for the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in New York.  

Most of the time you see this photo…and I always wondered who Jackie was talking to.  These cuffs were sold at the infamous 1996 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate auction at Sotheby's.  With an estimated worth of $1,500-$2,000 at that time (based on a gold price of a little over $400 an ounce, versus around $1500 per ounce today) these cuffs sold for $167,500.  You do the math if they were on the auction block right now.

One of the most spectacular pieces in the entire exhibit is the emerald and diamond necklace and earrings that belonged to the Maharani of Baroda.  There are many interesting stories about the Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda, (1917-1986), or as she was known, “The Indian Wallis Simpson” (you already know she was probably trouble).  Already married to someone else when she met and immediately fell in love with the Maharajah Pratapsinh Gaekwad of Baroda in 1943, she (and the lawyers) concocted a Chinese fire drill of events in order to obtain a divorce from her current husband so she could marry the Maharajah later that same year.  She converted to Islam and obtained a divorce under the grounds that she was unable to stay married to her present Hindu husband.  After the divorce, she re-converted back to Hinduism and was now free to marry her lover, the Maharajah of Baroda.  I'm exhausted just thinking about planning such a thing but hey, you go girl, jewels were at stake and a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

The Maharani placing the priceless seven strand pearl necklace on the Maharajah.   He is having agita after finding out how much these pearls are worth.

One of the only photos of the famous necklace.  Circa 1880.  All the stones in this necklace are diamonds.

After her marriage, she received gifts of jewels from the Baroda treasury that dated back to Mughal times. These included a magnificent seven-strand natural pearl necklace (see indigestion photo above) and an incomparable three-row diamond necklace (above) that suspended both the Star of the South diamond (cushion cut center top at 128.80 carats) and the English Dresden diamond (pear shaped below at 78.53 carats).  She also received many other Indian jewels from her husband and it was from these various jewels that she extracted the emeralds and diamonds used by Van Cleef & Arpels in her 1949 commission to create a most magnificent necklace and earrings. From time to time we have a cheesy remounting events in our store where customers can use old stones in new settings, but so far, nothing has turned out like this.

The “Hindou Necklace” first appeared for sale in Monte Carlo in 1974 where the Maharani had been residing since the 1960's.  It remained in private hands until 2002 when the necklace and the earrings were auctioned at Christie’s in Geneva with both pieces selling for $1,647,976. 

Completed in 1950, the piece was christened “The Hindou Necklace” by Van Cleef & Arpels. Made in platinum, with thirteen emerald drops (Colombian in origin), weighing approximately 150 carats, they are suspended from a panel of pavé-set diamonds and decorated with carved emeralds. The entire design originated from her Mughal beads.  Sita Devi liked to be green in so many ways and was ahead of her time in terms of recycling.

The earrings are comprised of five polished octagonal shaped emeralds and five drop-shaped emeralds with each earring containing a suspended diamond briolette weighing approximately 20 carats. As per a mystical Indian belief, these precious stones set within a circle are meant to gather and radiate cosmic energies to favor the one that they adorn.  It would have been cheaper to own Stonehenge.

The Maharani must have been a real hoot at party.  In 1953 the Maharani of Baroda sold Harry Winston a pair of anklets, consisting of cabochon emeralds and rose-cut diamonds.  Winston used them to create a necklace which the Duke of Windsor bought for the Duchess of Windsor.  The Duchess and the Maharani were both present at a ball in 1957, and, observing the necklace on the Duchess, the Maharani remarked rather loudly that the emeralds had looked just as good when she wore them on her feet. The Duchess needed some of those calm-me-down pills and returned the necklace to Winston the next day. Harry Winston promised not to sell the necklace to anyone who might wear it in the Duchess's presence or know this paper bag over the head story.  Years later Christina Onassis was turned down when she tried to buy it.

Field Trip! Part VI - Grace Kelly at the Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Mystery Set
Sapphire and Diamond earrings
owned by Elizabeth Taylor.

Welcome to Part VI, Personalities.  This should be the last segment of our look at the Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, but there are so many interesting stories I may have to stretch it out to one or two more.  "Personalities" is the segment everyone loves the most because it looks at famous individuals who owned and wore some of the most beautiful jewelry ever made. But as Elizabeth Taylor once said, "I’m fortunate to have some very important pieces of jewelry. I don’t believe I own any of the pieces. I believe that I am their custodian, here to enjoy them, to give them the best treatment in the world, to watch after their safety, and to love them.” She also wrote, "Sometimes I wonder what will become of everything, because just like the Duchess of Windsor’s collection, they will all be up for auction one day. They will be scattered to the four corners of the world, and I hope that whoever buys each piece loves it as much as I do and takes care of it and realizes that having jewelry is a temporary gift. In truth, we ‘owners’ are just the caretakers… Nobody ever owns anything this beautiful. We are only the guardians.”

This is so true.  It's a testament to how pearls, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and other stones found naturally in the earth and sea, and the jewelry made from them, stand the test of time and live on, much longer than those who have temporary custody of them. Stones can be re-fashioned, re-cut, re-set, even re-turned so they can live on for others to enjoy.

While researching the personalities and their jewelry for this blog, I spent hours looking for videos and photographs of not only famous people and their VC&A jewelry, but the famous people wearing their famous VC&A jewelry.  I got lost while viewing You Tube videos (actual home movies in most cases) as if they were photos of my own children or family pictures from when I was a little girl.  The pictures and videos took me back to a nostalgic time when things were easier and life was better...or so it seemed, anyway. We are drawn to celebrities because their fantasy lives take us away from our mundane existence, and the way we read about them and follow their lives, we feel we know them well.  We have opinions about their spouses, children, clothes and more, and even grieve when they pass away - just like they were a member of our own families.  

Grace Kelly was one of those people.  Born and raised in Philadelphia, my home town as well, the Kelly family almost felt like one of the neighbors.  A trip to downtown Philadelphia with my father always included a "Kelly Mansion" drive-by.  In reality, the "Kelly Mansion" is much smaller than I remembered as a little girl, given the size of the mac-mansions that exist in suburban neighborhoods today.  Kelly, became a devoted VC&A client, but not until she married Prince Ranier III in 1956.  After their marriage, Ranier made VC&A the official jeweler of the Royal Family of Monaco.

Grace Kelly, wearing the wedding ensemble of naturally found pearls fashioned by Van Cleef & Arpels into a necklace, bracelet, earrings and ring.  If you remember my June pearl post, naturally found pearls, as opposed to cultured pearls, are extremely rare.  Cultured pearls started to replace natural pearls in jewelry starting in the late 1800's when Mikimoto perfected the cultured pearl process.  Prince Ranier III gave these pearls to Grace Kelly in 1956, the year they were married.  This suite is extremely valuable due to the size of the pearls used, as well as the number of pearls needed, in order to make a triple strand necklace and double strand bracelet...all made with perfectly matching natural pearls in size, color and luster.  

Grace Kelly temporarily owned 
one of the most beautiful tiaras ever to sit on a head.  

Today this tiara is in Van Cleef & Arpels’ Private Collection.

Princess Grace wore this diamond tiara only once, at the pre-wedding ball honoring her daughter Caroline and Philippe Junot in 1978.  It was made in platinum, set with pear-shaped diamonds, marquise-shaped diamonds and round diamonds, and weighed 77.34 carats.  That is a very heavy thing to wear on your head.  It is rumored she immediately resold the piece back to VC&A after the wedding.  I had no idea Grace churned jewelry...especially to VC&A.  I get hysterical thinking of Grace Kelly, the day after a big event, appearing sheepishly at the counter of VC&A, with a bag holding the tiara and the receipt, making up a story and trying to convince the salesperson why the tiara didn't work out.  Buying jewelry to wear to an event (usually to impress friends) is an annoying but common practice among some customers.  We know when customers are doing it but can't really stop them, however, we do fantasize about the piece getting lost or stolen...just to teach them a lesson.

Daisy Fellows
platinum, diamond and emerald
manchettes,
hooked together as a necklace.
Paris, France, 1926

Please take time to view this You Tube video.  Entertainment Tonight - 70's Style!  Sorry that it is another one in French but bear with it until 2:15 when you will see footage of Caroline's pre-wedding ball.  Grace invited many celebrities from her day including Ava Gardner, who has so much jewelry in her hair she looks like a Christmas tree, and Gregory Peck, looking awkward doing the Robot, then swinging Ava back and forth obviously trying to shake the jewelry out of her head.  Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo and her mother eye up Cary Grant in a very weird way, and, at 3:56, a woman wearing what could possibly be Daisy Fellows' diamond and emerald manchettes worn together as a necklace, followed by a woman in red wearing another amazing diamond necklace.  But the pièce de résistance is toward the end of the film where you will see Grace Kelly, gloriously celebrating her daughter's upcoming wedding, and looking beautiful wearing her diamond tiara, sparkling like her head was on fire.    

Van Cleef and Arpels “Transforms” the Royals in Monaco

Océan as a formal  necklace.

VC&A continues their tradition with the royal family of Monaco with the commission by His Serene Highness, Prince Albert, and Her Serene Highness, Princess Charlene, to create a set of jewelry on the occasion of their marriage in Monaco on July 2, 2011.

The diamond and sapphire necklace, named "Océan" by Prince Albert, was described as a “love pledge," although according to recent reports it might be more like a bribe to get Charlene to stay in Monaco for a while. And, in keeping with the VC&A tradition of “transformation," the piece can be transformed multiple ways: into a less formal necklace, a tiara, and, as you will see in the video below, when the components are snapped out, they could possibly be turned into earrings or a pendant (or sold off individually as Wittstock secretly makes her way back to South Africa). A sparkler made with 1,200 diamonds and sapphires, VC&A had their stone searchers look for three different hues of perfectly matching blue sapphires that were used to represent the colors found in the ocean. The piece is topped off with a centered 4 carat pear shaped, D - Flawless diamond that would appear at the bottom when worn as a necklace or the top if worn as a tiara. 

Less formal necklace.

 Formal tiara

See how the Océan was made

The relationship between Van Cleef & Arpels and the Royal Family of Monaco dates back to 1956, the year that Prince Rainier III married Grace Kelly, and Van Cleef & Arpels became the “Official Supplier of the Principality” (which means Grace did not shop at the mall for her jewelry).

Prince Albert chose Repossi for Wittstock’s pear-cut diamond engagement ring. Rumor has it that Prince Albert called Repossi and asked them to send “something” when they got engaged.  He never actually “pulled out the chair” and chose the ring himself. How lazy can you be. It was also rumored that Wittstock was not a jewelry affectioniado and felt the ring was ostentatious and preferred something smaller. FYI - the idea of a surprise engagement ring always scares me. It pays to work together when searching for something this expensive and personal. 

Repossi 3 carat pear shaped diamond engagement ring reported to be worth approximately $100,000.  
Does this prove Kim Kardashian is truly  royal with her 20 carat ring worth $2,000,000? 

They chose Cartier for their plain, platinum wedding bands.

Wittstock wore little jewelry on her wedding day...only a huge diamond hair scrunchy.

It turns out Wittstock may have better taste in jewelry than all the royals combined.  She may not be the type to dig tiaras out of Grace's jewelry box or wear dusty old brooches from the 16th century.  Wittstock commissioned renowned French jeweler, Lorenz  Baümer to create a new version of a tiara with a design based on the movement of water. Her past as an Olympic swimmer may have influenced what looks like a splash of water with droplets on the end.  

Above: Lorenz  Baümer's new kind of tiara.  Made in white gold, the frame is set with 11 pear-cut diamonds, the largest weighing eight carats.

Above: Even though this video is in French, you can easily make out how Lorenz Baümer 
 designed and created this beautiful piece. 

Princess Charlene wearing Baumer hairspray at her wedding reception.  This kind of hairspray is not available at the drugstore.

Field Trip! Part V - Exoticism at the Van Cleef & Arpels Exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Van Cleef & Arpels in New York.  
744 5th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Part V – Exoticism at Set in Style at the Cooper Hewitt, blah, blah,blah.  We are almost done with this exhibit – one more to come after this.  This post is a little late because #1, The Duchess of Cambridge wore a yellow gold charm bracelet and #2, my sister and I went back to revisit this exhibit one more time before it closes on July 4th.  For those of you who didn't have a chance to see this exhibit, I hope you will enjoy these blog posts.

Dazzled by the beautiful stones during my first visit, I was much more critical the second time around, noticing age and wear on some of the jewelry, as well as a few mismatched stones.  The exhibit is still drawing a big crowd, including the obnoxious people all around me who were taking way too much time hovering over one item and clogging up the flow of traffic.  As a result, people were stomping their hooves and crowding all around my sister and me, like when you are checking out at the food store and the next person moves right up into your personal space where you should be in order to pay the cashier.  People please..... can you keep your coffee breath to yourselves and floss before you leave your caves.

The Exotics in the VC&A collection are just that - jewelry inspired by travels to the foreign and exotic lands that weren’t on the Average Joe's radar back in the 1920’s.  Some of the VC&A vision came from the Arpels' travels all over the world responding to commission requests from wealthy moguls, which in turn, expanded their global clientele even more.  Due to this growing international clientele, these exotic influences in design became a solid part of the VC&A aesthetic.

Platinum and diamond Cambodian bracelet. 1938

VC&A had many wealthy Americans as clients as well.  One of their first commissions was made by Eugene Higgins (1860-1948) heir to his father, Elias's, New York City carpet manufacturing fortune. A wealthy and handsome bachelor, Higgins sold the family business in 1889 shortly after taking control of it and spent the fortune on a leisurely lifestyle, i.e., he partied all the time. In 1908, Higgins asked VC&A to make a replica of his yacht, the 304’ Varuna. They complied with a duplicate Varuna sitting on top of a sea of smooth, carved jasper.  A white enamel life preserver floats on top of the jasper and when pushed, rang Higgins’ butler for duty.  Unfortunately for Higgins, calling the butler didn’t help in late in 1909 when the real Varuna was wrecked off the coast of Madeira.  Higgins lost a crew member and the ship.  Party over.

This is all he had left.  He played with it in the tub.

VC&A‘s jet-setting clientele encouraged them to design jewelry with "foreign" themes.  They created pieces which imitated the traditional style of these faraway lands using the materials that suggested those influences such as the use of lacquer and jade for a Japanese or Chinese creation.  

Sometimes they adopted exotic motifs for other pieces, as in the gorgeous bracelet below, reflective of the Egyptomania inspired by the excavation of King Tut's tomb in the early 1920s.

Can you believe this.....

Inspired this!  The Egyptian Bracelet.