If you also read Matthew's Blog (www.matthewzadow.com) you'll know we've visited Antwerp last Friday. It was just a quick trip for Matthew's audition for a gentleman who conducts a baroque opera group. It looks like he'll be hired eventually by him, but we'll just have to wait and see as to when...
While he was busy doing that, I went out of the central train station, turned right, and right again and found myself in front of the Diamond Museum of Belgium. Since early 1800's, Antwerp has been the diamond capital of the world, where 80% of all diamonds travel through this city in either their raw state (uncut or to be polished here) or as a final diamond just before being set into industrial applications or jewelry. The museum is part of the Diamond Traders business office (where buyers and sellers would at one time sit opposite each other at dozens of long tables with their briefcases open and their monocles up to their eyes, natural light shining down on bowed heads -- most sporting sombre coloured yamakas) but now is done behind closed office doors under extreme security so tight the houseflies carry ID cards.
The museum had great displays of the industry of diamond mining, the politics of diamond selling and buying, the production and grading of a diamond into its final state, and finally duplications (and sometimes real) artifacts from antiquity, art nouveau, art deco and the most recent, "american trashy bling" styles of jewelry settings. The most eye-catching for me was a 1910 "Lalique" collar-style necklace pendant (about the width of my palm) that had window-style enamel work set within filigree gold wire, a combined 2 carats total diamonds in multiple settings all arranged to look like the petals of exotic sinuous flowers or dragon flies' wing reflections, then a single pendant gracefully held with more delicate enamel work, of what looked like a drop of smoky moonlight--its a type of semiprecious stone that has characteristics of opal but gives off colours of grey, turquize, green and peacock blue in certain lights when moved. I can't imagine what I would wear with such a thing, but it was breathtaking.
So when am I getting a diamond, you ask? We'll have to wait for an inheritance, I am afraid. The deals are great, but so is the cost...most Antwerp-worked diamonds are the very special and they specialize in unique shaped or premium sized and quality level now...there wouldn't be any in our price range, I'm afraid.
No pictures this time...wait for next entry when I show you the BD museum!
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