The concept of precious started, for me, in the late 90's. Back then I was a bench jeweler for a custom design studio. We did repairs as well, and I was always amazed at the value that people placed on their jewelry. From a strictly mercantile point of view, a chain may have had a value of $50. Probably less, because said chain had been repaired so many times that its' weight was more of solder than of gold anymore. It'd be stretched out, with worn links and a broken clasp that was manipulated until it somewhat functioned. Again, from a mercantile point of view, this chain was scrap. But to the customer, this chain was priceless. It might have been given to her by her Grandmother who brought it over from the Old Country. Or it was a gift from her husband on their first anniversary, 40 years ago. Or it was a Sweet 16 gift from her parents. It didn't matter what it took, or what kind of shape that poor chain was in, it needed to be repaired to restore it to its' priceless state.
Contrast that with holding a diamond, a single diamond, in your hand that was worth more than you made in a year. Probably more than you'd made in your entire life. One cold, brilliant, fiery gem that took millions of years in the Earths' mantle to be brought to light. That was cut by a person who had spent their whole life mastering the art of cutting diamonds to maximize their brilliance and shine from the rough crystal. This is a valuable commodity before you. An undeniably beautiful commodity, symbolizing in many cases, a man's love for a woman.
Fast forward a decade. I'm speaking with a gemologist who had the honor to be invited to see if perhaps the Hope Diamond and the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond were at one time cut from the same blue crystal. It was a very monumental meeting of scientists, gemologists, a small cadre of media at the National Museum of Natural History (the Hope's home), in Washington, DC. After retelling the whole story in great detail, he summed it up by saying, "In one hand I had the Hope Diamond. In the other, the Wittlesbach-Graff Diamond. I had a third of a billion dollars in two hands!"
So in the end, my question is, "What is *precious*?". I try to define it in my work, or at least its' meaning in MY mind. It doesn't mean you'll see it right away; I think it takes some thought to find it sometimes, but it will always be there.
