The world has been fascinated by jewellery since the Chalcolithic period. We know that men and women adorned themselves with amulets made of bone, coral, or shells; painted their bodies, and adorned their hair in order to captivate and show they belonged to a tribe. Although man has known about gold since the Paleolithic times, he didn’t realise that heating it would make it more malleable. Instead, he sculpted it, beat it, and engraved it. At the time of the ancient cities of Sumer, (2800-2400 BC) man invented repoussé decoration, added colour, and used electrum, a mixture of gold and silver that they loved to wear as bracelets or necklaces. He also produced golden phallic cases and used jewellery to define social class.

Tutankhamen wore rings decorated with copal scarabs and the funeral masks of Egyptian kings were made of gold. They believed this metal to have divine powers, due to its stability and its yellow brilliance that resembled the sun. Between 643 and 630 B.C in Persia, Cyrus minted the first pieces of gold money, and Midas, Croesus and Solomon encouraged the increased wearing of jewellery as much in daily life as for funeral rites. During the whole of the Middle Ages, the West suffered a scarcity of gold due to the Arabs, which prompted them to devise lighter works. This also led the Spaniard Hernan Cortès to plan the conquest of the Americas to find more gold.

For a long time, jewellery was ornamented with easily-worked stones such as agate, amethyst, quartz, lapis lazuli, and garnets, because they were not very hard. Later, ceramic, glass, enamel, and coins were added. It is only towards the 17th century that we see the birth of jewellery-making as we know it today. We offer you a selection of jewellery from the distant past, consisting of rare, authentic and precious pieces. In addition to this, we have a selection of jewellery in antique Hellenistic and Indian style, created by exceptionally skilled jewellers. Finally, we also offer our own collection of Bijarchéo: ancient archaeological artefacts hand-set into exclusive and unique designs.