Moon Honey Jewelry

Moon Honey Jewelry Moon Honey Jewelry - Historically Inspired Fine Jewelry & Jewelry History Videos
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06/09/2026

More antique coral?! Yes! More antique coral! I have gotten lots of requests to add even more coral jewelry to my site, and I have been hard at work sourcing and restoring some incredible pieces.

For today's little coral drop, I've got four necklaces and a sensational brooch. One audaciously long, mid-Victorian graduated round bead "rope" strand, an intricate (and newly, laboriously restored) Georgian era fluted rolling pin bead necklace, a faceted French coral bead necklace with a beautiful engraved 18k gold clasp, the absolute daintiest, sweetest Georgian era rolling pin bead necklace, and a lush, beautifully carved brooch made up of perfectly detailed leaves, flowers, and acorns, complete with its own little removable pendant.

Check the comments for a direct link to all 5 pieces (along with some other antique coral beauties, a bevy of vintage and antique treasures, and some of my handmade pieces)

Coming later today 🪸 this next drop will be *all* antique Mediterranean coral- a nice mix of faceted beads, 42 inches (!...
06/09/2026

Coming later today 🪸 this next drop will be *all* antique Mediterranean coral- a nice mix of faceted beads, 42 inches (!!!) of graduated round beads, teeny tiny Georgian carved rolling pin beads, slightly larger, more elaborate Georgian fluted rolling pin beads, and a phenomenal carved acorn, rose and leaf pin with its own little pendant 😍

06/01/2026

We are wrapping up emerald month with a slightly longer video tackling treatments, color controversies, look-alikes, and historic emerald lovers! While February brought about a lot of debate about purple, the nature of the color purple, what color amethysts can be (purple), the color that emeralds can be is less defined, and dare I say, controversial (not to mention the confusing description of "bluish green and greenish blue").

While the current status of vanadium rich beryl as emeralds or not-emeralds gets fought over by various gemological authorities around the world, we can take the time to appreciate some beautiful gems that give you the greenest greens of emeralds at a lower cost, and discover that another historic emerald doppelganger may have been filling Cleopatra's gem collection with imposter stones. If green tourmaline, green garnet, or peridot aren't to your taste and you want the real deal without the emerald price tag, perhaps a lab grown stone is right for you?

Whatever the case may be, emeralds have fascinated humanity for thousands of years, and it's not hard to see why.

05/31/2026

As some of you may know, I spent the last two and a half weeks in Italy, celebrating 10 years of being married to the coolest, sweetest, funniest, handsomest man I could ever hope to call my partner, and decided I was going to take a short break from posting videos while I was gone. I had originally intended to keep up a once-a-week posting schedule, but I realized I hadn't gone a single week since January 1, 2024 without posting, and it was time for a break. Of course, that doesn't mean I didn't spend a good chunk of my trip looking at coral, learning about coral, talking to people in the coral industry about coral (more on that in a future video), and I came back to a few projects on my bench that are - surprise! - antique coral.

I always get comments telling me how much you love seeing what I'm up to at my bench, and what's going on behind the scenes, so here's an update on my restoration projects, all of which will be available on my site soon. I talk enough in the video that my description doesn't really need to be any longer than this, and I have reached semantic satiation with the word coral, so enjoy me talking about my projects, why I do the extra crazy fussy parts, and what's coming next!

Since starting this series on January 1, 2024, there hasn't been a single week where I didn't post a video. The first 6 ...
05/26/2026

Since starting this series on January 1, 2024, there hasn't been a single week where I didn't post a video. The first 6 months, I posted every single day. After that, it was 3 to 5 times a week, until October of last year, when I switched to 1 to 3 times a week. While my videos are usually short, they take hours to research, film, edit, and then there's the time spent responding to comments on different platforms. I had intended to keep up at least a weekly posting schedule during my trip to Italy, but I decided that it was finally time for a little break. This trip was, after all, a celebration of 10 years of being married to the best travel partner ever, Mr. Moon Honey, and it didn't seem fair to bring work on our adventure, when he had left his work at home.

Tomorrow will be my last day in Italy before heading home (on the itinerary: find the best gelato in Milan while trying not to melt in the 96 degree heat), and that means I'll be back to posting more regularly by the end of the week. May babies, I promise you're not being shortchanged on emerald content- I've got a longer-format video to wrap up the month, and you'll be getting just as much birthstone info as previous months.

It's been a lovely break, but I'm ready to get back to my little studio, my bench, and most of all, my kitty, Pringle!

05/13/2026

We are getting a slightly late start on our emerald videos for this month's birthstone series, but don't fret, May babies and emerald lovers- you'll be getting the same amount of emerald content as every other month, and you'll be getting it *from Italy*!

I am currently traveling, which means that instead of having to watch me in front of my flamingo wall, I'll be coming to you from all sorts of beautiful and interesting spots! This video was filmed, in part, at the ancient Roman seaside town of Herculaneum, one of the places decimated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.

You may already know that emeralds are part of the beryl family, meaning they are in the same group of gems as morganite and aquamarine (and heliodore and bixbite). It's yet another gem with an ancient history, going back to at least 1500 BCE, with the first mines being found in Egypt.

Much loved by many ancient cultures, including the Romans, emerald was incredibly rare until Spanish invaders reached the Americas and discovered the long-active Muzo mines in modern day Colombia. Sacred to the Muisca people, and actively mined since at least the 6th century CE, the violent takeover of mining operations by the Spanish meant an absolutely massive influx of emeralds hit Europe during the 16th century, creating a frenzied craze for the gem. Renaissance jewelry is practically encrusted with emeralds, thanks to the looting happening in the "New World."

This is a reminder that I will not be able to ship any orders between mid-day on May 9 and May 26, so if you've had your...
05/06/2026

This is a reminder that I will not be able to ship any orders between mid-day on May 9 and May 26, so if you've had your eye on something (or did what I do- put it in your shopping cart while you agonize over completing the checkout process), now's your last chance, or you'll have to wait til the start of next month!

Here is a roundup of some of the beautiful treasures (both antique, and made by me) still available on my site. I'm shocked there's still some antique coral left to be had, honestly!

Any orders placed before end of day Friday, May 8 will ship before I leave (on a fantastic Italian adventure that will include tons of videos as I encounter incredible historic jewelry!). Any orders placed on May 10 or later will, sadly, have to wait.

05/03/2026

People have asked how I can bear to part with such gorgeous pieces, and I won't lie. It's hard. Sometimes it's really, really hard. My criteria for picking out pieces for my website is that I have to want to keep it. Otherwise it's not good enough! But, more often than not, these pieces end up going to people who love them as much as I do, and that alone makes it worth letting them go.

Today, I've got three amazing pairs of earrings, and two carved dogbone necklaces. There's the most beautiful cameos I have ever seen (and that's saying a lot!), some classic, timeless carved banded agate torpedo earrings, some incredibly finely carved salmon coral rose earrings, another coral dogbone bead necklace (the longest yet, at 22"), and something I've never seen before- carved dogbone mother of pearl beads!

05/02/2026

May has begun, which means that we have a new birthstone to talk about- emerald! We will be starting May's birthstone videos this upcoming week, but I wanted to revisit this video from 2024 showcasing some of the world's largest emeralds. Compared to the largest fancy colored diamonds from last week, these examples are absolutely enormous!
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It's time for emeralds! And not just any emeralds, but GIANT EMERALDS!

Presenting, for your gemmy consideration, the 3 most significant emerald specimens found to date! The Inkalamu, the Bahia Emerald Cluster, and the Emerald Unguentarium (man, what a stellar word).

The Inkalamu holds the distinction of being the largest uncut gem quality emerald in the world, and it displays such incredible clarity that it could reasonably be cut into one single stone. It won't be, though, as it's worth more as an uncut specimen than it ever would be as a cut gem, due to its rarity.

Next we have what is often called the world's largest emerald, though that is on a technicality. It is the world's largest emerald cluster, and the emerald crystals within it are mostly fairly opaque and not what would be considered gem quality. There are individual crystals within the cluster that might be larger than the Inkalamu, but without the exceptional clarity.

Last we have the weird, wonderful, spectacularly named Emerald Unguentarium. This serves no purpose, holds nothing, and exists purely for the sake of existing. It is a symbol of the colonial excess and stolen wealth that was decorating the homes of obscenely rich Europeans during the worst chapters of their histories. Carved out of what would have surely been the largest gem quality emerald, even larger than the Inkalamu, it was originally a splendid single crystal from the famed Muzo mine in Colombia, producer of some of the finest emeralds the world has ever seen (and turned into weird objet d'art for dusty old rich guys).

I mentioned the Theodora just so no one brings it up in the comments. Come on, look at it. It's a tourist shop rock bin emerald compared to the others!

Coming tomorrow! A selection of absolutely fantastic Victorian era earrings (along with a few other pieces not shown her...
05/02/2026

Coming tomorrow! A selection of absolutely fantastic Victorian era earrings (along with a few other pieces not shown here), including incredibly finely carved salmon coral earrings that Google Lens insists are a pair of Tiffany and Co earrings at the Met Museum (they're obviously not, but they are remarkably similar!), a pair of carved lava cameos of Bacchantes that are not only the finest lava cameos I've ever come across, but some of the finest cameos I've ever seen, period, and a classic pair of Scottish carved banded agate earrings that I lovingly restored to their correct, original design after someone made a few modern modifications, alloying custom 10k gold and hand fabricating era appropriate hooks and findings.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's little collection drop! I'll be posting a video here when the pieces go live.

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