Most of us parents like to educate our kids on all subjects. We want our kids to be smart, intelligent and not ignorant. Among the list of things we teach them, we have probably never considered talking to them about jewellery or pearls (perlen). It in fact may come as a big surprise to many of you that there is an interesting line of history where jewellery is concerned. It may serve you well not just to educate your children on it but to also educate yourself. Jewellery is not just about its fancy look. Why educate kids on jewellery and perhaps wedding jewelry (Brautschmuck)? I firmly believe that one should educate children on every conceivable topic, simply because that widens a child’s range of thinking and makes them explore rare and unique fields for future studies, teaching kids about the history of jewellery may raise their interest in the subject and they can go on to learn more about it and maybe someday make their living from their vast knowledge on the subject.  

If you’re wondering how did I ever think of this, well one day while I was planning out what I was going to wear for a party and was picking out my jewellery, I just kept admiring my jewellery and that made me wonder, how clever and creative man was to come up with something so beautiful. It suddenly made me wonder if there was any history to it. How did this beautiful piece of art come into being?

Jewellery was not always about diamonds and rubies and garnets or silver and old. It began as something else. Man first made jewellery from leather and to make it ornamental, berries, pebbles, shells, feathers and sometimes even bones of animals were strung together. From leather, he moved on to ivory, wood and different types of metal. In fact it meant a lot to them. They believed jewellery to have some kind of magical powers and firmly believed it would bring them good luck. That is how jewellery began; it wasn’t what it is today. Man being an inventive being has along the year’s improvised jewellery. Today it will be practically impossible to find jewellery made from animal bones or berries; they however will remain antique beauties.  

The Romans were among the people who fancied jewellery. They displayed all kinds of jewellery. They would wear many rings on the same finger. Surprisingly even in the prehistoric times gold was a favourite metal. The most popular jewellery through the ages has been necklaces. Even the cavemen owned different kinds of jewellery.
I don’t know about you but I found it absolutely fascinating to hear how jewellery has evolved over the years. I stand amazed at how man has improvised it. Like I said, I love educating my kids on every possible topic and more than my son, my daughter is keen to hear such pieces of information, she is all ears when I talk about jewellery.  
Next time you are out with your kids on a long drive, try teaching them the history of jewellery, you may well be surprised to know that some kids may actually find this interesting, who knows maybe your kid may someday do gemology and land up doing something with jewellery.