Published on by Olivier Maupas-Sehikyan · Necklaces
Some commissions begin with a silence. A client pushed open the door of my workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, near Nantes, with a sentence that was simple to say and heavy to carry: he and his wife were about to celebrate 40 years of marriage. He wanted to give her a bespoke white gold emerald necklace, worthy of those four decades. Let me tell you how this piece came to life.
The emerald anniversary: a devoted husband's request
In France, forty years of marriage has its own name: the emerald wedding anniversary (noces d'émeraude). My client knew this, but it was not tradition that guided him. He was looking for a piece capable of distilling their entire story: the meetings, the trials overcome, the children born, the projects carried out together. A generic gift had no place in his thinking.
We talked at length, he and I. His wife loves discretion and refinement, so nothing ostentatious. The necklace almost chose itself: worn close to the heart, it speaks of the intimate bond of a couple better than any other piece of jewellery. She could wear it every day, as a silent reminder of their union.
It remained to decide on the composition. I suggested five emeralds, one for each stage of their life together: the first meeting, the early years, family life, maturity, and hard-won wisdom. He smiled. The idea was settled, and I already knew I would take pleasure in drawing it.
Why emerald, and why a closed setting
Before touching the metal, I took the time to explain to my client what this stone is. The emerald belongs to the very exclusive circle of the four precious stones, alongside the diamond, the sapphire and the ruby. A rare variety of beryl, it owes its green colour to the presence of chromium and vanadium in its crystal structure. Beryllium forms in the Earth's crust, while chromium comes from the deep mantle: their meeting, made possible by violent tectonic movements, explains why the emerald is so rare.
Colombia remains the leading producing country, with around 50% of world production. The mines of Muzo, Chivor and Coscuez yield some of the finest stones in existence. The Incas, it is said, were already wearing emeralds in their ceremonies more than 500 years ago, and the crowns of Europe eventually adopted them too. The emerald symbolises hope, balance, serenity and fidelity: it is hard to imagine anything better for an emerald wedding anniversary.
A garden within every stone
With a hardness of 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale, the emerald seems sturdy. Yet it remains fragile, as it often contains internal inclusions which gemmologists poetically call "gardens". These gardens are the sign of an authentic stone: each one has its own, as unique as a fingerprint. But they make the stone sensitive to knocks.
The closed setting, a protective casing
This is why I chose a closed setting. This technique wraps the stone in a fine, continuous band of metal, which protects its corners and edges. A claw setting lets in more light, but it leaves the gemstone exposed. For a necklace intended to be worn every day, protection mattered above all.
From sketch to choice of materials
The sketchbook came out, and the drawings followed one after another. The design chosen aligns the five emeralds in a gentle arc at the centre of the necklace, each in its own closed setting, linked by a fine white gold curb chain. My client approved the design without hesitation.
As a precious stone dealer, I am fortunate to choose my gemstones myself at source. From my stock I selected five round emeralds of identical size, in a deep, harmonious green. All of them come from the Muzo mines. I examined them one by one under a x10 loupe: colour, clarity, calibration, consistency. In a line of five stones, the slightest difference in shade would be spotted at once.
For the metal, 18-carat white gold was the obvious choice: an alloy of 75% pure gold, enriched with palladium, understated and luminous. A final rhodium plating gives it its brilliance, and its contrast with the green of the emeralds shows them off without overwhelming them.
Making the necklace in the Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire workshop
Everything was made by hand, on site, in my workshop south of Nantes. Every bespoke piece of jewellery demands that kind of time, and this one was no exception.
I began by melting the white gold into an ingot. The metal was brought to around 1,064 °C, its melting point, then purified with borax and cast. The ingot was then rolled into a sheet and drawn on the draw bench to obtain the sections required.
The five settings were shaped one by one. For each, I cut a fine strip of gold with a piercing saw, then curved it with pliers around a perfectly calibrated round mandrel, before soldering it into a circle. Here, precision is counted in millimetres: any variation in diameter between two settings would be immediately visible. I then soldered them in an arc, with strictly identical spacing, since the rhythm of the line gives the necklace its harmony.
The curb chain began as a round wire, patiently drawn on the draw bench. Each link was shaped, curved, then soldered one by one. It is long work, but it is what gives the chain its suppleness and strength. The ends of the central bar were soldered to this chain, and a lobster clasp was fitted at the back.
Then came the moment I prepare for with the greatest calm: the setting. Each emerald was placed in its closed setting. I folded the fine gold band over the girdle of the stone with my burnisher, using gentle, gradual pressure. With an emerald, the slightest abruptness can crack the gemstone.
Finally, the necklace was sanded, then polished with felt and cotton mops, before receiving its rhodium plating.
Handing over the necklace
When my client came back to collect the piece, he hardly said a word. His emotion spoke for him. He held in his hands forty years of love, five green stones aligned on white gold, and I believe he saw in them every stage of their life together. That day, I was reminded once more why I love this craft: a piece of jewellery always ends up telling a story greater than itself.
If you too have a wedding anniversary or a memory to celebrate, come and talk to me at the workshop in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, near Nantes. We will take the time to imagine together the piece that will suit her.
