I mentioned at the end of my last post that I was hoping to take my grandmother’s necklace to a jeweler to see what I could learn about it or its origins, and this is what I did over the weekend. I took it to Hannoush Jewelers in the Galleria and asked the woman behind the counter what she could tell me about it straightaway. I was, as it turns out, correct in assuming that the metal is not real silver. According to the jeweler, it’s likely a composite metal, as all precious metals are stamped (many with a maker’s mark as well as with the name of the metal), even when the piece is only plated.
The jeweler also told me that the stone in the center of the cross is likely either aventurine or a dark jade. Not knowing much about jade and having never heard of aventurine, I decided to do a Google image search for both (links to results below).
Aventurine: https://www.google.com/search?q=aventurine&client=tablet-android-samsung&espv=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sboxchip=Images&sa=X&ei=IrrPVPK2L4eNsQTJl4LADg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=800&bih=1280
Aventurine seems to have a higher mica/reflective mineral content (and thus a more “sparkly” appearance) than the stone in the cross, and the jade seems much brighter in color. Digging a little deeper (I actually did a Google image search for “green jade with red flecks), I found this image.
(Unfortunately, I couldn’t zoom in on the necklace close enough for a comparison shot. Sorry.)
This stone is actually neither aventurine nor jade, but rather green chalcedony flecked with iron oxide or red jasper/piedmontite, commonly known as “bloodstone” or “dragon’s blood jasper”. (I can link to some information I found about bloodstone if anyone wants it.) Given that this stone looks strikingly similar to the one in the cross, I think it’s a safe bet to say that the stone in the cross is the so-called bloodstone. Ironic, isn’t it?
In short, the jeweler informed me, it’s just a piece of costume jewelry. I think she (and my dad) thought I would be disappointed at the fact that it isn’t valuable in a monetary sense, but that actually isn’t true at all. Finding out what I did about the necklace revealed something about my grandmother; that is, that she was very frugal and worried about money constantly. I mentioned in class that she had a hard life growing up–she actually ended up needing to quit school to work so that she and her mother could bring in a livable income after her father died. Even after she got married and was able to stop working to rear the children, she always worried that the money would run out. Even during their older years, after my father and aunt had moved out, she worried about how they would afford things like home repairs, insurance, and maintaining their property. Although the cross symbol (and little accessories as well) attracted her, she wasn’t going to spend inordinate amounts of her/her husband’s hard-earned money on them when that money could be put toward savings or practical expenses. In a sense, I’m very similar in that I try to be as practical ad possible with money. My family has never had to worry about money the way my grandmother did (thank God), but my parents always made sure to model fiscal responsibility for my sister and me growing up, and I’ve sort of taken that to extremes now that I have a job. I think it’s interesting that we’re kind of connected in that way.
The Materials of History, Thought, and Art 
It seems like you did a lot of footwork to find out what your object was really about. I like’d how you connected your grandmothers history to the object’s composition.Your insights really illuminate how much personality and background we can discover by picking apart every detail.