The history behind … acrostic jewelry

so he was known for being a big fan of that as well,” Cohen said. “I think it’s so interesting when it comes to Napoleon because you think of this person out fighting wars, and yet he loved beautiful things.”

Were they limited to specific types of stones or messages? Generally it was specific stones for each letter, but they could use them to make the jewelry say anything they wanted to, Cohen and Doyle noted.

In addition, some of the stones had different names at the time. For example, hessonite garnet used to be called vermeil (which now refers to gold-plated silver) and they would use it to spell out “love.”

The materials used also depended on what people were having commissioned. Once stacking acrostic rings became popular, they could play around with those in terms of using different stones to represent different information for people, and they would also do acrostic bracelets and brooches, which gave them more room to relay a message.

“I’ve seen a regard ring actually with six different bands,” Cohen said. “With the bracelets, that obviously gave them more room to be played with and they would have a lot more space. And then you could stack the rings. You could have different rings mean different messages or you could have the stones going all the way across the band as well.”

Are people buying these rings today? While they’re certainly not as popular and well-known now as they were then, people are buying acrostic pieces again. This jewelry is having a resurgence right now, especially amongst the crowd that already has an idea of what they are, Cohen and Doyle said.

The pieces that are in good shape with quality stones are especially popular. But they’re also hard to find, especially when they have unique designs. They’re similar to the trends popping up again right now of people wanting to be able to personalize and customize everything, and to have a piece with a history behind it adds more value.

Some jewelers today are even making modern versions, like the Lulu Frost brand, which calls them “code” instead of acrostic but means the same thing.

What are acrostic rings worth today? They tend to vary in price, depending on factors include the stones, age of the piece and size.

The simpler ones, like the “regard” rings, are among the easiest to find because there were a more made and many have survived. Those can be found for about $1,000, Doyle said.

Sometimes the gems are arranged in patterns, such as in a flower shape, and a more complicated design makes it more expensive, especially when it has a historical provenance. So, depending on the design, message, rarity and especially the date, acrostic pieces can cost as much as $3,000 to $5,000, Cohen said.

If a retailer wanted to add acrostic jewelry to their offerings, how would they do that? There are dealers who specialize in acrostic jewelry, and someone who carries Georgian or Victorian jewelry might have it.

Finding a dealer in the United Kingdom would probably be a good place to start because a lot of that jewelry has remained there and that seems to be the “hub” for a lot of those special pieces, Cohen said.

Doyle also noted, “The problem is there’s always a lot of fakes out there, so you have to be careful about that. You have to go with somebody who’s reputable and really knows what it is.”