Pin this one down

OK all you smarties! We here at Two Phoebes have exactly ZERO green thumbs. (We like to think we have only gold and platinum thumbs). We sometimes come across flower jewelry, and end up spending hours sorting through google images of flowers and still cannot figure out what we are looking at. That's where you guys can come in and save the day. We happen to know a few botany-minded gardener types, so we're hoping someone just takes a look at this and knows instantly what it is.

So today's jewel is a lovely flower pin, shown here, that has 5 petals. The petals are very textured, giving them a soft appearance.

We are thinking some sort of violet, but have only seen one picture that supports that theory. See our cop-out copy here.

Big e-hugs to the person who leads us down the primrose path on this one.

Two Phoebes is proud to announce that we are featured in the fabulous
Jewelry Dose Daily Blog!

She's selected some of our rings as "very sexy"! Ooh la la!

Check it out in the link above. It's a great blog with lots of fun posts on all kinds of interesting jewelry she finds on the internet. Enjoy!

Today's little gem

A lot of people have been writing in asking for appraisals or information on their own jewels, sometimes things that have been left to them. I've decided to offer a few little helpful hints once in a while with the little tricks of the trade we use to identify gems and jewelry.

To that end, TODAY'S HELPFUL HINT: HOW TO TELL IF A PEARL IS REAL

Simply (gently) rub the pearl against your tooth. If it has grit, it's real. If it's a fake pearl, it will instantly feel like plastic or coated in some way. You should be able to tell right away.

Some cheap cultured pearls have only a very thin layer of nacre (essentially, oyster spit) over the a large plastic bead, which can wear off, so you may have some items where there is a gritty surface on one part and plastic on the other. We call these "cheapo pearls". (<-not an industry term. yet.)