Jewelry by Chanel

Celebrate 80 Years of Chanel. Designer Jewelry Coco Chanel’s impeccable taste extended to her highly sought collection of designer costume jewelry. Her success, she once confided, was based on the understanding that “when you make imitation jewelry, you always make it bigger.” As you leaf through Jewelry by Chanel, the classic archival images and exciting new photography let you see firsthand her genius for creating arresting pieces based on luxury, refinement and tradition.  Hardcover; 272 pages, 260 color and black and white illustrations. 9.5" x 12.25"

Museum Provenance

Gems accumulate history. The very stone that once adorned a king or queen might today be set in someone’s cocktail ring. (The history of the Hope Diamond includes a stint in the French Crown Jewels, a daring theft, two recuttings, and purchase by an English king.) The astonishing replica collections presented on these next pages—a mere sampling of the extraordinary holdings in our National Museum of Natural History’s National Gem Collection—let you dazzle in their reflected glory.

Every Smithsonian purchase will arrive with a museum provenance card explaining how it is adapted from or inspired by an object or objects in our collection.