An article from CNN suggests Jet is back in favor with designers:
Radiant diamonds, sapphires, and rubies have been among the most coveted gemstones on the planet for nearly a century. But long before their reign, a far less dazzling gem captured the hearts of jewelry lovers — and now it’s making a comeback.
Jet, a flat-black, opaque gemstone derived from wood that has experienced extreme compression over millions of years, was the haute stone throughout the Victorian era, a time when fashion and jewelry deftly signaled a person’s social status, financial wealth and even emotional state. Victorian dress was rife with symbolism and evolved around rigid codes of propriety and caste. Tightly pulled corsets and top hats, to name two ubiquitous items from the era, signified wealth and propriety, while jewels depicting doves hinted to an individual’s deep religious devotion.
Surprisingly lightweight and inky-black, jet is one of the oldest known gemstones, and has been carved and shaped by the artistically inclined since the Neolithic era (7,000-1,7000 B.C.). Both the Romans and Vikings fashioned items with jet, ranging from buttons and rings to tiny sculptures and protective amulets. But it was Queen Victoria who delivered jet to fashion’s highest heights in the mid-1800s. The monarch wore jet often, most notably in the second half of her reign; the gem matched the all-black ensembles she wore exclusively following the death of her husband, Prince Albert. (Jet has been synonymous with mourning dress ever since.)
“Anyone who was anyone was wanting to wear jet in the Victorian era,” said British gemologist Sarah Steele, one of the world’s only jet researchers. “We went around the world looking for sources of jet — to Venezuela, to the north of Spain — and exported it back to the UK.”
Sustained interest in the gem, however, meant the market was slowly flooded with lower-quality jet that chipped and cracked more easily, eroding consumer confidence. Simultaneously, the plastic revolution was accelerating. The popular (and now acutely collectible) jewelry resin Bakelite was invented in 1907, and certain manufacturers even perfected a plastic jet — an effective, if accidental, category killer.
All this led to jet’s popularity plummeting. “Everyone was absolutely sick of mourning, and then the first World War happened, and that was that,” Steele added. “We’re actually lucky the industry survived at all.”
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Jet Gemstone: Frequently Asked Questions
1. What exactly is “Jet”?
Jet is an opaque, inky-black gemstone with a unique origin: it is actually fossilized wood. It forms when wood undergoes extreme compression over millions of years, resulting in a material that is surprisingly lightweight and easy to carve.
2. Why is Jet associated with the color “Jet Black”?
The gemstone is so intensely dark and flat-black that it became the gold standard for the color. While people use the phrase “jet black” today to describe anything deeply dark, the reference comes directly from this stone’s signature radiant yet somber appearance.
3. Why did it become so popular during the Victorian Era?
Queen Victoria is responsible for jet’s peak popularity. Following the death of her husband, Prince Albert, she wore all-black mourning ensembles for the rest of her life. Because jet matched her clothing and was mined locally in the UK, it became the “haute” stone of the era, symbolizing both social status and emotional mourning.
4. Why did Jet fall out of fashion in the early 1900s?
The gem’s downfall was caused by a “perfect storm” of three factors:
Market Oversaturation: The market was flooded with low-quality, brittle jet from various countries.
The Plastic Revolution: The invention of Bakelite (1907) and other early plastics allowed manufacturers to create “plastic jet” that was cheaper to produce.
Cultural Shift: After World War I, society grew tired of the rigid “codes of mourning” associated with the Victorian era.
5. Is Jet making a comeback today?
Yes! After being overlooked for nearly a century, jet is returning to the spotlight. Modern jewelry designers, such as Natasha Wightman, are rediscovering the stone for its evocative, sculptural qualities, bringing this Neolithic-era material back into contemporary fashion.