[Editor’s note: Robert Weldon has been photographing gems and jewelry for over a decade, initially at the Gemological Institute of America as a staff photographer, slide custodian and research librarian. Since then, his work has been published in more than a dozen publications worldwide.]
Keeping a photographic record of a beautiful or unique piece of jewelry is the next best thing to owning it. Through photos, you can regularly increase your “jewelry” collection without taking out a second mortgage. While you might say this is a somewhat barren approach to owning jewelry (as my wife frequently does), having a photographic record of jewelry offers many benefits.
If you are in the business of buying and selling estate jewelry, you quickly realize you can’t own or buy all of the pieces you are trying to sell. Sometimes a photo will have to suffice. Jewelry appraisers need to do