The History of London’s Lapidaries

The history of London’s gem and jewellery trade has always been a story of three parallel narratives: those of the goldsmiths, the coloured-stone lapidaries and the diamond cutters. Although one would be hard-pressed to find a diamond cutter in modern London, and coloured-stone cutters have become exceedingly scarce, these three interrelated histories are quite important to understanding the role of London in European gem and jewellery craftsmanship. This two-part article pieces together the least known of these three narratives to present the largely untold history of London’s coloured-stone cutters. Part 1 briefly examines the ancient beginnings of British gem cutting, followed by developments from medieval times through the Renaissance. In conjunction with the growth of the British Empire, the lapidary trade benefitted from the variety of rough gems that made their way to England and helped London to become, at one period of time, one of Europe’s largest gem-cutting and trading centres. Part 2 of the article will explore how London remains one of the last European cutting centres (although quite small), and yet still preserves and transmits historic traditions for cutting coloured stones. <a href="https://medium.com/justin-k-prim/the-history-of-londons-lapidaries-9a426cdf775c">Learn More</a>