Stories

Antique lansadera gold ring with old cut diamonds.  Notice the thin prongs! I was so fascinated when I first saw this type of ring.  I thought it was of Indian origin until my mom pointed out that it’s a “lansadera” ring.   Lansadera are pointed oval-shaped rings from the Philippines. These rings date back to the Spanish colonial era. “Lanzadera” is a Spanish word for shuttle, a boat-shaped piece of wood used as a device in the loom. The Philippines used to be a colony of Spain for more than 300 years. Other countries have similar shaped rings called “navette” which...

  Is that antique, vintage or new? With the revived interest in vintage and antique jewelry, it’s getting more difficult to tell if a Philippine-made tamborin or tamburin style jewelry is antique.  When I first started my online shop, I had to rely on what the antique dealers told me.  They would either say, it’s an antique, at least a hundred years old or the vague answer, “Luma na yan” (“That’s already old” ).  O-kay.  I can’t really blame them, there are very few reference books on these things.  So how do you tell? The more seasoned sellers would say...