Is Keith Richards the New Mark Anthony?

Keith Richards wearing a Garnet Ring

Why do some famous male superstars and celebrities choose to wear distinct jewelry made from precious and semi-precious stones when they can have the worlds most expensive jewelry for free?

Do you know the answer? What do these men know that others do not?

If you know the answer then you may already be wearing distinctive gemstone jewelry. You are most probably a man who cares about the jewelry he chooses and what it says about his character. You may be a guy who always has an interesting story to tell, someone who people find interesting and want to spend time with. When it comes to jewelry you think about what you want and are very particular in what you choose. You are not someone who follows the crowd. After all, your appearance, and in particular, your jewelry is a statement about you.  

Johnny Depp wearing Blue Sapphire

Johnny Depp is well known for his love of jewelry and there are many pictures of him wearing his personal jewelry in his unique style. Depp has been wearing jewelry for years and his appeal is to both ladies and men. There’s something about a man wearing jewelry that women find magnetic and alluring. Whatever it is, they certainly find Depp incredibly sexy.

Other world famous men who wear jewelry include sports stars such as David Beckham who plays for LA Galaxy and rock star Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

David Beckham was pictured wearing a bracelet of semi precious stones at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, the opening of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant in Los Angeles and at LA Lakers games.  Some people believe that certain stones can have spiritual, psychological and physical benefits.  David Beckham’s gem stones include, Bloodstone to promote and lengthen physical endurance, Tiger’s Eye a good luck stone which also purports to promote an energetic flow throughout the body, and Rutilated Quartz a healing stone that is worn to enhance creativity.

All 3 men are iconic figures of the 21st Century.

Keith Richards was notorious for his hard living rock life style. A former and, self confessed, party animal and hell raiser, he is easily recognizable for his incredible stylish appearance and use of jewelry. Similarly Mark Anthony, famously married to Cleopatra, spent his teenage years getting into trouble in  Rome with his friends and brothers. They led a wild sort of life, frequenting gambling houses, drinking too much, and involving themselves in scandalous love affairs.

Ancient Carnelian Ring

Richards plays alongside Depp in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie On Stranger Tides, as Jack Sparrow’s father, Captain Teague. Both men get to over indulge in their natural bohemian style of dress and associated jewelry.

This leads us to an interesting question about Pirates and jewelry. Did these swash buckling dare devil men really wear jewelry and if so, what?
Well they did. Pirates wore jewelry because it was easily portable wealth. Along with other gems Pirates wore Peridot rings. This was to protect them from danger and evil. Peridot is a very beautiful and widely popular semi precious gemstone. Peridot is one of the few gemstones that comes in only one color, it ranges from yellow-green to olive to brownish green.
But men wearing jewelry existed long before Pirates. In Johnny Depp’s case his style may be down to his Cherokee Indian roots.

Infact Native American Indians were using stones as decorative jewelry as far back as 8,800 BC. San Carlos Apache were known for their use of Peridot. while the Navajo favoured Turquoise, Coral and other semi-precious gem stones. Turquoise is one of the dominant materials of South Western Native American jewelry with some Turquoise mines dating back to before the appearance of European settlers into American continents.

Carnelian found in Bath / UK

Throughout ancient history men have worn jewelry whilst they built empires and destroyed nations. Egyptians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Vikings, Angles and Saxons.

The Celts used gemstones for their beauty and deeper metaphysical meanings. They believed, as many do today, that the gem stones held a certain power for the wearer.
Celtic pendants worn by men included gemstones such as Amethyst, Aquamarine, Carnelian, Topaz, Tourmaline, Quartz crystal, Jasper and Hematite. Men wore rings, necklaces, bracelets, torcs and arm bands. The arm bands were meant to accent their muscular arms.

Roman centurion’s  would go into battle against Celtic warriors wearing their roman rings, particularly set with cabochons of Garnets, purple Amethyst and Carnelians.

Indeed Roman rings worn by centurions and lost whilst bathing in the warm springs at Bath, England were discovered recently. The Romans had a number of different adhesives they used, some of the most common being resin and bitumen. However one characteristic that they all had in common is that sooner or later, they tended to fail. It seems that even the great Roman generals, Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Maximus, occasionally lost their rings down the plug hole.

Mark Anthony

Mark Antony was very fond of gem stones and often gave them to Cleopatra. On one such famous occasion he tried to purchase a large and beautiful Opal from a Roman Senator called Marcus Nonius to woo Cleopatra. Marcus was either in the dog house and in serious trouble with Cleopatra or perhaps it was to celebrate a special occasion, because he offered a vast fortune for the Opal.  However, such was the beauty of the Opal that Nonius refused and he was given an ultimatum by the furious Mark Anthony, either he sell the ring or he leaves Rome. Nonius chose to leave Rome and keep the Opal.

The historical evidence and archaeology shows that Carnelian, an orange color form of quartz, was one of the most favored gemstones for the Romans. Carnelian was also enormously popular with the Greeks and Egyptians. In fact orange carnelian, blue lapis lazuli, and green turquoise were the three main gemstones of antiquity and the stone of choice worn by men during the rise of fall of each great Empire.

Men wearing jewelry is certainly not a new phenomena. It’s as ancient as one can imagine.

Mark Anthony, Keith Richards, Johnny Depp and David Beckham are very famous for very different reasons, however, they do have some things in common. One is an appreciation of the good gems in life.

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Happy gem hunting,