What's not to love about these three 1940s bracelets? The large sugarloaf-cut gemstones give them a highly sophisticated look.

The upper gold bracelet has oval open links, set with five sugarloaf cut chrysoprase, or green chalcedony, set in gold. The beautiful green colour in this slightly transparent stone is due to trace amounts of nickel. Its hardness and striking color make it a desirable gemstone.

The middle bracelet is a French one, from the same era and made of eighteen carat gold. The oval links are faceted and interspersed with five sugarloaf-cut carnelians. Carnelian is the orange variety of chalcedony, whose colour can range from almost yellow to almost red, due to traces of iron oxide. Carnelian is always slightly translucent. The ones in this bracelet are beautifully rich in colour.

Last but certainly not least is the fourteen-carat gold and lapis lazuli bracelet, also made in the 1940s. Round flat lapis lazuli discs are interspersed with sugarloaf-cut lapis lazuli, joined by oval, ribbed gold links. Lapis lazuli is an opaque gemstone with an intense blue colour. The stone consists of several minerals, of which lazurite gives the blue colour. Lapis was already very popular in ancient Egypt. From the 13th century, Venetians imported the blue semi-precious stone to obtain pigment from it. As gemstones, intense blue stones are especially sought after, preferably light gold speckled with pyrite ("golden glitter"), just as used in this bracelet.