Mars Rover Pendants? Gold “Curiosity” charms for your bracelets? Mars Pandora beads? Or how about a ring with a big red round ruby set in a halo of diamonds symbolizing Mars surrounded by stars?

No, jewelry such as this is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Jewelry designers over the eons have been influenced by major political and scientific events and August 5, 2012 marks a historic day for those interested in our solar system and man’s attempts to know more about the world beyond our earth. That’s the day Curiosity, the $2.5 billion dollar Mars Rover landed successfully on Mars, just a couple of months too late for Ray Bradbury who wrote the Martian Chronicles and who left a gift to science for the first day humans land on Mars. (Mr. Bradbury passed away in June 2012). Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve landed a rover on Mars, but it is the first time it’s been such a big one designed to do far more than just poke around.

But now, getting back to jewelry and how it, and fashion in general, is influenced by major world events, think back to how many pins and brooches were inspired by Halley’s Comet. Just look around Ruby Lane: lots of Halley’s Comet brooches and stick pins with their crescent moon and stars designs.

Even today, modern designers, including Swarovski, are still producing Halley’s Comet style jewelry.

And back some time ago, we carried the rare sterling silver “Saturn” bracelet designed by Cartier (shown below) just after World War 2. Interest in planetary discovery and voyaging surged at that time and for many years later. In that lovely old bracelet, the planets were made of Carnelian and surrounded by a silver ring.

Then just as I was researching for this post, I came across a recent announcement of a new CEO appointment to a Canadian company named Moonglow. Want to guess what kind of jewelry they make and what inspired it? The Apollo 11 Moon landing for course! Here’s a photo of one of their pieces.

According to Ron Dupuis, an expert on estate and antique jewelry who hosts the Dupuis auctions twice a year in Toronto.

“Jewelry designs over the past few centuries have been influenced by myriad events - some international, some local. Changes in politics and diplomacy, the drama of natural phenomena, exploration and archeological discoveries have all been contributing factors” (Jewellery Business, 2012).

Of course! Mankind’s fascination with the natural world post Darwin gave birth to the stunning enamel and plique-a-jour butterfly and dragonfly pins and necklaces of the Art Nouveau period. The opening of the Egyptian tombs in 1922 brought on a rash of hard stone and enamel bracelets with scarab beetles, palm trees and animal deity carvings, all part of the popular Egyptian Revival jewelry.

So all that said, while some of us will be interested in what information and photos Curiosity sends back to earth in the next few weeks, we jewelry lovers can keep our eyes open for the next possible trend: Curiosity pendants, charms and rings coming to a mall near you.

Written by Viga Boland

Divine Finds Jewelry on Ruby Lane