Pennsic Impressions: Crowns

[jducoeur]

As mentioned in the court reports, TRM received new crowns at East Kingdom Court, as a gift from ICOD, made by Julian de la Pointe. They're really quite lovely, and I gather triple-plated with gold. But I have to admit that I don't think I've ever seen anything quite *so* gold before -- with the result that my immediate and lasting reaction was that they look distressingly like plastic to me. My brain just isn't used to real gold being quite that shiny.

(I'll get used to them, mind, and they're among the nicest crowns we've got. But it was damned disconcerting...)

Comments

[lumineaux.livejournal.com]

They don't look nearly as plastic-y up close and in person.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Real, smooth, carefully polisyed gold is astonishingly shiny. You can understand why it was so treasured, in comparison to the washed-out, handled gold we get used to. Even my 14K wedding ring, when new, was shiny and deep enough in color to look almost unreal, and catch the eye from quite some ways away. (Some months of use/scratches quickly dulled this back down to something the brain was used to, a more 'heraldric' gold...)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

And reddish. We got some bullion a while back, and it's nothing like brass-colored. It's really interesting.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Do you know if there are pictures anywhere?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Many thanks.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Liam may have a better closeup view in his flickr album.

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47368232@N00/2756001318/sizes/l/

[vairavi.livejournal.com]

I think one of the most alarming things about real gold is the same thing that makes it so precious: Unlike every other metal, it simply does not tarnish/patina.

I have other issues with the new crowns, but they really have nothing to do with the craftsmanship. After all, Superman wears Julian underpants :D

[eclecticmagpie.livejournal.com]

I don't know if the plastic you are thinking of has a sputtered one-molecule thick gold finish (probably not, but it's possible), but if you think the new crowns look like brass bathroom fixtures, it's partly because brass bathroom fixtures are routinely plated with a very thin layer of gold to keep them from tarnishing.