On loan from a private owner, the Tampa Necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels is one of the stars of Out of This World! Jewelry in the Space Age. Photos courtesy Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Designer Mark Schneider’s pearl and diamond Dynasty Ring was crafted to look like a machine which was used to communicate with aliens in the movie Contact.

BY KAREN AANONSEN

The sky’s the limit for jewelry’s top designers. From diamond-strewn shooting stars to golden moons, the solar system acts as a regular source of inspiration. Now some of the best final frontier-inspired baubles are on display in Out of This World! Jewelry in the Space Age at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. On view until January 4, the Pittsburgh exhibition boasts not only fine jewelry, but also decorative arts as well as baubles made with both materials from space — such as meteorites — and materials created or used during the space race, including titanium and fiber optic glass. In all, 200 objects are showcased. But visitors may find themselves orbiting around one piece in particular: Van Cleef & Arpels’s Tampa Necklace. Inspired by Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon, the one-of-a-kind diamond, sapphire, garnet, spinel, and beryl item features a trail of stars swirling out from a rocket ship. What’s more, stunning, interchangeable pendants allow the necklace to be worn nine ways.

—July 2015