Talk:Hierarchy of precious substances

Etym & RFC on moves

From the discussion at Talk:Golden jubilee:

Yes, there should be a much better treatment on the origin of the idea. Currently, the only thing Wikipedia has is an offhand mention on "Anniversary" that Emily Post had a rump list of materials in her Etiquette. Surely she was merely reporting on the usual conventions in upper class society at the time, though, and there should be something from before that on where this specific connection between gold and 50 came from. Wiktionary entries and OED cites seem to suggest that the original English usage was jubilee for 50 years; that the Germans started having family celebrations at 25 and 50 years distinguished as the silver and gold jubilees, feasts, or "weddings" (one German word for "wedding" being inclusive of anniversary celebrations); that these were known to the English but uncommon except as descriptions of German habits until the 1850s or so, presumably becoming more common through the German connections of the monarchy; and developed into something of a hierarchy by the end of Victoria's reign (her 50th year as queen was the Royal Jubilee but the 60th was the Diamond Jubilee) and by 1922 Emily Post had a full list in Etiquette for 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75. (Ignoring that Vicky's diamond was the 60th anniversary, she marked the 75th as diamond.)

Kindly fix the historical and etymological parts of this page here but direct other replies there. — LlywelynII 07:10, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Further, this page should just be merged into a fuller treatment of the concept at Anniversary. There's no general concept here beyond "base < silver < gold" and the idea that European coronation celebrations and Japanese flower conventions have any similarity is silly. Bamboo and plum trees aren't "precious substances". — LlywelynII 07:10, 30 March 2022 (UTC)