Understanding Gem Jewelry

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A little jewelry history

The Mesopotamians and the Egyptians had developed advanced metalworking techniques long before the Greeks, and so it is natural. that the Greeks learned these from them. However, as in other forms of art so in metalworking, the craftsmen selected those elements they wanted and quickly adapted them to their own aesthetic perceptions, creating decorative themes that far outshone the commonplace repetitive designs of the artifacts of the East.

Your Personal Charm Bracelet
First, buy a starter bracelet made of a strip of 14 stainless steel links. Typically, women need about 18 links and men need about 20 links. In addition to your starter bracelet, you need to buy 5 to 7 additional links to complete your bracelet. You can choose from among thousands of links with different motifs to create your personalized bracelet. If you want to personalize your bracelet even more, remove some of the stainless steel links from the starter bracelet and add more links with different motifs. Most Italian charms from companies like AA Italy and many other companies are interchangeable.

Ancient Greek Jewelry
Ancient bracelets from Greece were formed from a pennanular tube with animal-head terminals. The rings had round or pointed oval bezels with intaglio or embossed ornaments and were often set with scarabs and, later, seal stones. A few pieces of jewelry necklaces have been discovered intact. One of the loveliest, from Eretria, had a bull's head at the center and acorn and ovoid beads. Ancient diadems were usually simple, with embossed ornamental bands and naturalistic wreaths gilded in gold or silver. The pins or brooches were elegantly designed, with fibulae usually made of silver.

How to Buy Jewelry
When buying wholesale fashion jewelry, ask about the quality mark and registered trademark. With gold jewelry, look for the karat mark or quality mark indicating the purity of the piece: 14K means the piece is 58.3 percent pure gold; 18K means it is 75 percent pure. In other terms, in a 14K piece of gold jewelry, 14 of its 24 parts are pure gold and the other 10 parts are composed of an alloy, or mixture of other metals, added for strength and sometimes color (to make rose gold, white gold, etc.) Platinum is the hardest and rarest of metals.

Diamond Certificates
A certificate of a loose diamond may be called its "blueprint". A certificate is also called the diamond grading report or diamond dossier. It describes the diamond's exact measurements and weight and details its cut and quality, as well as all its individual characteristics. A certificate identifies the diamond and serves as proof of its value.

Choosing Engagement Rings
Before shopping for engagement rings, you want to be prepared and informed. Seek the best information and referrals online that will guide you in taking this big step. Ask your fiancée's friends or mother about her preferences in style as well as her size. Women tend to know this type of information about each other. Be sure the person you ask can keep a secret!

Gold Money Clips Make Great Grooms Gift Ideas
You have not yet decided what to get your groomsmen? Since it is the subtle details that make the man, try giving your groomsmen something that will add to their personality. A gold money clip or cuff links. You could even have the cufflinks personalized. The perfect groomsmen gifts are gifts that best represent you and your friendship.

Great To Wear
For those who only wear jewelry on special occasions, keeping a jewelry box will likely come and handy and be quite essential for storing precious jewelry.

The Classic Jewelry Armoire
A beautiful addition to your bedroom, the classic jewelry armoire is the perfect solution for storing your treasured heirlooms. Typically, the top of this handsome piece of rich wood furniture opens up to reveal a mirror and felt-lined compartments. Originally the armoire was a simple board or tea table; the term was first used in the Middle Ages around 1571. Today the term often refers to a cupboard or wardrobe. The gorgeous jewelry armoire is a very special type of armoire specifically designed to hold precious jewelry.

The 4 C's of Diamond Shopping
When shopping for diamond wedding rings, look at cut, color, clarity, and carat, or weight. Cut is most important; a skillful cut is what unleashes the brilliant fire in a diamond. Cut refers to the faceting, not to the overall shape. Some terms for shape are marquise, oval, and princess, or square. Regarding color, grading begins at D. The further one goes into the alphabet, the poorer the color grade. Ask at the store to see loose diamonds on a sheet of pure white paper and note whether there is any contrast, which is undesirable. Superior clarity refers to the lack of inclusions such as bubbles, spots, or lines. Clarity is graded on a scale that ranges from flawless (FL or IF) to imperfect (I).

Pocket Watches: no wimpy tan line!
For key wind and set watches, such as some of the antique pocket watches, you will need to use a key to wind the mainspring and set the time. More modern pocket watches run on small batteries that keep very accurate time and only require replacement every two years or so. The drawback to batteries is that a jeweler is usually needed to remove the back of the watch, and that will incur a $10 to $20 charge whenever a battery needs changing.

The theme of your wedding
You can use the theme of your wedding to think of many different gift ideas for your bridesmaids. You may want to individualize them to reflect the personalities of your bridesmaids. Deciding on an overall plan is one way to make shopping for gifts easy. For example, you could keep it simple by getting everyone the same thing. You'd have to find a gift with wide appeal. You could add a personal touch by having their initials engraved or imprinted on their individual gifts in the main color scheme of your wedding. This way the gift would be tied to the wedding as well as personalized.

Rings and Marriage
The ancient Egyptian established the custom of placing a ring on the finger of his wife. The ring was a sign that he had confidence in her ability to take care of his house. Greek and Roman bridegrooms often gave a ring to their bride's father, a practice reminiscent of primitive bride purchase. In the second century, the Roman bride was typically given a gold ring, which she would wear only in public, as it was much too precious to wear while tending to household chores. The groom gave her a second ring for use in the home. This ring was made of iron and had little knobs on it like a key. These "key rings" were weak and could only open easy locks, but they were of great symbolic value in that the wearer had the right to secure the giver's possessions.

Gold Filled and Plated Jewelry
Gold filled or gold overlay refers to the process of permanently bonding, through heat and pressure, a layer of at least 10-karat gold to one or more surfaces of support metal. The support metal is then drawn or rolled into a prescribed thickness. The gold must comprise at least 1/10 of the total weight. In gold plating, a layer of 10-karat gold or better is bonded to a base metal. The karat gold content, which may be less than 1/20, must be accurately identified by weight in terms of total metal content. Gold leaf is similar to gold plating; the difference is that the gold is pounded and applied by hand. More information about gold jewelry.

Italian and Chinese Link Bracelets
Modular style italian charm bracelets were invented by the Italians. High-quality, hypoallergenic stainless steel is used in their charm link bases, with 18K gold charms soldered by hand to the links. The charms in the highest-quality bracelets are called Italian stainless. All modular charm links in Italian charm bracelets are of a standard, interchangeable size. Italy?s main competitor in the link bracelet market is China. The base links in the Chinese bracelet are not always stainless and the charms are gold plated. The Chinese link bracelet costs less, but the quality reflects the cost.

A Whole New Look To Bracelets
Your new bracelets can be put together so that no two bracelets look alike. The Italian charm bracelet has brought a new custom look to the world of jewelry. Now instead of having a chain hanging from your bracelet you can have a soldered flat link that can be removed and a new one added. Assemble your charm bracelet, then taken it apart and rebuild it a different way. There are so many charms to choose from. Sterling silver charms, birthstones, pictures, letters, zodiac signs, and more.

Durable and Inert Metal For Rings
Immune to corrosion by saltwater and moisture, titanium rings exhibit exceptional resistance to a broad range of harsh gases, acids, and alkalis as well as attack by microbes. Titanium is inert, which means it doesn't react with other substances, and hypoallergenic. It is virtually nonmagnetic as well, making it ideal when electromagnetic interference must be minimized in certain applications. Pure titanium is 50 percent lighter than steel but has about the same strength. When titanium is added to various alloys, its toughness, hardness, and tensile strength can be dramatically increased even more.

Pearl jewelry
Pearl necklaces and other types of pearl jewelry have been worn for thousands of years. Pearls have always come into and out of fashion. Now they have become very fashionable again, and people are wearing them for many different occasions. People all over the world are wearing all types of pearl jewelry. People are buying and wearing pearl jewelry, and giving these beautiful creations as gifts.

Birthstone Traditions
Birthstones are gems associated with the twelve month of the year. Wearing a birthstone, generally in a ring or bracelet, is traditional for bringing good luck or health. It is believed that each gem has a unique mystical power. A birthstone ring or bracelet makes a great birthday gift for Mom. You might cook her a favorite meal, arrange the food nicely on a tray along with her favorite sections from the newspaper, and treat her to breakfast in bed. Cards and the silver mother's bracelet or birthstone ring can be placed on the tray before presenting it to Mom.


Aging? Fight back!
You may FEEL old, broken down, washed up and no longer "with it", but that's no reason to LOOK that way. Age gracefully. A fashionable pair of reading glasses will help hide those wrinkles you are accumulating and they will help give that look of wisdom everyone says comes with age. This site will help you find just the right pair of glasses that will make you look younger, cooler, smarter. Well, at least cooler and smarter. And if not younger, maybe less decrepit.