With several institutes offering specialized courses in this field, jewelry designing is no longer a family trade but a lucrative career option for first-generation gemologists who can cater to a niche market for custom-made and designer jewelry. And other professionals are like gem appraisers. Jewelry designing has come out of the closet; it is no longer a cloistered trade carried out by semi-literate goldsmiths in family vaults. Also passed down like a well-kept secret from generation to generation.

Nowadays such a distinction is no longer made by the trade. Rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, cassiterite and bixbite. Some minerals can be very beautiful, but they may be too soft and will scratch easily (such as the mineral fluorite). Fluorite is extremely colorful and pretty but has a hardness of only 4 on the hardness scale and has four perfect cleavage directions, which makes it only an oddity as a cut gem.

Sterling silver is the most popular metal used in jewellery in the world. Because of soft metal you see the label sterling silver on jewellery. Never use an abrasive cleaner on your silver - you will scratch the surface. Another good option for silver ornament is The Jewellery Store. Silver that is used in jewelry is mixed with a kind of alloy to increase its strength, hence the sterling silver name. The cleaners you use on silver must be low abrasive and phosphate free to keep the metal from discoloring. This single most piece of advice is probably the most valuable advice any Jewellery collector should heed.

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