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Information about Jewellery
The word Jewellery is derived from the word jewel. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural material such as shell, wood, animal teeth and carved stone. Jewellery was created for practical uses during earlier times. That uses are for storage, pinning clothes together and for wealth. It has been used exclusively for decoration in recent times.Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it. There are many more types of Jewellery, it has been made to adorn nearly every body part from Hairpins to toe rings. Jewellery is made from gemstones and precious metals is high quality jewellery. jewellery where design and creativity is prized above material value is called Art Jewellery, and there is also growing demand for this Jewellery. Costume Jewellery is less costly, made from less valuable materials and mass produced.
Gemstones are so durable
A few are mineraloids not true minerals and are including here: opal, amber, and moldavite. Foremost is durability - it must not easily corrode away, nor can it be brittle. It is so durable that nearly all of the gold ever mined is still in circulation or storage. In some cases, the names are true misnomers, such as Green Amethyst for prasiolite-a transparent green variety of quartz.In most cases, these variety names are historical, as the gemstones were not recognized as being varieties of other minerals until well after the name was in common use such as aquamarine, emerald, and heliodor as varieties of beryl. And that is related to the third characteristic, ductility. You can see the options are endless and when you are commissioning a piece, why compromise a thing when you can choose!
How Durable is My Gemstone Jewellery?
First of all a note about the hardness and therefore relative durability of gemstones. To measure hardness, the jewellery industry uses the Mohs scale. This gem-trade standard, conceived by Friedrich Mohs in 1812, measures the ability of a gem or mineral to resist abrasion damage.Diamond at 10 is the hardest whereas talc at 1 is the softest. Popular gemstones like amethyst and citrine register 7 whereas rubies and sapphires register 9. Most of us come off the beach on the first day with the 3 s’s all achieved - rings caked in sand, sea-salt and suntan lotion. Nude sunbathing, as far as silver and gold jewellery is concerned, is a must! Remember also that sand will scratch the surface of precious metals.
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