Additional Setting Information
Guide To Anniversary Gifts Many couples choose to celebrate the anniversary of their wedding with a special gift. The common knowledge of anniversaries being celebrated with such items as paper, wood and silk has been updated with modern interpretations of gemstones. The general consensus for anniversary gifts is as follows: Throughout history, anniversaries have been […]
A Guide to Determining Birthstones Gemstones are associated with astrology because they are thought to retain the astral influences of the planets and stars much longer than any other substance. There are many alternative systems for assigning native birthstones. Some of the disagreement between the systems comes from historical confusion about the true nature of […]
The Basics Of Gemstone Brilliance Brilliance describes the amount of light that a cut gemstone reflects back to the viewer from the interior of the stone. Brilliance is a consequence of cut, and it is an important characteristic because it determines the perceived liveliness and color of a gemstone. The brilliance of a gemstone is […]
A Guide To Determining Gemstone Quality To judge quality in diamonds and colored gemstones, experts rely on four criteria: Color Cut Clarity Carat With respect to diamond evaluation, all four of these criteria are well defined and more or less equally weighted. Most colored gemstones, on the other hand, lack well-defined, universally accepted quality standards. […]
A Guide To Gemstone Setting Options It is important to understand the basics of gemstone mountings and settings. A mount refers to the entire precious metal object before stones are set into it. Mounts include rings, necklaces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, brooches and cufflinks. Gemstones are incorporated into mounts with a variety of popular setting styles […]
A Guide to Commonly Used Gemstones This section provides a little information about gemstones commonly used in jewelry. These gemstones are popular because of their transparency, beautiful color, and . As a rule of thumb, gemstones capable of withstanding the stress of everyday wear have a rating of at least 7 on the Mohs Scale […]
A Brief History Of Gemstone Cuts In the past, most gemstones were cut into . This ancient cut features a curved upper surface with a flat or curved underside. The upper portion of a cabochon may be a simple dome or a series of curved surfaces that meet in a pyramidal arrangement (e.g., a sugarloaf […]
A Guide to Gemstone Hardness The Mohs Scale gives the relative differences in the of gemstones. Each mineral can scratch the ones below it on the scale. It is important to remember that the steps in the Mohs Scale do not represent uniform increases in hardness. In absolute terms, diamond is almost four times harder […]