Ever since ancient times
people of all cultures have used jewelry for personal
adornments,
badges of social or official rank and as emblems of religious,
social, or political
affiliation.
Jewelry, or ornaments made of precious metals, often set with
gemstones, have been worn since ancient times by people of all
cultures for personal adornment, as badges of social or official
rank, and as emblems of religious, social, or political
affiliation. In its widest sense the term jewelry encompasses
objects made of many kinds of organic and inorganic materials
such as hair, feathers, leather, scales, bones, shells, wood,
ceramics, metals, and minerals. However, the term jewelry
properly refers to mounted precious or semiprecious stones and
to objects made of valuable or attractive metals such as gold,
silver, platinum, copper, and brass. Jewelry has been worn on
the head in the form of crowns, diadems, tiaras, aigrettes,
hairpins, hat ornaments, earrings, nose rings, earplugs, and lip
rings; on the neck in the form of collars, necklaces, and
pendants; on the breast in the form of pectorals, brooches,
clasps, and buttons; on the limbs in the form of rings,
bracelets, armlets, and anklets; and at the waist in the form of
belts and girdles, with pendants such as chatelaines, scent
cases, and rosaries. Current knowledge of ancient jewelry is
derived largely from the preservation of personal objects in
tombs. Information about the jewelry of cultures that did not
bury valuables with the dead comes from portraits in surviving
paintings and sculpture.
Materials used in ancient jewelry.
Jewelry has been and is made of many kinds of organic and
inorganic materials such as hair,
feathers, leather, scales, bones, shells, wood, ceramics, metals
and minerals. But today
when most people refer to jewelry, we refer to precious or
semiprecious stones mounted in
attractive metals such as gold, silver, platinum, copper and
brass. Gold of course being the
favorite.
Culture of Jewelry
Current knowledge of ancient jewelry comes largely from the
preservation of personal objects
in tombs or portraits in surviving paintings and sculptures.
One of the most notable being the ancient Egyptians, who's
processes of ornamenting metals
are still employed today. They produced skillfully, chased,
engraved, soldered, repose and
inlaid jewelry, they used commonly gold and silver and inlaid in
these metals with
semiprecious stones, enamel and glass. The most notable jewelry
from ancient Egypt is from
the 18th Dynasty
Other Cultures that are notable cultures in the making of
jewelry were Middle Eastern from
the 3rd and 2nd millennia that produced techniques in
granulation, filigree, inlaid gems,
cloisonné and champleve enamel. Greek and Roman jewelry, gave
way to the art of cameo
cutting. Scythian Jewelry, the Byzantine use of jewels are also
notable. A notable Medieval
technique was the use of garnet slices into metal cells in the
7th Century. Other notable
Jewelry came during the Renaissance times and the 17th and 18th
century.
Interesting facts about gold and costume jewelry
Gold the metal of the Gods, thought to have come from the Sun.
Gold in its pure form is 24
carats, it is a soft metal, much like lead metal, it bends
easily. Over the ages man has
found that in order to make more durable jewelry, gold had to be
mixed with harder metals.
This is the reason jewelry is not made in pure gold, it comes in
18 carats, 14 carats and 10
carats, 10 carats being the one with less gold. It also is used
to plate or layer other
metals to make jewelry often called costume jewelry.
The history of the engagement ring
Silver jewelry making
Other jewelry related consumer information sites:
About diamond engagement rings or ideas on how to propose?
Information to help you choose a
mothers rings
Titanium rings
for you or your wife. This site discusses exactly what is
titanium and what to expect.
