TowerNetWeb

Horse lovers and riding aficionados often like to demonstrate their affection for the animals and their hobby. There are a number of methods of doing this. Children might decorate their bedrooms with wallpaper with horses on it or wear badges.

I saw a car once with the registration plate “HOR5E” and I have seen men wearing rings with an image of a horse running inlaid into the stone in gold. Women frequently wear brooches of a similar design or only the head of a horse.

Equestrian jewellery is stylish and also timeless enough to be worn on any occasion. A beautiful horse’s head drawn in tiny diamonds makes a stunning brooch, but so does one fashioned from gold or silver. In fact, numerous jewellers are realizing the popularity of equestrian jewellery.

Although the horse’s head brooch is probably the most traditional piece of equestrian jewellery, pendants are also well-liked these days. The jeweller can craft a larger figure when it is suspended about the neck than if it is attached to the hair or clothing.

You may not have seen the sort of jewellery that I am describing, but I bet that you have seen the Lucky Horse Shoe depicted somewhere. The Lucky Horse Shoe is just a different aspect of equestrian jewellery. Many women like to wear them around their necks or on a Charm Bracelet.

The most famous symbol of a horse is almost certainly the Ferrari logo. The Ferrari logo of a rearing horse not only adorns their cars, but can also be seen on official Ferrari memorabilia such as Ferrari jewellery, Ferrari watches and Ferrari shirts and jumpers.

However, equestrian jewellery does not only come in the shape of the horses themselves. The accoutrements to riding are also often represented in jewellery. Men often use cuff links in the form of tiny stirrups and women frequently wear silver or gold riding boots on their Lucky Charm bracelets.

Besides the above-mentioned equestrian lucky charms, I have also seen horse buckets, saddles and hunting horns on ladies’ charm bracelets or as single charms hanging from the ears or about the neck. They can also be worn as larger pieces as brooches.

Much of this type of jewellery is meant for the more well-to-do horsey set and for girls as they go through their horse-loving stage. Therefore, the pieces are manufactured in two distinct types: costly and the not so expensive – otherwise very few girls would get the opportunity to show their affection for their large four-legged friends.

The last group of people that can frequently be seen wearing equestrian jewellery is the gambler who likes to bet on horse racing. This is normally a man, but certainly not always.

These men will frequently wear pins of some kind depicting an aspect of their love of the sport and the animals. They may also think of them as lucky charms too.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, and is now concerned with Good Diamond Quality. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry and Watches.

People are fond of gemstones partly because they are expensive and partly because they are gorgeous. Gemstones have the particular quality of being able to reflect and sometimes even refract to make the stone sparkle.

Precious stones are also meant to express love and esteem. People also use them as a way of keeping wealth rather than putting the money in the bank, particularly in Third World countries. However, investment jewellery and costume jewellery are not always the same.

People have their own favourite gemstones, but emeralds and diamonds are the most expensive stones and so are among the most popular. However,deep blue sapphires and opals are also hugely popular.

The most common jewellery are engagement and wedding rings, followed by earrings, necklaces, bracelets and brooches. Brooches often have numerous small stones arranged in a pattern that will reflect light and glitter brightly.

Strangely, brooches in the shape of animals like cats, butterflies and even lizards are very popular. Flowers and bouquets of flowers are also common. Pendants and necklaces tend to have a larger stone or not so numerous small stones as a brooch.

Tiaras are experiencing a revival after decades in the wilderness; hair grips are also well-liked articles of jewellery for women. Men tend to go for tie pins and watches. In some regions of southern Europe, diamond-studded, retractable toothpicks are well-liked.

The setting or mounting of the gemstone is almost as important as the precious stone itself, although not normally as expensive, especially with rarer stones. Gold, platinum and silver are the most widespread metals used for setting the precious stone in jewellery.

If you are not purchasing gemstones for their value, you may decide to buy your birthstone. If this is your goal, but you do not especially like your birthstone, remember that there are three or four different lists of birthstones from different countries and different eras.

if you do not fancy your birthstone from perhaps the American list, you might like your birthstone from the Ayurvedic or the Tibetan lists. There is some overlap, but in general the lists are completely different giving you more choice.

If you want something different again, you could investigate amber. Amber is not stone, but has similar properties. It is in fact ancient to prehistoric tree resin. Some pieces have insects trapped inside them and can be very valuable.

If you wished an unusual holiday, you could travel to Poland’s Baltic shoreline where a lot of Europe’s amber is washed up onto the beaches. Wouldn’t it be great to find your own ‘gemstone’ and then have it polished and mounted by a jeweller?

However, the stone does not have to be valuable. When my brother was twelve, he discovered a beautiful little pebble on the beach and, with my Dad’s assistance, had it polished and mounted. My mother thought almost as much of that unique article of jewellery as she did of her wedding and engagement rings.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Good Diamond Quality. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry but Watches.

Diamonds have been in use for jewelry for thousands of years. It is judged that they were first used and actively mined 3,000 years ago in India, but there is also proof that it was used there around 6,000 years ago. In those days it was almost impossible to cut or polish the diamonds.

The popularity of diamonds as jewelry really rose in the Eighteenth Century, at which time more ‘modern’ techniques permitted the acts of cutting and polishing to be achieved more easily. Successful marketing ploys helped make diamonds more popular to the general population.

Cartels of diamond miners and retailers such as De Beers restricted the quantity of diamonds which has successfully held the price artificially high for decades. An instance of extremely successful marketing is Argyle or brown diamonds in Australia

Brown diamonds were thought to be useless for jewelry because of their filthy colour. However, one mine in Australia produces 7,000 kg of brown diamonds a year, so initiated a campaign to make them desirable. These days, they may be worn as jewelry in Australia and sell nicely.

Because of the high price of diamonds and the restricted supply, jewelers have sought a man-manufactured, cheaper alternative. Cubic Zirconia is one of the best synthetic diamond-like materials that they have come up with so far.

Some people would rather buy cubic zirconia than real diamonds because they do not like to be manipulated and ultimately cheated by the diamond companies. Surveys suggest that numerous diamonds have been improved to raise their apparent value and that much too many diamonds are too highly priced.

Some others are shying away from diamonds for reasons of conscience. ‘Blood Diamonds’ and forced child labour have made the headlines. The conditions in these forced labour camps is horrendous and was accurately depicted in the film ‘Blood Diamond’ with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Cubic zirconia is a very good copy of diamonds and is difficult to tell apart from the real thing without specialist tools and a thorough knowledge of gemstones. Numerous famous rich people are refusing to wear diamonds, not because they cannot afford them, but because of their above associations.

There are several other options to cubic zirconia including moissanite and nexus, but cubic zirconia remains the firm favourite. Russian cubic zirconia is among the principal types of the ‘gemstone’.

It is worth mentioning here that cubic zirconia does not exist in nature, although its raw form zircon (zirconium silicate) and zirconium dioxide does. Russian cubic zirconia is made to the specifications laid down by the Gemological Institute of America.

If you are content to wear cubic zirconia, you will be treading the green path in jewelry and saving lots of money as well. Cubic zirconia is approximately 25% of the cost of diamonds, so you can afford to spend more on the setting rather than on the stone. Cubic zirconia looks fantastic in a solid platinum or pure gold mounting.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, and is now concerned with Amber in Poland. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry and Watches.

The majority of women like jewellery, Numerous men do too, but they tend to prefer gadgets and watches. In many countries women store their wealth in jewellery as exemplified by the Fifties song “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”. Asian women in particular collect gold.

However, precious stones and precious metals are by and large perceived to be very valuable. Leaving the value of the piece aside, most people have a favourite colour.

Some prefer yellow gold, others prefer white. Some prefer the clarity and brilliance of diamonds, while others prefer aquamarine, turquoise of green.

In fact, high-quality green gems are among the most precious of all gemstones including diamonds. Emeralds are the most costly green gemstones weight for weight.

Gemstones are created underground at immense pressures and they obtain their colours from the minerals involved in their composition. Gemstones are by and large quite hard, because they were fashioned under great pressure.

In olden times, many people believed that gemstones had magical properties. The magical property attributed to emerald was the restoration of vision and the curing of eye illnesses.

In fact, emeralds are a form of beryl and derive their green colour from the element chromium or sometimes vanadium. Emeralds have a hardness of seven to eight; diamonds are the hardest at 10 on the Mohs Scale.

However, emerald has a great many inclusions (or faults), so it will shatter fairly easily. These inclusions give emeralds their typical fuzzy look.Nevertheless, the best emeralds are those that have a clear, transparent, even colour of green throughout.

Weight for weight, an emerald of high quality is more valuable than a diamond of similar quality, which amazes most people. However, good diamonds are easier to find than decent emeralds and hence the difference in price.

Be very wary of stones that are known as ’something’ emeralds like Lithia emeralds or oriental emeralds. These are normally cheaper gemstones which are referred to as emeralds in order to enhance their value. These ‘gems’ are not emeralds and not worth a lot in comparison.

Because of the value of real emeralds, many ‘cheap emeralds’ are either not emeralds at all or are very bad specimens that are being held together by resin. It is very difficult for a greenhorn to know the difference between the decent and the bad, which makes it important to buy from a trustworthy jeweller or dealer.

Emeralds have been popular since the times of the pharaohs and there are emerald mines in Egypt. There are also emerald mines in Siberia, Brazil, Zambia, Pakistan, South Africa, India and Australia amongst other places.

In spite of the fact that there appears to be numerous sources of emeralds, good quality gemstones are still hard to get hold of at a good price. However, there are no equivalents to emerald, so if you like the best, you can expect to pay handsomely for it.

As with all costly gemstones, you ought to get a signed certificate of weight and quality when you purchase an emerald.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with Amber in Poland. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Jewellry but Watches.

Blue and green are two of the most popular colours among people and with nature – the sea, water, the sky and plants are all green or blue or turquoise, a greeny-blue. Turquoise is the colour of the open sea. It is not a difficult colour to like and it matches with most colour schemes.

Turquoise is not a especially rare gemstone, but it is rare in its finest state. It is mined in many countries including the USA, Iran, India and China. The word turquoise derives from an old French word for Turkey or Turkish, because it was first imported into Europe from Iranian or Persian mines via Turkey.

Turquoise is easily smashed and is just slightly harder than glass, having a hardness of 6. Turquoise is one of the oldest mined gemstones and still, most of the world’s mines are small and hand-operated.

Some of the Iranian mines are 2,000 years old and still being worked. However, the oldest mines are on the Sinai Peninsular and they are known to be at least 3,000 years old as they were worked in the era of the pharaohs.

The colour fluctuates through greens and blues because of the existence or minerals. If there is more copper present the stone will be bluer and if there is aluminium or iron, it will become greener.

Iranian turquoise is among the best quality in the world and is used predominantly in the jewelery industry. Turquoise from some other locations, like the south-western states of America, is of inferior grade and is too chalky and powdery for this use.

Regrettably, chemists have discovered ways to enhance this gemstone, so that unless you are an expert or buying from a reliable source, you could easily end up buying low grade turquoise that has been treated. This is the case with other gemstones as well.

Some of the tricks that they get up to are:

Chemicals can be used to deepen the natural colour of the gem

Resin can be soaked into the pores of porous, friable, low-grade turquoise to ’stabilize’ it – ie prevent it flaking and crumbling.

Completely untreated, natural turquoise of pleasant appearance is very rare and so very costly. It would be very difficult to impossible for a layman to detect whether a stone has been treated or not, but you are not likely ever to come across any.

Whatever, quality of turquoise you have, you will have to take care of it because it is fairly soft, easily scratched and quite easily crushed to powder.

Therefore, do not leave it to rattle about in your bag and store it wrapped alone in a cool, dark box. Extremes of temperature may injure it as well. Turquoise is naturally porous, even if it has been drenched in resin, so do not permit oils or perfumes to soak into it.

If you need to wash a turquoise, you will require nothing but a soft fabric and warm, but not hot, water. Dry the stone immediately after washing with a second soft duster. Be cautious not to scratch the surface with the dirt that you are washing off.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, and is now concerned with Baby Birthstones. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry and Watches.

Mother of Pearl, also called nacre, is the lining seen on the inside of the shells of some molluscs. It is a white to pinkish iridescent layer that the inhabitant finds simple to glide over. Oysters are a prime source of Mother of Pearl for the purposes of jewelry.

Mother of Pearl comes in and out of fashion over the years, but is very closely associated with great-grandmothers and the 1920’s It tends to be jewelry that older women like. This may be because younger women are ignorant of it and its ghostly lustre.

Pearls are made of the same stuff that makes up Mother of Pearl, but Mother of Pearl is easier to harvest and is therefore less expensive. However, when it is presented properly by an expert, it is a wondrous sight. Real Mother of Pearl seems to have depth.

Being pearl in colour, Mother of Pearl matches very well with silver. In fact, it goes better with silver than with gold, the two most preferred metals utilized in jewelry throughout the ages. This off-sets the cost of the Mother of Pearl, making it really rather affordable.

Mother of Pearl is very soft and so easily damaged. On the Mohs scale of hardness it is around 3.5. Window glass is 5 and diamonds 10. Therefore, a craftsman working with nacre has to be very wary. This softness makes it easy to cut, but simple to damage too.

If you like natural Mother of Pearl, you will be limited to white and pinks to brown. However, nacre is easily dyed so you will find it in practically any and every colour. Not everybody wants it in non-natural colours though.

if you are buying nacre in a setting, the thing to look out for is the bond between the Mother of Pearl and the metal. Is there a visible space between the two? If so, there is a good chance that the nacre will work loose and fall out over time. If you are sure that you are looking at real nacre, this is the number one difficulty of bad workmanship.

However, there is also the difficulty of fake nacre. It is not unusual, however if you compare real nacre and fake nacre, the fake will stand out like a sore thumb. Therefore, it is worth borrowing some authentic nacre to take with you if you are in the market for it.

Because nacre is so soft it takes some looking after. Nacre should not be allowed to come into contact with any other objects because most things are harder than it. It will easily scratch, chip and flake, so wrap it separately when you are not wearing it.

If you have an expensive item, you ought to have it cleaned professionally as there are no cleaners that you can buy that will not be harmful if applied incorrectly. It is better to pay a little more than damage a nice item of Mother of Pearl jewelry

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, and is now concerned with Baby Birthstones. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Jewellry and Watches.

People like valuable gemstones for various reasons. Some store wealth in jewelry and precious metals, some wear then to show off their wealth and their self-perceived status, some believe that wearing their birthstone will bring them health, wealth and happiness and others wear them because they look nice.

Precious gemstones have always been sought after because of their value, but in older days, they were also valued for other reasons, such as being able to bestow good health. This belief persists among some people, but not so much in the West any more.

In the West, most people wear precious stones for their beauty and to exhibit status. In the East, people also wear precious gems to display status, but collect them because they do not traditionally trust banks.

And who could blame them in the light of the West’s recent experience with their financial banking crisis and the meteoric increase in the price of gold? There is almost certainly a lesson for us all here.

Anyway, apart from precious metals, there are precious stones and the most expensive of them are: emeralds, diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The order of the stones in value relies on the quality.

Diamonds of ordinary quality are worth more than emeralds of regular quality, but high quality emeralds are worth more than high quality diamonds, because it is hard to find emeralds without lots of faults, which are also known as ‘inclusions’.

Diamonds come in all sorts of colours from clear to ‘black’. Clear diamonds are what most people would want, but there are some very costly big coloured diamonds in yellow and blue.

The difficulty with gemstones is that their supply is closely regulated by cartels and governments, which keeps their price artificially high. Diamonds are the worst of the bunch in this respect.

De Beers controls a large proportion of the diamond market and was able to set prices for decades. The Argyle mine of Australia produces 7,000 kilos of brown diamonds, which were traditionally considered valueless for the purposes of jewelry.

However, due to a talented marketing campaign, brown diamonds are now considered valuable in Australia, although clear diamonds are still preferred in the remainder of the world.

Emeralds are a gorgeous green gemstone, but it is very hard to purchase a good one. Many emeralds have been doctored to look more valuable than they truly are, but this is true of diamonds as well.

If you like red gems, then a ruby is for you. Ruby is a description of the colour red and rubies can vary from blood red crimson to pink, but in general, the deeper the red the better. However, not all red stones that are sold as rubies are rubies, but you could have guessed that

Sapphire is normally a beautiful deep blue, but may also be pale blue to pink. Sapphires come mostly from the East, like Thailand, Russia but even North Carolina in the USA.

If you want to purchase any of these top gemstones, buy the best that you are able to afford, because you can pass them on to your children as an inheritance.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with Good Diamond Quality. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Jewellry but Watches.