Unique and Custom Jewelry by Gold Wolff Jewelers [Flagstaff Arizona]

~ Common Jewelry Definitions ~
 
This page features general information about Jewelry. We believe that it is important for our clients to know as much as possible about the art of Jewelry. Here we will provide common jewelry definitions to teach you about sizing, shapes, different stones, and a lot more. 

Misc. Stone information

 Stone Shape information Metal & Misc. information
· Akoya pearl- A pearl grown in colder waters around Southeast Asia and Japan. · Antique Cushion Cut – A particular faceting arrangement, squarish in shape, but with rounded corners, not pointed or clipped corners. · 8KT (or 333) - (not legally sold in the US, comes from Britain) is 33.3% pure gold.
· Baroque pearl – A baroque pearl is an unusually shaped pearl, not round, and not semi-round, usually knobby.

 

 · Baguette –  A long, slender faceting arrangement, rectangular in shape, used for diamonds as well as colored gems · 10KT  (or 4166) – 10 karat yellow or white gold;  it's 41.66 % pure gold.
· Carats – Carat is the weight of gemstones, equals 1/5 of a gram, or 5 carob seeds · Cabachon – A cab or cabachon is a gemstone cut in a rounded dome, with no facets, and a flat bottom. · 14KT (or 585) – 14 karat yellow or white gold; it's 58.5 % pure gold.
· Chatham – Chatham is a company that grew the first man made Emerald crystals, and they now grow Alexandrite and Sapphire.

 

 · Emerald Cut – An emerald cut stone (or E/C ) is a rectangle shape, with clipped corners · 18KT (or 750) – 18 karat yellow or white gold; it's 75 % pure gold.
· CZ - CZ stands for Cubic Zirconium, it is a man made material made to look like diamond (a diamond simulant)

 

 · Facet - The small flat areas on gem stones not cut in the cabachon style · .925 - Stands for 925 parts /thousand of pure silver in a given piece, other wise known as Sterling Silver
· FW pearl - FW stands for Fresh Water, these pearls are from a freshwater body, a lake or river vs. salt water oceans.

 

 · Fine Make – Faceting and proportions of a diamond that is very close to Ideal Proportions · Bezel – A bezel is a ring of metal around a stone to hold it tight and secure.
· Keshi pearl – A keshi pearl is a result or byproduct of the pearl nucleation process.  Technically, a keshi pearl has no nucleus, where a cultured pearl has a bead nucleus inserted by a technician.

 

 · Princess Cut – A faceting arrangement, square in outline, (with pointed corners)  with a Round Brilliant cut bottom or pavillion ·  Friction post – On an earring a friction post uses friction to hold the nut on.
· Mabe pearl - A Mabe pearl is a “pearl” that grew attached to the shell of the mussel/oyster.  Technically a blister on the inside of a shell, because it grew attached to the shell, as opposed to a pearl growing in the mantle tissue, and does not contain Arrogonite, the mineral inherent in Pearls.

 

 · RBC – Stands for Round Brilliant Cut, diamonds and colored gems are cut this way. It also has a certain number of facets, (numbers are different for diamonds vs. colored gems) · Karat – The karat of gold is different from the carat of gemstones, it is how much alloy (other metals) versus pure gold is in the metal.
· Moissanite – Originally found in meteorites in very small crystals, this material is grown in a lab, (to Mother Nature’s product), a diamond stimulant.

 

 .· T.G.W.- Stands for total gem weight, the weight of all the gems in a particular item of jewelry.

· T.W. – T.W. stands for total weight, referring to the total carat weight of a particular gem in a piece of jewelry.

 · MM – A unit of measurement, stands for Millimeters, there are 25.4 millimeters to an inch.
· Reconstituted (as in reconstituted Turquoise) – A material made from the "sawdust" of a particular gem species, compressed and glued together to form a cuttable material.

 

 ·  Trillion – For faceted or cabachon stones,  a trillion is a triangle shape with bowed edges · Pall – (or PD) Is short for palladium. Palladium is in the platinum family of metals, it’s a grayish-white metal, not as dense as Platinum, approximately the same density as 14 kt gold.
· SW pearl – SW stands for salt water, these pearls are from oceans. They are usually more expensive then the FW pearls, because they usually have a better luster to them ands are usually spherical in nature (not off-round).

 

 · T.W. – T.W. stands for total weight, referring to the total carat weight of a particular gem in a piece of jewelry. · Plat – (or PT) Is short for platinum. Platinum is a grayish white metal, very dense and very rare.
· Simulated – A simulated gem is any material meant to look like a gem stone, but does not have the same optical or physical properties as Mother Nature’s gems. For example - lab grown Spinel can mimic Sapphire, but since it is not Sapphire material, it can not be called Synthetic Sapphire, it must be called simulated Sapphire. Red Glass can look like a Ruby, but since glass does not have the same Optical and Physical properties of Ruby, it must be called Simulated Ruby.

 

 · Prongs – Prongs are fingers of metal that hold a gemstone tight and secure
· South Seas pearl - A pearl grown in warmer waters, generally on the North Coast of Australia, usually much larger than Akoya Pearls.

 

 · Screw post – On an earring a screw post has a nut that screws on and off, more secure than a friction post.
· Star (sapphire, ruby…) – A gemstone with a star in it refers to the effect of “phenomena”. Chatoyancy is the reflection of light from microscopic pieces of other minerals within the gemstone. A star is when there are multiple bands of light; a cat’s eye stone is similar, except it only has one band of light, vs. 4 or 6 rays in star gems.

· Synthetic – A synthetic gem stone is one that man grew in a lab, it is an actual gem stone crystal with the same optical, physical, and mineral properties as Mother Nature’s products.

 
· Tahitian pearl – A Tahitian pearl is a pearl that is grown in the waters surrounding Tahiti, (roughly 1200 square miles in the South Pacific) and are black or dark in body color, with different colors of luster or orient to them.

·Tourmilated Quartz – Tourmilated quartz is a piece of quartz crystal that grew around tourmaline crystals.

 

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