Archive for the 'School of Jewelry' Category

Tips For Buying Estate Jewelry For Your Mother

Auto Date Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Estate Jewelry is the perfect gift for your Mom whether it’s for Mother’s Day, her birthday, or Christmas. Mother’s will always enjoy a lovely piece of jewelry. But there are some things you should know before heading out to buy that jewelry to make sure you don’t pay too much or don’t land up with a fake piece of jewelry. Estate jewelry is always an excellent choice because your Mom may have personal attachments to a certain piece or style. Follow these tips for buying jewelry for your Mother.

Check around!
Quality jewelry isn’t cheap so before you even start shopping check around with co-workers, friends, and family and see which stores or web sites they recommend for purchasing fine jewelry from. Also take note of the ones they tell you to stay away from. Other peoples experiences are a great method of finding the best jewelry store available.
Get it Written Down
If you’ve been talking with a sales rep then have them write down all the information they’ve given you including the stores policy on refunds and returns. If you are buying online then print out all the detailed information supplied on the web site including contact information, return policies, and refund policies.

Watch The Markings
Gold plated is not 14 karat gold. Some might try to lead you to believe this but its just not so. 14K jewelry is made of 14 parts of gold combined with 10 parts of a base metal. Gold plated means that the cheaper base metal has simply had a layer of 10K gold bonded to it. Eventually the gold will wear away and leave you with the ugly base metal. How long it takes to wear away will depend on how well it is plated, how often you wear it, and how your skin reacts to it.

Watches
There are two different watch styles, the battery operated and the winding style. You’ll have to decide which type is best for your Mom. You’ll also want to find out how long the warranty is and what it covers. A personal experience with a higher end watch maker left me rather amazed. I had managed to wear the gold plating off the band which was listed in the life time warranty as covered. However upon sending it in for replacement I found out I had neglected to read the fine print that had a list of exclusions on the life time warranty. So the moral of the story is read and read it all. Don’t have a big surprise later on. That replacement band cost me half the value of the original purchase price. Ouch!

Understand Gems
You need to understand the different between a natural gem that comes from mother earth and a synthetic or laboratory created gem that is man made. To look at them side by side you cannot visually see any differences. But the biggest difference is in the price. Natural gems cost a great deal more. So if you really want a natural gemstone then you’ll have to pay more. When buying a natural gem make sure that you understand what you are getting. Natural gems can have treatments that enhance their beauty. Enhanced natural gems are not worth the same money as a natural natural gem and they may also require special treatment so that they don’t become damaged or loose their luster.

Pearls
You can buy beautiful real pearls and imitation pearls. Real pearls come from oysters or mollusks where imitation pearls are man made. Cultured pearls come from oysters or mollusks but man intervenes by adding an irritant to cause a pearl to grow within the shell. Pearls that are natural and not cultured are rare and very expensive and there really isn’t any difference except for mans little bit of intervention.

Diamonds
Diamonds are forever is deep in meaning. One being that a diamond will quite literally last forever. You need to consider cut, color, clarity, and weight when choosing a diamond. Each of these factors will affect the price of the diamond. Color can be graded on a scale but the scales are not consistent as there is no industry standard scale so make sure you understand the scale for the specific diamond you are looking at.

Chains
A chain is always a wonderful choice for a jewelry gift for your mother. Either gold or silver are excellent choices. Chains are available in many lengths so you can choose a length that is appropriate for your Mom. You can also boy many different styles from the very dainty to bold and noticeable. Add a pendant if you like.

Follow these tips for buying jewelry for your Mother and you’ll have purchased the perfect gift. So whether you purchase a new jewelry piece or a beautiful estate jewelry piece it will be treasured by your Mom for years to come.

Sher from Estate Jewelry International have been serving customers for over 20 years, providing affordable estate jewelry, and a wealth of information on jewelry, fashion, designers, and beauty with on staff industry professionals. Please visit us at Estate Jewelry International.

Sterling Silver Bracelets Shoppers Guide

Auto Date Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Sterling Silver jewelries have been a staple in the lives of many people since humans exposed the flexibility of silver and its several uses. Silver has been used for efficient and artistic purposes.

Silver is produced in various different areas, though the maximum concentrations of silver yield come from Mexico and Peru.

Sterling is a fusion of fine silver and other metal alloys. The purity of sterling silver is measured to be 92. %. 7 % of copper is mixed to make the jewelry for strong and long lasting. Sterling silver is more prone to smudge with time due to the presence of copper the presence of copper; though this comparatively not serious side effect can be lessened through suitable care. By cleaning your sterling silver bracelets at regular intervals you’ll never even observe anything other than a stunning polish and gleam.

The affordability and adaptability of the sterling silver jewelries is one of the main reasons for its popularity. Sterlingsilver can be crafted into a lot of different jewelry items including charms, rings and chains and bracelets. Silver jewelry is frequently mistaken for other new precious metals as well as white gold and platinum.

The sterling silver bracelets have been very popular among women. These bracelets are available in different shapes, sizes and styles. All of the different sterling silver bracelets make incredible and reasonably priced gifts for holidays, birthdays, or anniversaries or any other special occasion.

Below are the top five sterling silver bracelets:

Sterling silver Byzantine bracelet:

The rich Byzantine look is textured by the Polished silver links, which are woven together. This sterling silver bracelet is worn securely on the wrist and you can also pair it up with a matching necklace.

Sterling silver triple heart bracelet:

A sterling silver bracelet with three Italian-made sterling silver hearts that are estranged by lengths of sterling round-link chain. The hearts are about juicy looking and, when united with the chain, present the piece a subtle exterior. The bracelet closes up with a lobster-claw clasp.

Shoe Fetish Charm Bracelet:

Every shoe-lover must possess this bracelet. The bracelet is about seven inches in length and five shoe charms hang from the oval links of bracelet.

Charm bracelet with glittery purses

From the circular links glittery charm purses dangle which are studded with cubic zirconium. Sterling silver and rhodium plated.

Silver Nugget Grains with “Glowing Gourd” Charm

Two filaments of stocky silver grains make an elegant wrap for the wrist. The little nuggets are improved with an imprinted gourd-like charm that hangs near the clutch. Thai artisan Chalermkwan Veerasilp designed this sterling silver bracelet.

Apart from these five bracelets there are other sterling silver bracelets like Sterling Silver Bangle with Marcasites, Sterling Silver Script Name Bracelet, Sterling Silver Heart Clasp Bracelet, Sterling Silver Family Name Bracelet

All these are priced around 50 $.

Maintaining the silver bracelets:

After you purchase any sterling silver bracelet you must see to it there quality and shine is maintain. In order to do so, you must regularly clean sterling silver with a phosphate free detergent. A low coarse cleaner, such as 3M Tarni-Shield Silver Polish, is a good choice for removing light tarnish. Some people use toothpaste to clean their sterling silver, but most silver experts warn against it because they feel toothpaste is too rough and might lead to dullness of the bracelet.

Once you possess any of the top sterling silver bracelets you will realize that they are worth the money spent!

Choose the one that suits your style the most! Pick out the best silver sterling bracelet! Visit http://sterlingsilverjewelry.zupatips.com/ for more information.

Roy Dietelzieg had worked in the jewelry industry for years serving costumers from every background and writing his reflections on jewelry. Roy writes Sterling Silver Jewelry tips for ZupaTips.com