Glossary
Just like in other sectors, there are a lot of jewellery descriptions and specific terms which you might not know and would like to know more about. Our jewellery glossary will give you an overview as well as some additional information on on the most common jewellery and ring terminologies. Glamira glossary ranges from the different kinds of metals and alloys to diamond cuts and other technical jewellery terms. Let yourself be inspired by our wide selection!
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Alloy
an alloy is a mixture of different metals. In the case of precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium or platinum the manufacturing usually takes place after the metals have already been alloyed.
Aurum
aurum is the Latin term for gold with the chemical element "AU". This precious metal was one of the first known metals. Since pure gold or gold is very soft and therefore extremely prone to scratches, it is alloyed with other metals such as copper, silver and palladium.
Baguette
a diamond cutting style which is rectangular. Usually seen as accent stone.
Bi-colour
Two-coloured; the colour of the ring (metal colour) can either be of one, two or more colours, In this case one would talk of multi-coloured.
Brilliant Cut
This is the superlative cut for a gemstone, in most cases a diamond. This cut shows off the diamonds depth, magnificence and particularly ist maximum light refelxion.
Carat
Carat is a unit of weight for all kinds of gemstones and diamonds.
Clarity
Clarity regards to the amount and size of faulty or imperfect sots which appear on almost every diamond. These faulty areas are so tiny that they do not have an effect on the beauty of a diamond.
Colour
Only some diamonds are colourless or even white. They usually have an intense to have a yellow, brown or grey shed. It is essential, the weaker the colour the more precious the diamond. Often they only differ in little nuances, which cannot be perceived by untrained eye. It has been established an internationally recognised colour level chart to classify them: Read more
Cut
The value factors Colour, Clarity and Carat are largely given by nature in contrast to the Cut which is determined by man. Cut refers to the cut design, proportions and symmetry of a diamond. An inaccurate cut can cause that the diamond reflects less light, or shows no coloured sparkle at all. Diamonds can be cut in diverse shapes. However, only the classic brilliant cut is acknowledged worldwide as the standard of evaluation.
Diamond
In Greek – adámas – meaning unbreakable. Diamonds are the oldest gemstones and hardest raw materials on earth, also used for decorative purposes. Diamonds consist of crystallized carbon, which was created millions of years ago under immense heat (about 1,250 °) under high pressure (40-60 atmospheres) at a depth of 150-200 km, in the melting pot of glowing lava. Volcanic eruptions threw the raw crystals to the surface. Most diamonds are over 100 million years old. Read more
Diamond Engraving
Diamond engraving is a common method when it comes to jewellery. Thereby the material is not cut but suppressed which is why the colour of the surface can be maintained. In this way engraving can be made on curves as well without any problems. Moreover this way of engraving ensures a high quality and stability of the actual engraving for which reason it is especially qualified for very fine motives.
Doublet
A gemstone which consists of a combination of either simulated materials or natural gemstones.
Eternity Ring
Eternity rings symbolise everlasting love and are common gifts for an anniversary. A typical landmark for eternity rings is the numerous diamonds or gemstones which are set around the complete band.
Engagement Ring
Engagement rings are worn prior to the actual wedding by both the bride and groom to be. Diamond solitaires are one of the most common engagement ring types. Anyhow engagement rings can be of any colour just as the stone type.
Flat Court
This refers to the ring profile. A flat court and a comfortable court fit due to a light curve on the interior are typical characteristics of a flat court
Filigree
Derives from filum granum = granulated wire. Filigree jewellery are decorative wires with complex patterns which are mostly twisted.
Gemstone
Gemstones are beautiful minerals which are used to make jewellery. But before jewellery can be made, gemstones need to be cut and polished.
Gold
Also known as aurum this is Latin and stands for gold. Gold is a precious metal and in its pure status too soft to be worn in every-day life. Consequently it needs to be alloyed with other metals such as silver, palladium or cooper.
Gold alloy
Common are alloys with a standard portion of 333, 585 and 750. This means that by 1000 parts of metal 585 parts of pure gold are included. A ring can never consist of pure gold, as the metal itself is very soft and would scratch quickly. To avoid this, the gold is alloyed with other metals. By alloying gold the material becomes harder and it can be achieved a variety of color variations, such as white gold, yellow gold and rose gold.
Granulation
Granulation is a structure-surface technology which combines shapes and welds little beads of silver or gold to ornaments - one of the oldest techniques to process the surface.
Hallmark
Precious metals such as gold or silver must be marked and registered with the so called manufacture’s hallmark.
Illusion Setting
A gemstone or diamond in a finger ring in which the stone is placed in a collet to improve the apparent size of the actual stone.
Jade
A term which applies to two different minerals – jadeite and nephrite. These two minerals consist of different chemical compositions. The most known and valuable colour of jadeite is green.
Keeper Ring
This term is equitable to the expression guard ring.
Laser Engraving
The laser engraving is a relatively new method of engraving. Using this technique the top layer of the engraved material is being removed accurately. Consequently, the motif is replaced by the colour of the core material. Due to laser engraving, engraving can be made very precisely.
Metal
Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium, Titanium or Stainless Steel are all metals
Multisizer
A multisizer works just like a belt . In order to measure your ring size you need to push the open end through the buckle up to receiving a ring shape. Now slip the sizer onto your ring finger and adjust it. Note that it is not too tight nor to loose. It should just slip over your knuckle. Like this you are able to determine teh correct ring size.
Navette
Navette is a cutting style for a precious stone which is also called marquise. The cut is characterized by an oval and tapered shape and is mainly used for transparent stones.
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element being used in connection with alloys for thousands of years. Especially silver and white gold can contain up to 20% nickel regading alloy.
Oxidation
An oxidation is a chemical reaction of a substance with oxygen. A consequence of oxidation is a dark surface. In most cases this happens when silver jewellery encounters with air.
Opal
A solid, transparent gemstone, always cut en cabochon and at times carved.
Oval
A cutting style for gems. As the oval cut is a version of the round cut (brilliant), it also looks similar to the brilliant cut.
Palladium
Palladium is a rare metal which belongs to the platinum group. It inhabits comparable properties as platinum except for the weight. Palladium is lighter. In regard of jewellery is mostly alloyed with silver or gold.
Pavé
Setting stones in paving-like patterns. Gemstones are usually held by small claws typically with holes drilled through the setting.
Princess
A square cutting style for a diamond. With 144 facets, the Princess-cut is one of the most costly cutting types.
Platinum
The name derives from the Spanish word platina, a diminutive of plata (= "Silver").
- Chemical symbol: "Pt"
- Density of 21:45 g / cc
- Melting point is 1773 °.
Platinum is considered as the noblest and most precious metal, but also as the most expensive. It is very rare and difficult to forge.
Quartz
A gemstone species. Some of the most known types are amethyst and citrine.
Ring Sizer
A tool for measuring and defining ones ring size. Read more
Rose Gold
Rose gold is produced by alloying mainly copper to gold - and possibly some silver, which will make the processing easier. The shade of rose gold is comparable to copper.
Silver
In nature, silver occurs in solid (pure) form, but it can also be alloyed with other metals, such as gold, copper, bismuth, etc. Silver is mostly alloyed with copper.
- Chemical symbol: "Ag" (Latin argentums)
- Denisty 10.50 g/cc
- Melting point 960 °
Shape
The shape describes a diamond’s form and appearance, for example round, princess, emerald, oval or radiant. All of these shapes have a different form and other different attributes.
Slight Court
Refers to the ring profile which is slightly rounded on the inner and the outer court.
Sterling Silver
Just like with gold, pure silver is quite soft and therefore easily malleable. Consequently pure silver is prone to damages which is why it is combined with other metals to become a more robust metal. In this case the most common method is to alloy pure silver with sterling silver. Sterling Silver consist of silver and cooper.
Sterling-Silber 925
Zur Schmuckherstellung wird Sterling-Silber bevorzugt. Sterling-Silber bzw. 925er Silber ist eine Legierung aus reinem Silber und anderen Metallen, normalerweise Kupfer. Es ist die wichtigste Silberlegierung, mit einer festgelegten Feinheit von 925 auf 1000 Teilen, und wird unter anderem auch zur Herstellung von Münzen und Besteck verwendet.
Solitaire
Is a diamond, which is set separately in a ring. Other gemstones that are set separately just like a diamond are also called solitaires, such as ruby, sapphire or emerald solitaires.
Titanium
Titanium (Ti) is due to its low density a very light metal. It is much harder than aluminium and magnesium. It shines naturally silver, is very light, but still firm, elastic, resistant to corrosion and heat resistant.
Traditional Court
A heavy rounded inner and outer ring court.
Tri-colour
Also called multi-coloured rings such as a mixture of Rose-/White and Yellow Gold.
Tungsten
Also known as Wolfram with the chemical symbol W and a density of 19.3 g / cm ³.In its pure state it is a supple, well-formable metal. For these reasons, it is mostly used as filament in light bulbs.
Under Construction
Victorian Jewellery
Victorian jewellery has its name due to Queen Victoria’s reign.
White Gold
White gold itself does not exist, it needs to be produced. As a result it needs to be alloyed with other metals to obtain the white colour. Initially mostly nickel was used to obtain white gold. But since nickel can cause allergic reactions in some cases, manganese or palladium are used instead. Manganese leads to a slight yellowish shade, palladium eliminates it and the jewellery is getting darker which is why it is also called "grey gold".
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Yellow Gold
Yellow gold depicts most the original colour of pure gold. It is usually alloyed with an equal percentage of copper and silver. This has a great influence on the colour of the metal. A decreasing gold content also reduces the depth of the yellow tone. A bright yellow can be achieved with visible silver content up to a yellow-orange shade.
Zirconicum
Cubic Zirconia (CZ) are man-made/synthesized crystals. Due to the favourable price they are often used as imitations for diamond jewellery. A good zirconium stone can barely be distinguished from a diamond just by looking at it. A widespread phenomena are zirconium stones with brilliant cut.