Jewelry Terms

Jewelry Glossary

To make an informed decision when buy jewelry we have created a glossary of terms specific to the jewelry industry. We don't make claim that it covers all the terms in the jewelry business but it should go along way in educating the general public toward understanding jewelry.

Alloy:
An homogeneous mixture of two or more metals.

Carat:
Diamond Carat refers to the weight of a diamond. The more carats the greater the size of the diamond.

Clarity:
The clarity of a diamond measures the degree of light passing through the diamond. The whiter the diamond the greater the value. The more yellow the les value.

Cultured Pearls:
Cultured pearls occur when someone inserts a  mother-of-pearl bead or other shapes into a mollusk. With the passing of time they become coated with nacre. The size of the cultured pearl depends on how long the foreign objects are left in the mollusk before harvesting.

Cut:
A diamond cut deals with the quality rather than the shape of the diamonds.

Gold Filled Jewelry:
A piece of jewelry with a sheet of gold applied to its surface. Newer items contain markings that indicate how much and what type of gold was used in the layer. A marking of 1/20 12K G.F. means that the piece is at least 1/20th 12K gold by weight.

Gold Plated:
A piece of jewelry that has a very thin layer of gold applied to it. The thin layer normally wears away more quickly than gold in a higher quality gold filled piece of jewelry.

Heat treatment:
Heat treatment is used to change or intensify the color of a gemstone. The change alters a stone's structure and is typically permanent but not always.

Karat:
A karat when referring to gold deals with the quality or purity of the gold. For example: 24 karat gold (24K) means pure gold. Another other measurement is relative to the 24 karat standard. Such as 18 karat gold is 18 part of true gold while 6 parts comprise another metal or even metals. 18 + 6 = 24.  14 karat gold is 14 parts gold and the rest is some other metal(s). 10 karat gold is 10 parts gold, 14 parts metal(s) and is an American minimum standard meaning anything less than 10K cannot be called gold.

Laser Drilling:
Laser drilling is a process used to remove inclusions from diamonds.

Patina:
The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use.

Silver:
Has the symbol Ag. A lustrous white malleable metal highly valued for its use in jewelry, tableware, coinage, photography, dental and soldering alloys. It is also the symbol of a 25th anniversary. Lustrous metallic gray.

Silverplated:
Silver plating is a layer of silver bonded to a base metal.

Sterling Silver:
A precious metal that contains 92.5% silver. Silver products sometimes may be marked 925 which means that 925 parts per thousand are pure silver.

Vermeil (ver-may):
Is a special type of gold plated product, consisting of a base of sterling silver that is coated or plated with gold.

White Gold:
An alloy of gold and nickel sometimes also containing palladium or zinc. It has a platinum like appearance.