Tag: Gemstones

Every Trinket File guide tagged gemstones: settings, judging stones, pearls and organic gems, and the care each one needs.

A velvet jewellery box holding a tray of silver rings

Caring for Jewellery at Home: Cleaning, Storage and Wear

Very little jewellery is ruined by cleaning. A great deal is ruined by wearing it in the wrong places, storing it in a heap, and cleaning it with something more aggressive than it needed. The right ap

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A silversmith at a workshop bench with hammers and stakes behind him

Resizing and Repairing Jewellery: What a Workshop Can Do

Most jewellery can be repaired and much of it can be resized. The useful question is not whether something is possible in principle but whether it is sensible for this piece, which depends almost enti

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Gold rings set with coloured stones along the band

Settings Explained: Prongs, Bezels, Channels and Pave

A setting is usually chosen for how much of the stone it leaves visible. That is the wrong criterion, or at least an incomplete one. The setting is the structure that holds a brittle stone inside a me

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An open pearl oyster shell holding a single pearl

Pearls and Organic Gemstones: Judging and Care

Pearls and the other organic materials used in jewellery are graded with language borrowed from diamonds, which is where the confusion starts. A mineral stone is judged on colour, clarity and cut, and

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A ten-times jeweller's loupe on a plain surface

Judging a Stone: What You Can Check and What You Cannot

The gemstone trade runs on the gap between how a stone looks and what it actually is. Colourless stones can be diamond, moissanite, cubic zirconia or glass, and the difference is invisible to the nake

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