Through any combination of the techniques discussed here, by filing, buffing, drilling, etching, or in any other way of shaping the metal to his design, the craftsman finally produces a work of art. As with other artistic endeavors, each culture and each century has left its legacy of jewelry which tells us much of the state of the art and the taste of its devotees. Remarkably, the oldest gold ornaments we know were found in Spanish caves where they were left by their Paleolithic tenants. The famous wall paintings in these caves, and the crude, hammered gold amulets found in the cave sediments, date from about 40,000 B.C. Certainly, gold jewelry was one of the first metals found by man. His copper and iron creations perished with use and age but the chemically inert gold persisted and so developed a place for itself as a special metal for special religious and secular purposes.

Silver is a very pop

Under United States’ law the price of gold is set at $35 per “fine” or 24-karat ounce. This price is carefully controlled and is applicable to gold used for monetary transactions between countries. A free market in gold also exists in which the price wedding band sets fluctuates somewhat. Except in periods of heavy speculation or international monetary stress the free price hovers close to the controlled price. Because gold is expensive there is a large demand for “gold-filled” and “gold-plated” objects, which cost less but maintain the appearance and wear-resistance of gold. The two terms—filled and plated—are somewhat confusing to the jewelry buying public. In simplest terms, the difference lies in the thickness of the coating of gold applied to a base of some other metal, such as copper. Plating can apply a layer of gold as thin as %oo,ooo of an inch. Because this layer is so thin, the jewelry item will have the appearance of gold, but it will not survive much abrasion or hard wear. A matching wedding bands gold-filled object has a much thicker coating. It may bear a notation such as 1/10—14K. This means that the surface layer is 14-karat gold and that it makes up one-tenth of the total weight of the metal. This is a much more durable coat, suitable for most jewelry work.

Gold leaf has very little direct application in metal jewelry but has been used at times as a precious covering for wood or metal objects, to which it is applied by beating while hot or by use of various adhesives. Thicker sheet gold lends itself handily to jewelry work. Gold chasing and repousse, using gold sheet, offer the craftsman considerable opportunity to express himself in a yielding medium. Chasing is done with small, rod-like hand tools—these days they are made of steel—which are used to press the desired design into the sheet. The sheet is held against a lead block or against a specially prepared pitch, and the shaping or ornamentation is produced by tapping the hard chasing tool against the gold with a light hammer. The process requires artistic ability, skill, and patience. Repousse is the same process except that the work is done from the back of the object rather than by chasing against its face. Gold is used in diamond stud earrings or diamond bracelets.

At the moment jewelry making has at its command all the techniques for working gold, silver, platinum, and several other metals into almost any form imaginable. It has available the widest possible range of natural gems from all over the world, synthetic gems of many colors and characteristics, as well as glasses, plastics, and ceramics of every type. Best of all, wedding bands there has been a surge of interest among artists and craftsmen of the highest stature to work in this medium. At the same time, a widespread interest in the hobby of gem cutting and jewelry making has spread among thousands o\ people who have the leisure and the means required. Altogether wedding bands it seems to be the magic moment for important new things to deveiop in this very ancient art form.

Soldering is a process for using still another metal or alloy which has a lower melting point but which is compatible with the metals to be fastened. A “hard” solder of diamond wedding bands is an alloy selected to make a very strong bond and which has a higher melting point. Such solders are used for silver, gold, and platinum work. “Soft” solders are low-melting-point tin-lead alloys. These are generally used by electricians and plumbers. The joint to be soldered, in any case wedding bands, is cleaned thoroughly. A “flux,” an easily melted substance such as borax, is applied. It melts and covers the joint, preventing oxidation as the required high heat is applied. An appropriate amount of solder is added to the joint and melted in to make a permanent union. There are numerous special methods used to solder diverse kinds of objects and there are numerous solders to go with them. However, basically the process is this simple. Platinum, unlike gold and silver, has a very high melting point (3224°F.) and does not oxidize at high temperatures, so joints can actually be welded—melted together—rather than soldered. Some gold diamond jewelry metal alloys contain a percentage of copper. After exposure to the heat of soldering, objects made of these alloys will blacken because of the formation of copper oxide. This “fire scale,” as it is called, can be removed quickly by “pickling”—bathing in an acid solution which dissolves the black copper oxide and any excess, now-hardened flux.

Engraving tools are similar to chasing tools but the variously shaped instruments are finished to a sharp edge. This is essential because, unlike chasing, the idea is to scribe, or cut, the metal rather than shape it. The tools are set in wood handles, since the engraving is done by hand. Designs of wedding bands are transferred to the metal and are carefully cut out by the engraver.
Chasing, repousse, and engraving are methods giving relief to flat surfaces. Filigree, or wire work, adds still another dimension to goldsmithing. Gold can be formed easily into wire of various dimensions. The wire can even be patterned or beaded by pressing it in hard metal molds. Very thin wire, either molded or plain, can then be shaped, twisted, braided, and soldered of wedding bands jewelry into almost unlimited configurations. These forms, in turn, can be soldered to a gold sheet backing, or to each other if more open filigree designs are wanted. The general effect of filigree is one of delicacy.

Platinum occupies the other end of the value scale. Its price fluctuates, too, but at its best it is at least twice as much as gold and may be five or six times higher. Platinum, like the other noble metals, is very ductile and malleable, and it can be cast. It can also be forged and welded because it has a very high melting point compared to gold and silver. Usually about 10 percent iridium, a rather rare metal, is alloyed with platinum to contribute hardness. Although platinum is more difficult to work, because of its very high melting point, its great strength, good color, and absolute resistance to chemical attack make it ideal for use with expensive gems, such as antique diamond jewelry.

Since the pure metal is too soft to stand up under the punishment it gets in everyday wear, it is usually alloyed with other metals, such as silver, copper, nickel, and zinc. These can be chosen to give the gold its popular tints of yellow, white, green, and red while they increase its hardness. The quantity of gold in an alloy is indicated by the term “karat.” Pure gold is 24 karat. Fourteen-karat gold, for instance, contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of other metals to make a total of 24 parts. Sometimes gold diamond rings financing is graded as to its “fineness,” based on how many parts out of 1000 are gold. An alloy of 85 percent gold and 15 percent copper would be 850 fine. Yellow gold alloys contain silver, copper, and zinc. White gold has nickel instead of silver. Red-gold tints are produced by using more copper and less silver than in yellow gold. Green-gold alloys require the reverse: more silver and less copper than in the formula for yellow gold

Gold is so inactive chemically that quantities of it are taken directly from nature as a nearly pure yellow metal. Even in its natural deposits it has been able to resist combination with other elements. Most gold is stored in national treasuries in the form of bars for use in the settlement of international trade and credit balances. However, increasing amounts of new and reprocessed gold are bought each year for use in the jewelry diamond financing wholesale industry. Even when alloyed with other metals, gold retains its remarkable malleability and ductility. It is so malleable that one ounce can be beaten or pressed thin enough to cover an area thirteen feet square. Its ductility is so great that the metal can be drawn into wires as fine as ^ooo of an inch in diameter. These extremes of workability are far beyond the needs of the jeweler, but assure that gold can meet any demands made of it.

If a list was made of favorable characteristics for a suitable jewelry metal it would certainly include requirements for beauty as well as high resistance to wear and chemical attack. Such a metal would have to be workable into complex forms. It should be generally available, but not so common as to be uninteresting. Surprisingly few metals meet all these qualifications to any degree. Gold diamond jewelery places first; silver and platinum just about complete the list. These three metals and their alloys—mixtures with baser metals—are exclusively the metals of quality jewelry. Relatively minor amounts of the bright and durable metals palladium, ruthenium, and rhodium are also pressed into service with the noble metals. An indication of the difference in attitude toward these noble metals is the fact that they are customarily not even weighed by the same system. Gold, platinum, and silver are measured by troy weight, while copper and others are scaled with standard avoirdupois weights. A troy ounce is about 10 percent heavier than an avoirdupois ounce and there are only twelve ounces in a troy pound. For everyday use we are much more accustomed to the sixteen lighter ounces in an avoirdupois pound.

In a narrow sense discount diamond jewelry can be defined as gems or gemstones mounted in noble metals to enhance their beauty and to make them practical for personal adornment. Increasingly, it has become necessary to consider as jewelry certain noble metal fabrications which contain no gems at all. Such an idea predates us by several thousand years. Further, the metals may be enameled or set with imitation or synthetic stones. Indeed, the metals need not be precious. At times, copper, stainless steel, brass, and plastics of various kinds elbow their way into this elite company. Even so, the prime pieces of modern jewelry, as in several centuries past, use real gemstones—the more precious the better—and the noble metals.

One would be hard pressed to . justify jewelry as anything A other than a luxury. Of I course, jewelry is an ex-” travagance but so are many things in any stable, wealthy society that has reached an advanced state, of culture. Flowers, costume, furniture, paintings, automobiles, and other coveted objects all belong, at least partially, in the luxury category. Jewelry at times has been appreciated as a necessity, too. There have been periods in history when jewelry was as necessary as food, clothing, and shelter. One was required to wear some jeweled ornament as a badge of rank, to diamond jewelry advertise economic solvency, or to cure, or prevent, a threatening disease or disaster. In contrast, our present attitudes about jewelry seem based on ideas of rarity and beauty, the dictates of fashion, and a happy state of mind, rather than on feelings of necessity. The old French words jouel and diamond engagement rings , or joiel, which have given us our word “joy,” may also be the origin of “jewel”; It is interesting also to see the similarity of the word jouer—to play. What could be more appropriate to our own concept of jewelry than to think of a jewel as a pleasurable plaything?