Day: December 1, 2017

Traditional Genuine Birthstones:

Daily Care
As an organic gem, pearls are vulnerable to chemicals found in cosmetics, hair spray, and perfume. To preserve the luster of your pearls, always put on your jewelry after applying make-up and styling products.

Pearls can also be harmed by perspiration. Before placing your pearls back in the jewelry box, wipe them gently with a soft cloth.

Storage

Contact with other jewelry may scratch pearls. Avoid tangles by fastening clasps, then lay each jewelry piece in a separate compartment of your jewelry box. When traveling, use a protective jewelry pouch or wrap each item in a soft cloth. Pearls can dehydrate when stored too long, so enjoy them frequently.

Cleaning
Never use an ultrasonic cleaner on your pearls. It can damage their nacre. Occasionally wipe your pearls gently with a cloth dipped in mild, soapy water. Then rinse the cloth in fresh water and wipe the pearls clean. Dry them with a soft cloth.
If pearls come into contact with an acid substance such as fruit juice, vinegar, or other chemicals, immediately wipe clean with a soft cloth. Be careful not to submerge your pearls in water as this will weaken the silk thread.

Maintenance
From time to time, check the clasps or screws holding your jewelry together. With frequent wear, even well cared for pearls may loosen and they will require restringing.

Selecting Pearls
Pearls are classified by origin and then graded by size, shape, nacre thickness, color, luster, and surface clarity. These qualities are not considered to be of equal importance when arriving at the final grade. When selecting pearls, be familiar with the Five Virtues of pearls to assist you in selecting your ideal pearl. However, the most important thing to remember when selecting a pearl is that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Luster
For cultured pearl experts, luster is the single most important indicator in evaluating pearl quality. Luster is what separates the superior from the inferior and the extraordinary from the ordinary. Throughout history, this unique attribute has separated pearls from all other gems. Luster describes the beauty you see as light travels through the nacre of the pearl. Luster derives from the pearl’s countless layers of pearl nacre, the natural pearly substance that forms the body of the pearl itself. It is the nacre of the pearl that causes light to refract from the depths of the nacreous layers through minute prisms, giving each pearl its unique lustrous appearance. Stuller only supplies pearls of excellent luster, due to the quality and thickness of the nacre. Importantly, the luster of these pearls is natural and untreated, and their beauty will not diminish over time if cared for properly.

Complexion
Pearls may have surface characteristics, which may or may not detract from the pearl’s beauty depending on the quality, depth, or visibility of the blemishes. Pearl nacre is a beautiful matrix of calcium carbonate crystal laid on tile-like formation by the oyster. The appearance of the nacre is determined by several factors including whether the calcium crystals are flat or prismatic, the perfection with which the tiles are laid, and the fineness and number of tiles. When the tiles are laid in a perfectly uniform pattern the nacre will appear identical over the entire pearl surface, thus creating the flawless pearl.

Nature is not normally flawless and some tiles may be imperfectly laid. This results in surface blemishes and imperfections beneath the nacre’s surface. The effect on the pearl’s beauty depends on the degree of visibility of these imperfections. This is described as the pearl’s complexion.

Surface complexion quality refers specifically to the abundance or absence of physical blemishes or marks. When evaluating complexion (the trade uses terms such as blemish, spotting, and cleanliness), remember that cultured pearls are grown by live oysters in a natural environment. As such, there are many uncontrollable forces that affect the surface.

Size
Cultured pearls are measured by their diameter in millimeters. They can be smaller than one millimeter in the case of tiny seed pearls or as large as twenty millimeters for a mature South Sea pearl. The larger the pearl, other factors being equal, the more valuable it will be.

Shape
Classic shapes range in descending order of value from round to near-round, and from oval to drop. More contemporary shapes include circlé and baroque. Popularity of certain shapes or the rarity of others can result in a premium price for particular shapes. It’s important to understand that in pearl industry terms, the shapes from round to drop are pretty symmetrical, while anything baroque denotes a pearl that is completely asymmetrical or freeform. These unusual shapes usually occur in Japanese cultured pearls as well as Tahitian, S outh Sea, and freshwater pearls.
The photographs of the shapes shown are representative samples of the various shapes and qualities available. As a product of nature, each pearl is rare and unique. The pearls you purchase may not look exactly like the images shown.

Color
Cultured pearls come in a variety of colors from rosé to black. The desirability of different pearl colors is a matter of individual taste. The most popular color is white or white with slight overtones. Pearls that are naturally colored, rather than color enhanced by artificial means, will add value to the pearl. Most South Sea cultured pearls offered by Stuller have natural color and luster and are not enhanced.

AGTA Codes:

Caring for your Gemstone from AGTA

Gems are among the most durable of nature’s creations. With a little care, they will be as beautiful for generations to come as they are
today. Keep in mind these gem care tips.

The best way to clean your gemstone jewelry is in a bowl of water with a few drops of ordinary dish detergent. Using an old toothbrush or other soft brush, scrub
gently behind the stone where dust and soap can collect. Then just rinse and pat dry with a soft cloth.

A home ultrasonic cleaner should be used with extreme caution. It can be used to clean Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Amethyst, Citrine, Garnet, Chrysoberyl, and
unadorned gold jewelry, but it may damage gems like Coral, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Pearls, Peridot, Tanzanite, Tourmaline, Turquoise, and any gem that has
many inclusions. When in doubt, don’t use it.

Remove your jewelry before vigorous activities.

Everyday household items can ruin your gemstone jewelry. Make sure you don’t expose your gems to the chemicals in cleaning products, hair care products,
fragrances and cosmetics.

When getting dressed, put your jewelry on last. At the end of the day, take your jewelry off first. Store your jewelry in a cloth-lined box or pouch and keep them
away from other jewelry, which might scratch them.

Traditional Wedding Anniversary Stones:

About Gold
Pure gold (fine gold) is softer than pure silver but harder than tin. Its beauty and luster are unmatched by any alloyed golds. The extreme malleability, ductility, and softness of pure gold make it practically useless for jewelry applications.

Alloying elements (other metals) are added to gold to increase the toughness and hardness of the gold alloy. While almost any metal can be alloyed (melted) with gold, only certain metals will not dramatically change the color or make the metal brittle. The addition of indium, for instance, turns gold purple and gives gold alloy the workability of glass.

Over time, certain percentages of gold have become legally recognized “karats.” The karat indicates the amount of gold as a percentage of the total, i.e. 24 karat is 100 percent gold. Thus 14 karat is 14/24 gold or 58.33 percent gold. Gold standards vary around the world. In the United States, 24, 22, 18, 14, and 10 karat gold are the only karats allowed to be sold as karated gold.

In karated gold, there is a known proportion of metals in the non-gold percentage. These metals provide the various colors and hardness of karated golds.

Typical alloying elements and their color effect are:

• Copper Reddening
• Silver Greening
• Zinc Bleaching
• Nickel Whitening
• Palladium Whitening

Examples of the compositions of different colors are

• Yellow: Gold, copper, silver, zinc
• White: Gold, copper, nickel (or palladium), zinc
• Red: Gold, copper
• Green: Gold, silver

Adjusting the proportions of base metals (non-precious metals) provides the array of colors on the market. They also enhance properties such as castability, grain size, hardness, corrosion resistance, workability, ultimate strength, and ductility. These additions can dramatically change the properties of the karated gold for better or worse.

Knowing how the additions will affect the karated gold greatly enhances the possibility of a superior final product. In deep drawing of metals, it is important to have a metal which will elongate or stretch a great deal before fracturing, thus high ductility. The requirement for an earring post would be a high tensile strength (a great deal of force needed to get the material to permanently deform or bend). It is
imperative to select the proper karated composition for the desired application.

PLATINUM VS. WHITE GOLD
Platinum and white gold are two very different metals. The biggest differences between platinum and white gold are that platinum is a naturally white metal, and is more dense and durable. The difference in cost is primarily due to platinum’s rarity and higher level of purity in platinum jewelry. When comparing costs, keep in mind the maintenance required for white gold over a lifetime, such as rhodium plating to
keep it white and reshanking and retipping the prongs. Platinum may be a higher investment initially, but its enduring nature makes it the best value in the long run.

Platinum Technical:
Platinum Alloys

• Pt950/Ruthenium (Ru) is the best choice for multipurpose use. It is ideal for machining and fabrication. Casting will deliver good results.
• Pt950/Cobalt (Co) has a very fine grain and is ideal for casting. It is slightly Ferro-magnetic and oxidizes at about 1000˚C. The oxidation can be easily removed.
• 90/10 Platinum/Iridium (Pt/Ir) is a comprehensive platinum alloy. It can be used for all applications, but is best suited for fabrication.
• 95/5 Platinum/Iridium (Pt/Ir) is a fabrication alloy. It has high malleability and work-hardens rapidly. It is great for die striking, but it is not well suited for casting
  because of its low hardness.
• Pt950 heat-treatable alloys are ideal when spring action is needed or a harder product is desired. The hardening feature gives these all oys great flexibility

Color Grade:
With the exception of fancy-colored diamonds, the most valuable diamonds are those with the least color. Although many people think of gem quality diamonds as colorless, completely colorless diamonds are very rare.
The diamond color scale ranges from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow or brown).

A diamond’s color is determined by a manual process of comparing the diamond to a master set. Each letter grade represents a range of color and is a measurement of how noticeable a color is. When diamonds are formed with traces of other minerals, rare and beautiful colors can result. These “fancy” colors range from blue and brilliant yellow to red, brown, pale green, pink, and violet. Because of their rarity, colored diamonds are highly desirable and typically more valuable.

Clarity:
A term used to describe the absence or presence of internal or external flaws in a gemstone.

In-depth description:
Tiny surface blemishes or internal inclusions, even those seen only under magnification, can alter the brilliance of the diamond and thus affect its value. Clarity levels begin with flawless (FL, IF), followed by very, very slight (VVS1, VVS2), very slight (VS1, VS2), slightly included (SI1, SI2), and included (I1, I2, and I3)

Cut:
While cut does include shape, in terms of the 4 Cs it refers to the proportions of the cut. A diamond’s cut grade is an objective measure of a diamond’s light performance, or the amount of sparkle a diamond has.

A diamond’s overall proportions, as well as the size and position of its facets, make up the cut. The consistency and balance of these can greatly affect how the stone captures light and reflects it back to the eye. When a diamond is cut with the proper proportions, light enters the diamond and is returned through the top of the diamond. If a diamond is too shallow, light will escape from the bottom of the stone. If it is cut too deep, light will escape out the sides.

Studies have been conducted to find the optimum proportions of a diamond’s cut so that it has the greatest amount of sparkle. If its cut falls within these parameters, it is considered an ideal cut. Diamonds with fine proportions, symmetry and polish optimize their interaction with light and have increased brilliance, dispersion, and s cintillation.

Carat:
Carat refers to a diamond’s weight. One carat, the traditional unit of measurement for diamonds, is approximately 0.2 grams (200 milligrams).
You may also hear the weight of a diamond referred to in points. One carat is equivalent to 100 points, so a 75-point diamond is equal to 0.75 carats. Because they are rare, larger diamonds have greater value per carat, so the price of a diamond rises exponentially to its size.

• 1 carat = 31⁄16 grains Troy
• 1 carat = .007 oz. Avoir
• 1 carat = 1⁄5 gram

The carat is further divided into points for simple measurement:

• 1 carat = 100 points
• 1⁄2 carat = 50 points
• 1⁄4 carat = 25 points
• 1⁄8 carat = 12 1⁄2 points