Quality Criteria
What is important in a piece of jewelry?
Material Criteria:
The alloy content has to be right. For example, 18 karat jewelry has to have at least 750/000 of pure gold in the alloy. Stones have to be real, genuine stones. These two things are difficult for the average customer to test. The bottom line is that you have to trust your jeweler. Just make sure you deal with honest people. This is probably the most important rule to follow when you deal in jewelry and gems.
The other things that you should be very careful about are the quality of labor, and appearance.
Symmetrical jewelry should be symmetrical. Edges shouldn’t be sharp or present a health hazard, like so many rings out there. Stones should be set securely and in a clean manner. You don’t want to get stuck on someone’s clothes, and rip them apart. Generally, you shouldn’t be able to squash your jewelry in any way with your bare fingers. Watch out for thin ring shanks and flimsy earrings. Good jewelry shouldn’t fall apart if you accidentally drop it once. Just don’t make it a habit. Don’t use jewelry as a weapon. Also, you shouldn’t let trucks drive over jewelry, like one lady I know did.
Jewelry should be completely finished. Cheap, inexpensive jewelry is polished only on the surface of the piece. As soon as you look in to its hidden parts, you can see the rough and bumpy surface of the casting skin. Casting skin is the rough surface that appears after casting a piece. On good jewelry, this skin is totally removed and highly polished,like a mirror. The jewelry looks crisp.Very high end jewelry never has a casting skin because it is never cast. Rather, it is built up directly out of a piece of stock, like my one of a kind jewelry.
The professional jeweler can be recognized by the way he examines jewelry. He picks it up, and looks at it from the back. Very often by looking at the back you can tell good jewelry from bad. You’ll be able to see immediately if the piece is going to last you a lifetime, or not. The industry is very good in faking the shiny part in the front. In the back, you can see the thickness of jewelry, and also the care that was taken in finishing the piece.
Common sense is important. Don’t let yourself get blinded by the strong halogen light that brings the last hidden sparkle to life. You are not going to wear your jewelry with a lamp attached to your body! Good jewelry looks beautiful in any light.
Be aware, and be critical.
Good luck!
Material Criteria:
The alloy content has to be right. For example, 18 karat jewelry has to have at least 750/000 of pure gold in the alloy. Stones have to be real, genuine stones. These two things are difficult for the average customer to test. The bottom line is that you have to trust your jeweler. Just make sure you deal with honest people. This is probably the most important rule to follow when you deal in jewelry and gems.
The other things that you should be very careful about are the quality of labor, and appearance.
Symmetrical jewelry should be symmetrical. Edges shouldn’t be sharp or present a health hazard, like so many rings out there. Stones should be set securely and in a clean manner. You don’t want to get stuck on someone’s clothes, and rip them apart. Generally, you shouldn’t be able to squash your jewelry in any way with your bare fingers. Watch out for thin ring shanks and flimsy earrings. Good jewelry shouldn’t fall apart if you accidentally drop it once. Just don’t make it a habit. Don’t use jewelry as a weapon. Also, you shouldn’t let trucks drive over jewelry, like one lady I know did.
Jewelry should be completely finished. Cheap, inexpensive jewelry is polished only on the surface of the piece. As soon as you look in to its hidden parts, you can see the rough and bumpy surface of the casting skin. Casting skin is the rough surface that appears after casting a piece. On good jewelry, this skin is totally removed and highly polished,like a mirror. The jewelry looks crisp.Very high end jewelry never has a casting skin because it is never cast. Rather, it is built up directly out of a piece of stock, like my one of a kind jewelry.
The professional jeweler can be recognized by the way he examines jewelry. He picks it up, and looks at it from the back. Very often by looking at the back you can tell good jewelry from bad. You’ll be able to see immediately if the piece is going to last you a lifetime, or not. The industry is very good in faking the shiny part in the front. In the back, you can see the thickness of jewelry, and also the care that was taken in finishing the piece.
Common sense is important. Don’t let yourself get blinded by the strong halogen light that brings the last hidden sparkle to life. You are not going to wear your jewelry with a lamp attached to your body! Good jewelry looks beautiful in any light.
Be aware, and be critical.
Good luck!