But have you ever thought about what makes fine jewelry ‘fine’? Well, some will say it is their beauty but apart from looking beautiful, the quality of the material that makes them stands out from the other inexpensive fashion jewelry. When we say quality, it does mean that those are non-rusty when contracted with the atmosphere and do not lose their beautiful shine with the long course of time.
Therefore, their value does not decrease over the period, and hence, considered for good financial investment. Their rare availability is another factor for the added value because of minimal supply and higher demand, making them more valuable. Historical evidence shows that fine jewelry lasts for centuries, and gold jewelry is proof dug through old civilization. Fine jewelry has been an integral part of people’s life since human civilization started. Earlier it used to own only by the elite class, indicating their status/rank in society. The oldest gold might have been dated back to chalcolithic times from Bulgaria, according to the reports in Reuters.
On the price side, fine jewelries are expensive than fashion jewelry. Their rare occurrences in nature, which means they are not easily available in the interior of the earth and are restricted to only specific places around the planet. Gemstones that are incorporated in jewelry are even more expensive than just pure gold or platinum jewelry. Gemstones like “natural diamonds” are rarely found inside the earth, but all the diamonds are not necessarily expensive. Their color and clarity decide their value. Any crack, impurity of other minerals, dark gray color (for diamond) decrease their quality and does not use for jewelry.
There are various inexpensive gemstones looks fine that can be used to fool customers, citrine is one of them. Scientists and engineers have created diamonds in a laboratory known as ‘synthetic diamond’ applying similar pressure and temperature operated by nature to create ‘natural diamond’. So every year, tons of synthetic diamonds are manufactured by companies.
How can we identify fine jewelry?
Sometimes it is difficult to check the value of jewelry for ordinary people or people who do not have any idea of jewels. But some basic investigations can test whether it is real or fake. For metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium, we can always check for markings (ex. hallmark) which will help to find the type of metal and purity. ‘Sterling’ or ‘925’ is stamped on silver which indicates the silver with 92.5% purity. Gold is stamped with ‘k’ or ‘karat’ followed by a certain number indicates purity of gold. Table1. shows gold karats which and their respective percentages. Finally, the platinum marked by the word “plat” or “platinum”. Some famous brands/companies put their stamp on the metals as identification marks.
Table1. Variety of gold and approximate percent of gold
Apart from markings, there are various physical methods to identify metals. Some of them are listed below
Magnetic test: Pure gold and silver does not attract to the magnetVinegar test: Drops of white vinegar can be used to identify the gold, if gold changes color then it is fake gold. Skin test: Real gold and silver metals do not cause skin irritation.
For metals, we can try our best to buy real fine jewelry but it is challenging to test genuine gemstones such as diamonds as it needs proper technique and experience. But we can always take necessary precautions before purchasing gemstones, specifically diamonds. The best quality of valuable jewelry diamond not only requires color and clarity but also cut quality plays a key role because the cut of a diamond affect the brightness hence the color.
Tests to check natural diamonds
Real diamond sinks in the bottom of water because it is denser than the water. If it floats on water, the diamond is fake.
Diamond is the hardest material on Mohs hardness scale. When diamonds are scratched against the glass, glass material shows surface damage. (Mohs hardness scale: Scale of 1-10, 1 being lowest hardness of mineral and 10 is hardest mineral i.e. diamond)
In 2020, the USA was the leading importer of gold among all the countries from china and Singapore according to data published by P Smith and had seen growth in diamond import in 2021. The popularity of fine jewelry is very high among people that we cannot deny the chances of ending up buying a fake one. Customers should take precautions and study their jewelry before purchasing and always buy from a certified and trusted merchant for their pleasant jewelry purchasing experience.
