Luxury Lexicon 21 terms
Jewelry terms
Terms used in gemstones, precious metals and jewelry making.
B
- Bench jeweler
- A jeweler who makes, repairs and alters pieces by hand at a workbench.
C
E
- Engraving
- Cutting a design or lettering into metal or another hard material, by hand with a graver or by machine or laser.
F
- Filigree
- Metalwork made of fine gold or silver wire, twisted or coiled into patterns and soldered, usually as openwork.
- Fine jewelry
- Jewelry made in gold, platinum, silver or palladium, often set with gemstones, as distinct from costume jewelry.
G
- Gemology
- The study and identification of gemstones and their properties.
- GIA
- The Gemological Institute of America, an organization providing gem research, education and laboratory services.
- Goldsmith
- A maker who forms, solders, assembles and repairs jewelry in gold and other precious metals at the bench.
- Guilloché
- A decorative pattern of repeated engraved lines, traditionally cut into metal with a hand-operated engine-turning machine.
- Guillocheur
- A craftsperson who engraves repeating decorative patterns on watch dials or other metal surfaces using a hand-operated engine-turning machine.
H
- High jewelry
- A jeweler's top tier of work: unique or very limited pieces built around exceptional stones.
K
- Karat
- A measure of gold purity in 24ths by weight, so that 18 parts gold in 24 makes an alloy 75% gold.
L
- Lost-wax casting
- Casting metal in a mold formed around a wax model, which is burned out to leave a cavity for the metal.
M
- Métiers d’art
- French for skilled artistic crafts, including disciplines such as embroidery, engraving and decorative metalwork.
P
- Patina
- A surface appearance that develops through use, aging or deliberate treatment, particularly on leather or metal.
- Platinum
- A dense, white precious metal, usually about 95% pure in jewelry and used to hold stones securely.
- Precious metals
- Gold, platinum, silver and palladium, worked in jewelry as alloys whose metal content is stated as fineness.
S
- Silversmith
- A maker of vessels, tableware, objects and jewelry in silver, shaped from sheet or cast, then soldered and finished.
- Stone setting
- Securing gemstones in a metal mount so that each is held firmly and shows to best effect.
V
- Vermeil
- Sterling silver covered with gold of at least 10 karat, equal to at least 2.5 microns of fine gold under US FTC guides.