History of Jewelry

Picking the Right Jewelry Acessories:
Tips on How Many to Wear & Classic Styles

People have been wearing jewelry since the beginning of time. In some places, beauty as a bone through the nose, in others, golden necklaces studded with beetles’ wings and lapis lazuli were just the thing. These days, we wear jewels all over the place, on our toes, in our noses, and (one of my personal favorites), in the naval. The great thing about jewelry is there’s so much of it, in every color, price and style available.

Gemstoned Jewelry Doesn't Have to Be Expensive

So, how do you choose the perfect gem stones to set off your personal beauty? What if you're not in the market for costly diamonds, but are seeking a little glamour in pale green, deep purple or clear, bright blue? Start your adventure in gemstones by looking at, where you will discover exotic and affordable gems you never dreamed existed. Do you know the plummy red of rhodolite? The liquid fire of a Mexican jelly opal? Here's where you learn that you don't have to spend hundred of dollars for jade, pearls, garnets and zircons, to name but a few of the hundred of stones available at this amazing site.

--Editor's Note --------------------------------------------------------------

Never Be Overwhelmed or Frustrated with Jewelry Shopping Again

Most women have had at least a few frustrating shopping experiences while trying to find the perfect jewelry to match a special outfit. Sometimes the jewelry store's zillion choices can be so overwhelming you don't know where to start. Or you had a budget in mind, but clearly the jewelry sales person didn't understand your idea of a "budget". In either case, there is now a much easier way to shop for jewelry and accessories. One online resource in particular lets you search by price, color, gemstone, jewelry style and several other jewelry descriptives. Showing you only the jewelry choices that fit your particular criteria and get the perfect jewelry item to compliment any outfit.


This time skip the nosey jewelry sales person and try searching for your favorite jewelry style using specific criteria. Never buy a piece of jewelry that isn't absolutely perfect again.


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Accessorizing with Jewelry Tips and Pointers

• What does it accessorize? A plain dress? A busy patterned top?
  Usually jewelry has a purpose. It can be playful and casual, or elegant and very expensive. When I buy jewelry, I think about what I would be wearing with it before making my choice. If I’m wearing jeans and want something to go with my new bathing suit because I’m going on vacation, I’ll look for something in the line of a choker, maybe with a carved stone or something in leather and silver. Sterling silver most people can wear even if they have a nickel allergy affects about 15% of the population. Nickel is found in most golds and cheap metal jewelry. (Beware of hemp-rope jewelry if you’re planning to wear it swimming. I bought a great choker, but when the water hit it, the hemp fibers shrank up and it became a much-too-real choker. I practically had to get cut out of it.)
• What’s the occasion you will be wear the jewelry? Fancy? Casual?
  Occasion-specific jewelry should be tried on with the outfit before you make a commitment. Dresses with sweetheart necklines can do terrible things to the wrong necklace (if you don’t believe me, look at Susan Lucci in the old episodes of Dallas. Big, shiny, dangling diamonds, a wide expanse of cleavage-lined Hollywood skin and shoulder pads out to here. Horrible). Now that I think of it, there’s only one occasion to wear a sweetheart neckline, and that’s if you’re in a wedding dress and the neckline fits your bust perfectly. The danger in the sweetheart is that if you have big breasts, they can look unwieldy and even floppy; small breasts just rattle around in there.
  Where was I? Right, for big-deal dressing up, either wear the dress to the store, or keep your receipt until you know the dress and the necklace, bracelet or earrings match it. If your top has beading or embroidery, necklaces and earrings should be kept simple –no gemstones, just gold, silver or platinum. A rule of thumb; the simpler the dress, the fancier >the jewelry can be. So if your heart is set on the three-tiered, sapphire and platinum job, find a plain black or white frock for the backdrop.

How to Wear Pearls of Today and the Past

All the fashionist as of yesteryear agreed that you simply cannot go wrong with pearls. Throughout the ages, these little blobs of oyster nacre have graced the necks of royalty. Pearls come in a variety of colors and shapes, the most well-known being the perfectly round, white pearls coveted by 1950's college girls because they matched so perfectly with cashmere twin sets. In the '20's, the flappers wore large, elongated pearls, running in gleaming ropes to waist-length or even longer. Baroque pearls are stunning, their uneven surfaces and their rectangular shapes catching the light like no other pearl can.
Often ignored, freshwater pearls are oval, and can be bought for a fraction of the cost of round ones. An example of their cost--in San Francisco's Chinatown shops, you can buy a 15-inch strand of freshwater pearls for about the cost of an ice-cream cone. Take them home, remove them from the dental floss string, string them on fishing line and add a clasp purchased from your local crafts store for an easy, elegant necklace.
Tahitian or South Sea Pearls are black, with the same opalescent gleam as their white cousins. These can get expensive, and make lovely apology gifts when men forget anniversaries, birthdays and other important occasions like graduations.

About jewelry quantity - How much is okay?

As much as I like hardware, I can’t think of an occasion to wear earrings, a necklace and a bracelet all at the same time. It comes out looking tacky. Two out of three is fine, and rings on your fingers are fine any time (not on every finger: two rings per hand are sufficient). If you’re of the belly-ring persuasion, toe-rings are cute too, but omit either necklace or earrings to keep the focus lower on the body. One exception to the two-item rule may be stud earrings. If you wear studs of gold, silver or platinum, or even small gemstones, they won't compete uncomfortably with a necklace and bracelet. In this case, two items may match, but the third should be complimentary, or you'll wind up looking like a little kid who bought the entire plastic wedding-jewelry set at the drugstore. For example, if you wear silver studs with pink zircons and a silver necklace with the same stones, your bracelet could be a plain silver bangle.
I’m a big fan of gemstones. I love tashmarine, wihich is a recently-discovered Asian stone that comes in a most unusual variety of greens. Its softness (5) prevents it from being the ideal ring choice, but set in a necklace, bracelet, or earrings, tashmarine is stunning. Check out tashmarine My other favorite gem-of-the-moment is tanzanite, available in a range of blues and lavenders. A friend of mine needed a belated birthday gift for his wife, and all was forgiven when he presented her with a tanzanite and diamond three-stone pendant. I’d have forgiven him too!

 

Allergic Reactions to Jewelry:
Are you Allergic to the Nickel in Your Accessories?

If you have problems with a skin rash, redness, swelling, itching or burning in areas where you are wearing jewelry, you may have a nickel allergy. Nickel is commonly used in most jewelry, since it's cheap and strong, but around 15% of the population is allergic to nickel. If you've recently gotten your ears or body pierced and are experiencing allergic symptoms, you may have become sensitized to the metal your jewelry contains. White gold and other gold that is less that 14 carats can bring on a reaction, since white gold is made with nickel and other forms of gold contain some amount of nickel as a hardening agent. Sterling silver is plated with nickel, which stays shiny and bright when silver might tarnish, and so is frequently used in silver jewelry.

Causes and Symptoms of Nickel Allergies

If you're wondering about the cause of nickel allergies, keep on wondering. Some people never develop sensitivity, but those who do may find symptoms appearing up to ten days after their exposure to the allergen. After you've experienced your first reaction, you will have become sensitized to the nickel and will react to it in 24-48 hours forever after. If you have an especially ferocious reaction, you may find yourself at the dermatologist: some doctors prescribe cortisone cream to alleviate skin related allergy symptoms. But once you've determined that it's the nickel that's causing problems, it's better not to get prescription creams: they have side effects. Just stop wearing the offending jewelry.

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Getting a Rash From Your Jewelry?

Many people find that certain jewelry leaves them with a red, itchy rash. This is typically due to a reaction to the nickel that is used as a hardener for other metals. With the popularity of piercings and costume jewelry, this can be a huge problem for some. Careful consideration of the materials and metals that are used in your jewelry can often avoid the problem entirely. Better metals typically cause far fewer reactions. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford pure gold for their “ornaments!” Sterling silver jewelry is one type of jewelry that is affordable, beautiful, and nickel-free. Sterling silver will not cause you to have that nickel reaction or rash, allowing you to wear the jewelry longer or more often. While some people complain that silver will tarnish, a quality piece of jewelry will require only occasional polishing to stay beautiful and shiny!

Find nickel-free, beautiful sterling silver jewelry that you can enjoy wearing every day!

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How to avoid nickel allergic reactions

What to do? There aren't any vaccinations: your best bet is to avoid nickel. If you have a recent piercing, making sure to use only stainless steel posts, and once the symptoms are gone, pay strict attention to the kind of jewelry you're buying. Replace your jewelry with pieces guaranteed to be nickel free; remember, you can suffer allergy symptoms from rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, belts or body jewelry. 18 carat gold should be all right; platinum is also known as hypoallergenic. Nickel free or alloy free white gold is made with palladium, a type of platinum, which costs more that the white gold made with nickel.

Nickel-free jewelry does exist for allergy sufferers

The down side of having a nickel allergy is that nickel free jewelry often costs more, making you more difficult to shop for. If you usually shop in fine jewelry stores, you probably won't have a problem, but if like many of us, you buy your earrings in drugstores or kiosks, you have to pay special attention to make sure you get items labeled as hypoallergenic or nickel free. Stainless steel earrings and other piercing items are available in a wide range of styles, and they're inexpensive.

If you have a piece of jewelry that causes you allergy problems but you can't bear to part with it, you can try coating the whole piece in a couple of coats clear fingernail polish. Some people find that the polish prevents contact to the extent that they don't suffer the allergy: others have to give up the jewelry or endure swelling, itching and burning—all of which make wearing jewelry somewhat pointless, since your skin will look so awful that people won't be able to truly admire the sexy new studs in your ears, lips, belly or tongue.                             

Students of the natural sciences are in agreement when they say that of all the creatures in the animal kingdom, only humans seek to adorn themselves. Even as far in the past as primitive man, jewelry took on this role in a variety of forms.. Small objects were of primary importance, with some examples being found in the early Neolithic strata of the caverns in mas d’avil. It was here that many pierces stags’ teeth were discovered, often still in the shape of a necklace with its holding twine long since disintegrated. (Jewelry objects have now been found in pre-historic Africa that date back about 75,000 years.)

Closely related to the human need for ornamentation was the use of jewelry as amulets endowed with magical powers. For a true understanding of the growth and history of the importance of jewelry and precious stones, one has to be aware of the indelible belief that precious stones could affect the fortunes of the wearer.

Jewelry was made with certain convictions in mind, to meld into, conform to and strengthen beliefs. This was particularly true when religions began to form an important sociological bond.

Early in its inception, jewelry was associated with religious rites. Gold and jewels were used as gifts for the maintenance of worship. In accordance with this began the presumption that benefits could be derived from their wear and soon began the development of a complex network of fictitious powers being attributed to them. Curiously, many of these legends surrounding the benefits of certain stones were generally held all over the world. Gold and certain gems common to many parts of the globe were believed to yield similar virtues.

Jewellers as artists are evident throughout history. The art has been practiced in almost every condition in which civilizations have existed. It is most plausible that the metal worker, with an advance in knowledge, became the jeweller. As the more malleable metals were wrought into rings, bracelets, and armlets, it is conceivable that the need to posses small stones for the charm they retained made the metalworker turn to setting these stones in his or her metal ornaments . Although the methods were primitive, the fastening of stones became an integral part of the craft.

The stones of ancients, although considered "precious" to their owners, are not in the "precious stone" category of modern times.

In jewelry circles today and in the recent past, there are considered only four truly precious stones: the diamond, the ruby, the emerald and the blue sapphire. Among the earliest known treasures of the pharaohs, emeralds, rubies and sapphires were seldom used, while turquoise, jasper, lapis lazuli, carnelian and rock crystal played a substantial role. Since color was all important, diamonds were quite unknown. The use of gemstones and precious metals during this time were not limited, but spread lavishly about wherever ornament was desired.

Soon jewelry advanced from a simple ornamental or amulet stance to a more practical one. Jewels became used as a symbol of rank, wealth and social standing. When taking on this role, they became an investment of marketable value. This economic aspect of easily liquidating these possessions became an essential part of the politics of Europe when Francis I instituted the crown jewels as legal entity. For his successors these jewels were often used during the religious wars to guarantee foreign loans.

The three basic roles that jewelry has played, the ornament, the amulet and the symbol of wealth, have remained constant to the present time. This paper will attempt to trace these developments, particularly in the growth and affect on the western world. Although this is not a definitive work, it will give the reader a broad background on some of the more popular methods of creating, legends and both customs and whims of style that have been combined to give us a history of jewelry.