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Athenian Jewelry: eBay's best-kept secret
We were excited to find these pieces. Athens is home to some of the finest jewelry artisans in the world. eBay seller plakadirect offers 18k gold, sterling silver and gemstone designs that will make your heart sing and your pulse race. Pete and Evie, American expatriates, are your guides to a world of heirloom quality. As they tell it, "We came to Greece in search of something new, and instead found something very old. A tradition of 5000 years exists here which although famous in many respects has not been fully opened to the world through the internet. Vacationers have always come here in search of fun, sun and great prices on jewelry, but now you can find the same beautiful jewelry without all the travel!"
Discover Greek artistry at very affordable prices with designers Gerochristo Konstantino, Vasilis Giampouris, Giorgo Damaskos, Kaklamanos and others.
Mabe, a pearl of a gem
Mabe is a term that refers to a type of cultured blister pearl. A mabe pearl is grown against the shell of the oyster rather than within the flesh of the oyster like round pearls.
It attaches to the hard shell as it grows. In order to be used, it must be drilled from the shell. If there are voids on the back of the pearl, they are filled with resin. A piece of mother of pearl is then added to seal the back. Mabe pearl provide the high luster of round pearls at a much lower cost.
Antique, vintage, estate... what does it all mean?
According to Customs guidelines, jewelry that is at least 100 years old is antique. This comes into play when purchasing pieces overseas and bringing them back to the U.S. Antiques may enter the U.S. duty-free.
Estate has two meanings in today's world. Originally it was meant to designate a piece of jewelry that was left in someone's will. Often these are exceptionally high-quality pieces, so the term "estate" acquired a certain cachet.
However, the term has also been used increasingly in recent years simply to designate a pre-owned piece. Here, too, the usage is meant to imply quality and a certain age, neither of which may actually be true. Many people believe that old jewelry is valuable simply because it is old, but old junk jewelry can last just as long as the fine pieces. We've heard tell of jewelers who've taken new stock that isn't moving and put it in the "estate jewelry" showcase to heighten interest. Perhaps a more conservative approach would be to eschew the term "estate jewelry" entirely and describe a piece according to its period and materials.
Vintage jewelry is that which is in accordance of the design style of a certain period, be it Art Deco, Edwardian or the brightly-colored Bakelite pieces of the Forties. Sometimes sales of these pieces track popular trends or prominent stylesetters like Oprah Winfrey.
Reproduction jewelry, hopefully identified as such, is a copy done in the style of an earlier period. The savvy jewelry buyer learns to spot details that indicate the piece is a copy, such as the type of clasp on a brooch.
Fake or counterfeit jewelry is an out-and-out attempt to defraud, as opposed to reproduction jewelry, which is simply done in a certain style. Fake jewelry often carries a designer's name and may be made of inferior metals and stones. The production of counterfeit designer jewelry is at an all-time high today. Unfortunately consumers are ever-eager to lap it up, most not seeming to care that the "Tiffany" silver piece they bought online is not Tiffany and may not even be sterling silver. This attitude needs to change before real progress can be made in blocking the counterfeiters.
70.35 carat spessartite for a cool $85,000
What is spessartite? It is manganese aluminum garnet. The name is derived from Spessart in Bavaria. Spessartite of a beautiful orange-yellow is found in Madagascar. Violet-red spessartites are found in rhyolites in Colorado and Maine.
Gorgeous cushion-cut stone! Internally flawless, a whopping 70 carats, offered by
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Gemstone Bracelets The early Egyptians favored turquoise and carnelian to add color to their simple white linen clothing, but just about any stone or material that is interesting or showy has been made into a bracelet at one time or another. Today we have heirloom quality designer pieces as well as inexpensive gemstone simulants virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
Morganite, the pink emerald
A light pink to rose-colored gem quality beryl,
There are several different types/colors of beryl, such as the blue or blue-green aquamarine or green emerald. Only the pink variety, though, is considered morganite. The pink emerald appellation came about in the mid-1990s through the powers that be in the jewelry trade. It's true that the new terminology is more descriptive, so if you like the look of these pretty pink gems, try looking for both morganite and pink emerald.
Like many gemstones today, morganite is sometimes heat-treated or irradiated.
Moissanite: Just as Good as Diamond or Just Another Fake?
"When you realize how closely moissanite resembles a real diamond--at a fraction of the price--it makes sense to consider this beautiful alternative," gushes an online jewelry store.
Well, perhaps.
Moissanite manufacturers claim it has more luster and brilliance than a diamond, perhaps twice the fire, and at a hardness of 9.5 is nearly as durable as a diamond (10.0 hardness). Some jewelers cannot distinguish moissanite from diamond without a special detection tool.
Perhaps given human nature, it was inevitable that some unscrupulous persons would exploit moissanite. In 2001 a jeweler in Indiana was charged with theft for switching customers' diamonds with moissanite.
Charles & Colvard, the laboratory that makes most of today's moissanite, says its customers are women who are buying jewelry for themselves, while retail jewelers are going after the engagement ring trade with rings set with moissanite in traditional gold or platinum settings.
All else being equal, a moissanite stone has roughly one-tenth (or less) the value of a comparably-sized and colored diamond.
Should you buy a moissanite piece? That depends. If you like it for itself, why not? But if you're buying it because you hope to pass it off as a diamond, consider this: Most such attempted deceptions are eventually unmasked, when the piece is taken in for appraisal or cleaning. Will it make someone unhappy to know their "diamond" isn't? If it's an engagement ring, that's not a great way to start off a lifetime commitment. Is it?
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