Gold Platinum Precious Metal Ruby Sapphire Jewellry

Type of Jewellry

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Hair ornaments
* hairpins

Head ornaments
* crowns
o circlets
o coronets
o diadems
o tiaras
* earrings
o magnetic earrings
o clip-on earrings
o earcuffs
* nose-jewels
* body piercing jewellery
* non-piercing body jewellery

Neck
* necklaces
* chokers

Arms
* armlets (upper arm bracelets)
* bracelets
* cuff links

Hands
* rings
o promise rings
o engagement rings
o wedding rings
o class rings
o championship rings

Body
* belly chains
* brooches
* chatelaines

Legs and Feet
* thighbands
* anklets (ankle bracelets)
* toe rings

Genital jewellery
* Prince Albert piercings
* Prince's Wands
* anal jewellery

Special functions
* celibacy vow rings
* signet rings
* thumb rings
* puzzle rings
* medical alert jewellery
* mourning jewellery
* amulets
* prayer jewellery
o japa malas
o prayer beads
o prayer ropes
o rosary beads
* puzzle jewellery

Components
* cameos
* emblems
* lockets
* medallions
* pendants
* Findings

Sapphire

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Sapphire is any gemstone-quality corundum that is not red. (The red variety of corundum is also known as ruby.)

When color is not specified, sapphire refers to the blue variety. Pink, yellow, green, purple, white, and parti-colour (multi-coloured) sapphires are often valued less than the blue variety of the same quality and size. There is a pink-orange sapphire, called a padparadscha, which is highly prized. There are also color shift sapphires in which the color appears to change from blue in outdoor light to purple in indoor lighting. They are found in many countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Madagascar, the United States (specifically Montana), Kenya, Cambodia, Nigeria and Australia. Sapphires were once found in Kashmir area of northern India but the deposit was mined out in the 1930's. The sapphires found in Kashmir are considered some of the finest ever found as they exhibited a deep rich blue that looked velvet like in appearance.

Ruby

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Ruby is a red gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide) in which the color is caused mainly by chromium. Its name originates from ruber or rubrum, Latin for red. Natural rubies are exceptionally rare, though artificial ones (sometimes called created ruby) can be manufactured by the Verneuil process relatively inexpensively. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires.

Rubies are mined in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Greenland. They are most often found in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Madagascar and Thailand, though they have also been found in the U.S. states of Montana, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Mogok Valley in Myanmar has produced some of the finest rubies. However in recent years very few good rubies have been found there. In central Myanmar the area of Mong Hsu also produces rubies. In 2002 rubies were found in the Waseges River area of Kenya. Rubies are being mined at Audilamena in northeastern Madagascar. Sometimes spinels are found along with rubies in the same geological formations and are mistaken for the more valuable gem. However, fine red spinels may approach the average ruby in value.

Rubies have a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, and among the natural gems are only surpassed by diamonds in hardness.

Platinum

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Platinum is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. A heavy, malleable, ductile, precious, grey-white transition metal, platinum is resistant to corrosion and occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some native deposits. Platinum is used in jewellery, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts, dentistry, and automobile emissions control devices.

Gold

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Gold is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. A soft, shiny, yellow, dense, malleable, ductile (trivalent and univalent) transition metal, gold does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine and aqua regia. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks and in alluvial deposits and is one of the coinage metals.

For millennia gold has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics. Gold forms the basis for a monetary standard used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Its ISO currency code is XAU.