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Rivière (jewellery)
A rivière is a necklace consisting of one or more strings of linked gemstones. Usually only one kind of gemstone is used in a rivière, with all stones of the same colour and cut. The stones are either all the same size, or gradually increase in size towards the middle of the necklace. Rivières have been worn since the 18th century and are still a popular type of necklace. Description The name rivière refers to the French word for "river", because the stones are thought to ‘flow’ around the neck. A rivière is usually quite short (about 35 cm). In a rivière, the silver, gold, or platinum settings are designed to be inconspicuous. The necklace's impact comes entirely from the uninterrupted line of gemstones, identical in colour and cut. The stones are either all the same size, or vary gradually from small to larger towards the bottom of the necklace. Diamonds as well as coloured stones can be used in rivières, and pendant stones or a pendant cross may be attached. These ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon Diamond Necklace
The Napoleon Diamond Necklace is a diamond necklace commissioned by Napoleon I of France c. 1811–1812 from the Parisian jeweler Marie-Étienne Nitot. It is now in the Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Description The Napoleon Diamond Necklace is somewhat atypical of other contemporary works produced by Marie-Étienne Nitot. Other pieces commissioned from him by Emperor Napoleon, such as the two parures celebrating the Emperor's marriage to Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, the Marie Louise Diadem, the wedding jewels for Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress Joséphine, etc., all demonstrate a predilection for highly decorative flourishes in the framework. These range from silver scrollwork and floral motifs to complex interwoven curves. In contrast, the Napoleon Diamond Necklace is relatively simple and elegant. It consists of a single silver thread, with gold settings containing 28 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gemstone
A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, and obsidian) and occasionally organic chemistry, organic materials that are not minerals (such as amber, Jet (gemstone), jet, and pearl) may also be used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some softer minerals such as brazilianite may be used in jewelry because of their color or Lustre (mineralogy), luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. However, generally speaking, soft minerals are not typically used as gemstones by virtue of their brittleness and lack of durability. Found all over the world, the industry of coloured gemstones (i.e. anything other than diamonds) is currently estimated at US$1.55billion and is projected to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cut (gems)
A gemstone desired to be used in jewelry is cut, carved or made into a bead. The best quality rough is cut, also often referred to as faceting. This is done by a lapidary who decides how to reshape the gemstone using his knowledge of the refractive index of gemstones to maximise any particular crystal's colour or play of light. As a general rule, a cut gemstone will be reduced in mass (in carats) by about 50%. Among the several techniques used to work with gemstones are sawing, grinding, sanding, lapping, polishing, grilling, and tumbling. The diamond cut planning stage is a complex process that requires the cutter to work with unique rough stones. Very often, the location of the inclusions in a rough stone will determine the type of shape to which a diamond may be cut. For economic reasons, most diamonds are cut to retain weight instead of maximizing brilliance. How diamonds have been cut has evolved over time largely to technological advances. Types * Asscher cut * Bagu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native metal, native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc Refining (metallurgy), refining. Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes bimetallism, alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. Other than in currency and as an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. It is one of the least reactivity (chemistry), reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series. It is solid under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental (native state (metallurgy), native state), as gold nugget, nuggets or grains, in rock (geology), rocks, vein (geology), veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as in electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish language, Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinum is a member of the platinum group of elements and group 10 element, group 10 of the periodic table of elements. It has six naturally occurring isotopes. It is one of the Abundance of elements in Earth's crust, rarer elements in Earth's crust, with an average abundance of approximately 5 microgram, μg/kg, making platinum about 30 times rarer than gold. It occurs in some nickel and copper ores along with some Native element mineral, native deposits, with 90% of current production from deposits across Russia's Ural Mountains, Colombia, the Sudbury Basin, Sudbury basin of Canada, and a large reserve in South Africa. Because of its scarcity in Earth's crust, only a f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of carbon at Standard temperature and pressure, room temperature and pressure, but diamond is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest Scratch hardness, hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. Because the arrangement of atoms in diamond is extremely rigid, few types of impurity can contaminate it (two exceptions are boron and nitrogen). Small numbers of lattice defect, defects or impurities (about one per million of lattice atoms) can color ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pendant
A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ''pendere'' and Old French word ''pendr'', both of which translate to "to hang down". In modern French, ''pendant'' is the gerund">French language">French, ''pendant'' is the gerund form of ''pendre'' ("to hang") and also means "during". The extent to which the design of a pendant can be incorporated into an overall necklace makes it not always accurate to treat them as separate items. In some cases, though, the separation between necklace and pendant is far clearer. Overview Pendants are among the oldest recorded types of bodily adornment. Stone, shell, pottery, and more perishable materials were used. Ancient Egyptians commonly wore pendants, some shaped like hieroglyphs. Pendants can have several functions, which may be combined: * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prong Setting
Prong setting or prong mount refers to the use of metal projections or tines, called " prongs", to secure a gemstone to a piece of jewelry. A prong setting is one component of what is known to jewelers as a ''head'', a claw-shaped type of binding (typically three, four, or six individual prongs per head) that is welded or soldered to a jewelry item to mount (or "set") a gemstone to the jewelry item. A common setting for diamond engagement rings, the prong setting allows light to strike a gemstone from more angles, increasing its brilliance. Prong-setting engagement rings are sometimes referred to as Tiffany setting rings, although this is a trademarked term specifically used to describe prong setting rings sold by Tiffany & Co. A 2017, $19 million lawsuit confirmed the exclusive right of Tiffany & Co. to use the term "Tiffany" within the jewelry sales industry. The judgment was eventually overturned, and the parties made a confidential settlement. Characteristics General feat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affair Of The Diamond Necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace (, "Affair of the Queen's Necklace") was an incident from 1784 to 1785 at the court of King Louis XVI of France that involved his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The queen's reputation, already tarnished by gossip, was further sullied by the false accusation that she had participated in a crime to defraud the Crown's jewellers in acquiring a very expensive diamond necklace she then refused to pay for. In reality, she had rejected the idea of buying it only to have her signature forged by Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy. Although Valois-Saint-Rémy was later convicted, the event remains historically significant as one of many that led to the French disillusionment with the monarchy, in that it was one of the contemporary scandals that gave moral weight and popular support for the French Revolution. Background In 1772, Louis XV of France decided to make Madame du Barry, one of his mistresses, a special gift at the estimated cost of 2,000,000 livres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the wife of Louis XVI. Born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, she was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Francis I. She married Louis Auguste, Dauphin of France, in May 1770 at age 14, becoming the Dauphine of France. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI, and she became queen. As queen, Marie Antoinette became increasingly a target of criticism by opponents of the domestic and foreign policies of Louis XVI and those opposed to the monarchy in general. The French accused her of being profligate, promiscuous, having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies, including her native Habsburg monarchy, Austria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
