When evaluating a jewel, it is important to take some aspects into consideration in order to make sure you are handling a jewel made in a state of the art manner. It’s surely helpful to know some of jewels’ most important technical features. Down below we will tell you about three aspects to take into consideration if you want to find out whether a jewel is of a high quality or not.

The jewel’s surface

First things first, take a look at the surface of the jewel’s framework: is it perfectly smooth or porous and irregular? You should know the golden structure is created thanks to the precision casting technique: the metal is melted and injected in a mould that replicates the skeleton of the final structure. It’s during this phase that the first flaw we advise you to look out for might be found: the presence of pores. During the fusion process, gas residue might stick to the inside of the piece. This residue causes visible pores and cavities on the gold’s surface. Over time, this could put the jewel’s integrity at risk. An experienced master goldsmith is able to identify these flaws immediately and promptly correct them.

Stone Setting

Stone setting consists in placing and fixing precious stones on the golden framework. But it’s not just that! It’s a fundamental step in the productive process because it is the key in giving the jewel’s stones their significance. Stone setting needs extreme precision, scrupulousness and a strong aesthetic sense: it’s a delicate process, just some master stonesetters manage to achieve it in an excellent way. There are various stone setting techniques (prong, pave’. mustache…). However, what you need to look out for is whether the stone is fixed to the structure in an impeccable way. Take a close look at the stones and check if they are steadily fixed in their place.  In the long run, even the gem’s slightest movement might ruin the metal and the gem might fall.

Polishing

Study the gold’s surface, both the visible and the not so visible parts: is it bright and shiny or is it matte and even has some scrapes? The metal’s surface of  a properly made jewel is perfectly polished and flawless. Keep in mind that polishing, which is the final stage of the working procedure, needs lots of craftsmanship to turn out perfect. With both simple and complex pieces there are various steps where different-sized brushes are used together with special abrasive pastes, which can make the jewel shiny.

Obviously, to properly evaluate a jewel there are many other aspects to take into consideration, and we will talk about them in our next posts. See you soon!