How To Judge The Value Of Jewelry

Jewelry is made up of precious stones, silver, gold and platinum. Jewelry is nothing but a glittering expensively carved piece. Sounds weird? Well, if you do not know how to judge jewelry on the correct basis, then that is all that would matter. Are precious stones mere shaped, lustrous, translucent and classic pieces of rare art? And nothing more than that? You must be wondering, what else they can be. Yes, they can be worth a million or just a valueless piece of tin, depending on how you are look at it. If you do not know the correct evaluation techniques, then you can be cheated and misled. Anyone can take undue advantage of your poor knowledge and can fix you with a bad deal. It is even worse to realize that, your hard-earned money gets such bad returns. Brands tend to mislead customers by putting some ambiguous labels, which may not mean anything in reality. You might not be able to differentiate between Carat and karat, but both are entirely different from each other. Carat is used to measure diamonds and Karat is used to measure gold. 24 karat gold is considered to be 100 percent pure. But, it’s not advisable to make jewelry out of it, as by itself, it is neither malleable nor ductile enough to make jewelry from. There are many other things you might know about jewelry, but confuse with something else. The jewelry business is a credit business and jewelers usually make fat money from certain ignorant customers. They make exquisite looking jewelry and claim to sell it under 100 percent purity name. The jewelry piece may look shimmering and beautiful, but it may also be hollow from inside. They try to make it look like a royal heirloom (or an antique work of art), but in reality it may be an eyewash. They may also make you attractive offers like free polishing and life time cleaning. Do not overlook these aspects and read the following article for some useful tips on judging jewelry.

 

As a customer, you should not shop for a bargain, but you should shop for value. If your purchase is centered towards a lower priced commodity, then you may sacrifice the quality part. A valuable jewelry purchase can happen, when you are assured of certain terms and policies on the purchase. Like a written warranty for replacement, seal of authorized bodies, purity certificate, exchange etc. If you are given offers like free servicing etc, then you should not give in to deals like that!

If we talk about gold, it is available in 24 k, 22 k, 18 k, 14 k and 10 k. The ascending order signifies the increasing gold content. It is considered illegal to call anything ‘gold’ that is less than 10 k. Sellers also sometimes coat brass or silver items with a liquid gold cover and sell it as gold. The higher the karat amount in the gold, it gives more color and authenticity to it. While the lower the number of Karats, better is the strength or durability part.

 

If you see a mark of GP just after the numbers, then understand that the item is gold plated. It might be a sterling silver piece, with an 18 or 14 k layer over it. It completely resembles a pure gold thing. You have to spot these markings on your own, as the seller is least bothered to mention them. GF (gold filled) and RGP (rolled gold plate) are also used synonymously in the markings. These pieces are not entire gold and can become cracked and can be diminish a great deal in their shine.

White gold, green gold or rose gold? So many terms and so many meanings! Sellers might confuse you with them and can keep on bragging about them. Alloys are mixed with gold and colors are formed. For example, silver and gold mixture creates ‘green gold’. Mixture of nickel, palladium and gold creates white gold. Copper in different amounts creates rose gold. Even if you are looking to buy these kinds of things as a gold substitute, then you should know about them.

The knowledge of the latest gold rates is very important while making a purchase. A seller can misguide you with false rates and can wisely sell that diamond studded necklace off to an unsuspecting you. He can fix a good deal by selling the jewelry piece made of other precious stones like ruby, sapphire or emerald.

 

Purchasing a diamond or other precious stones is not a child’s play. The four ‘C’s of diamonds or other precious stones are ‘cut’, ‘clarity’, ‘carat’ and ‘color’. A diamond’s brilliance depends on how minutely it is cut and so it is also with other stones. The flawless cutting decides the hard work done for them. Always look for precious stones graded between D and F, with a colorless body.  The greater the number of Carats, the higher it will be priced. Clarity defines the certification required to take a precious stone. Always look for pure certification and overlook 50 % off offers.