THEANTIQUARIUS P-Z ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWELLERY TERMS

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Parcel Gilt: Silver partly overlaid with gold

Paris Jet: Black glass imitating jet

Parure: A suite of jewellery designed to be worn at the same time; typically necklace, earrings, brooches and bracelet

Paste: Jewellery set with glass instead of real stones

Pate DeVerre: Powdered glass, moulded, fired and enamelled lightly, a material used in art nouveau jewellery

Pave: Form of setting where the stones are adjacent to one another with the minmum of metal showing on the surface

Pavilion: Lower part of a cut stone, below the girdle

Pectoral: Jewellery worn on the chest, usually associated with ancient jewellery

Penedeloque-cut: Cutting in the form of a pear or tear, also known as pear-cut

Pinchbeck: Alloy of zinc and copper developed by christopher pinchbeck and used instead of gold in less expensive jewellery of the late 18th and early 19th centuries

Pique Work: The inlay of tortoiseshell with silver and gold in fine and intricate designs

Plaque-Cut: Cut in flat tablets, for engraving seals e.t.c

Play of Colour: Synonymous with iridescence and opalescence

Plique-A-Jour: Form of enamelling when enamels are set in open metal frames, particularly popular with French art nouveau jewellery

Quartz-Topaz: Yellow of brown citrine (quartz), and not true topaz

Refractive Index (R.I): Method of identifying a gemstone by measuring the angle at which the light rays are optically bent when entering a stone

Regard (Dear): Brooch, ring e.t.c made up of stones whose intitial letters spell the word, e.g. Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby, Diamond

Repousse: Metal which has been pushed into a raised design from the reverse

Rose-Cut: Diamonds: Refers to the cut, not the colour Antique old cut diagrams / diamond cutting guide

Rubelite: Red coloured tourmaline

Rutile: Mineral found in quartz, forming in long strands, when its known as Venus hairstone

Saint Espirit: Symbol of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove holding an olive branch or a sprig of forget-me-nots. Appears in pendant form only

Sardonyx: Banded form of chalcedony (agate)

Satsuma: Japenese glazed earthenware, finely over-painted and gilded, particularly associated with the 18th and 19th centuries

Scarabs: Beetles worn as amulets by the Egyptians, their form imitated in various materials such as faience and cornelian. Also found in roman jewellery

Serpentine: An aggregate carved more frequently as objects d'art than jewellery, although bowenite is one kind which is used to simulate jade

Shoulders: The top half of a ring shank, on either side of a cluster or stone

Silk: Whitish reflection or inclusion, seen particularly in sapphire and burma rubies

Soude: Triplet of quartz and green gelatine, usually simulating emerald

Specific Gravity (S.G): Measuremnt of the density of gemstones, helpful as an identification test

Spinach Jade: Dark green spinach-coloured nephrite

Steatite: Soap stone, sometimes used to imitate pale coloured jade

Step-Cut: Form of cutting in horizontal layered bands, used for coloured stones; identical to emerald and trap-cut

Stomacher: Large brooch worn centrally, usually pinned to the bodice of a dress, often made with detachable pendant sections and drops

Stove-Enamelled: Enamelling at very low temperature

Strapwork: Formal geometrical banded designs of the renaissance and 16th century

Style of: In the manner of a know craftsman or artist, but unsigend or authenticated

Sunstone: Spangled orange-yellow type of feldspar

Synthetic: Gemstone of identical chemical composition as the natural stone but produced in the laboratory, whereas an imitation may be made of anything but look like the natural stone at glance

Table: Flat top facet of a brilliant or step-cut stone

Tassie: 18th century scottish seal and intaglio moulder making paste medallion in the antique style

Torque: Prehistoric Irish neck or wrist ornament

Tour-A-Guillocher: See Basse Taille

Translucent: Allowing light to pass through, but not transparent

Transvaal Jade: A dark green opaque form of grossular garnet which looks like jade

Trap-Cut: See step-cut

Tremblant: Parts of a brooch set with a spring behind to give a shimmering effect and movement are said to be en tremblant

Triplets: Three pieces of stone stuck together in layers to imitate a finer stone, e.g triplet opals are made of thin surface layer of glass or crystal covering a piece of black opal, and backed with opal matrix

Vauxhall Glass: Black glass imitating jet, or coloured glass with mirrored back

Venus Hairstone: Rock crystal with long hair-like inclusion of reddish-gold rutile

Verneuil: Chemist who developed a process for the synthesis of corundum and spinel

Vere Eglomise: Glass which is painted from the reverse, usually with gold or black, popular in the Renaissance and 16th century

Vinaigrette: Small container of silver or gold with a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar to ward off evil smells

Wedgwood: Staffordshire potter whose factory produce jaspe-ware, blue, green and black with applied white decoration. In jewellery, popularly made as cameos in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the neo-classical style

Windows: Directions of transparency and little colour in coloured stones, particularly sapphires

Best jewellery guide jewelry key words encyclopedia A-E

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