Use of Gemstones in Jewellery

Jewellery has been around for, quite literally, thousands of years. Although currently used today for fashion and style, Jewellery and gemstone beads has its historical roots in practicality. Many Jewellery pieces throughout history were merely used to hold clothing together and offered little artistic value or purpose. Others, such as nobility and rich merchants, used precious gems to go with their Jewellery to signify wealth and to store the jewels in a way that made the wealth less likely to get stolen. These jewels added beauty and class to what normally would have been a bland piece of unimpressive metal.

The custom of putting precious gems in Jewellery was a simple and practical way to both show personal wealth to passerby and to keep it close to hand at the same time. Wealthy women added to their high-class fashion by wearing their gemstones in necklaces, bracelets, rings, hair pins, and for decoration pieces, such as a pin for their outfit. Men, too, often wore precious gemstones to display their wealth to others, often wearing rings, necklaces, and earrings to display the stones. Men and women of such status and wealth have been known to be buried with their gemstone Jewellery on. A common practice worldwide throughout history, it was believed that these men and women were able to take their wealth and status – as shown by the Jewellery they wore – with them to the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians, the Celts, Vikings, and the British have all had remains that have been discovered to be buried with their jewelled adornments still on their bodies, having been preserved through time.

However, although the wearing of various gemstone-covered Jewellery has lost this historic trend of being worn simply to show power and wealth, a thread of this past use is still present today. For example, when movie stars grace the red carpet covered in diamond Jewellery during a movie premier, they show the world their wealth and power in the media by having precious jewels – such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and so forth – adorn them, glittering in the light whenever they walk. But using this as one extreme, the other extreme is the new trend in buying fake gemstones to create Jewellery. Wanting the sparkle of a gemstone, but neither the quality nor the price of such jewels, people have begun to buy fake gems and creating their own unique necklaces and bracelets to wear.

Such a multipurpose item, Jewellery will still be around for ages to come, although there are likely to be more changes to its purpose throughout that time. Though, one thing is for certain: gemstones lovingly embraced by precious metal will never go out of style.