Pieces for personal adornment that make the user feel good and appealing is called jewellery. Jewellery comes in all forms like rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The word jewellery came from the word jewel which was translated from the French word ‘jouleâ€. People have been using jewellery since before and to prove it, the Nassarius shell beads is dated to be 100,000 years old. As we all know jewellery in itself has no purpose except for watchers, buckles, hairpins and medical alert bracelets. Jewellery is designed and created from various materials including precious metals, gemstones, beads, and shells. These materials have been widely used in making jewellery. Many a jewellery has been appreciated as a status symbol, for its material properties, for its pattern and for its symbolism. Jewellery has been used for many reasons which are as currency, as a way of showing one’s wealth, as storage which is savings, as a symbol of something like wedding rings and crowns which are a symbol of leadership in monarchies, as protection like amulets, devotional medals and crucifixes, for its function like hairpins, buckles and watches. As mentioned earlier in the page, jewellery is made from precious metals and other materials like glass, beads, gemstones and shells.
Fine jewellery is defined as that which includes gold, white gold, platinum, titanium, palladium or silver and precious gemstones like diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire. In 2005, Australia and three other countries became primary sources of gemstone diamond production. Opal another gemstone was found to be in abundance in some places around Australia. When these precious metals are used with precious gemstones in a piece of jewellery, this is what is called Australian fine jewellery. Fine jewellery is sold in many jewelry stores. There are jewelry stores that sell only fine jewellery and there are jewelry stores that sell cheap gold jewellery. What then is a jewelry store? A jewelry store buys and sells rings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, earrings, watches and other time pieces.
One of the first time pieces is called the hourglass. It was used to measure the passage of minutes or an hour of time. The hourglass has two connected vertical glass bulbs which allowed a regulated trickle of material from the top bulb to the bottom bulb. This hourglass was very popular on board ships because it was the most dependable measure of time. The clepsydra was also used to tell time. The hourglass was a more reliable instrument to measure time because it had sand in the two bulbs unlike the clepsydra which had liquid.
This liquid in the clepsydra would condense whenever there was a change in temperature. Seamen preferred to use the hourglass. The hourglass was also used on land. It helped indicate the times of events. The hourglass made people realize that there was a need to keep track of time. The hourglass was used until mechanical clocks were developed in 1500 A.D.
Jewelers are defined as people who design, make, sell or repair jewelry or watches. Jewelers are persons in the business of selling jewelry. Who are hourglass jewelers? From the word hourglass which means something that has to do with time and jewelers meaning people who design and create jewellery. We can say that hourglass jewelers are people who design, make and sell watches and other time pieces. These jewelers may also be knowledgeable in gemology and can really work in a jewelry store. A jeweler can be a person who can do bothâ€"design and create watches and other types of jewellery.
