Alloy: a combination of a metal with at least one other metal or nonmetal. A mixture of metals used in making jewelry. Mixing metals, or creating an alloy, takes a soft metal (like gold) and makes them stronger and more durable increasing the number of properties including hardness, strength, mechantabiliy. Most common alloys are aluminium, copper, nickle, and magnense.

Amethyst: ranges in color from soft lilac to intense purple or violet. It is the traditional birthstone for February. the February birthstone, is also be a symbol of personal empowerment and inner strength

Aquamarine: a green-blue variety of the mineral beryl. Its name is derived from two Latin roots meaning water of the sea. The birthstone for March is thought to enhance the happiness of marriages & protecting one’s well-being.

Asscher: Square step cut with clipped corners. Known as Emerald- cut's cousin. Joseph Asscher was a diamond cutter who developed and patented the Asscher cut diamond in 1902

Baguette: Very elongated (like the namesake French bread), step-cut diamonds with straight or tapered edges normally used as accent stones.

Birthstones: are gemstones associated with a specific month.

Blocking: A preliminary step in diamond cutting where the basic proportions and symmetry of the diamond are established and the first 8 facets on both crown and the pavilion are placed.

Blue Topaz: The traditional birthstone for December. It is available in many shades, ranging from icy blue to sky blue to deep blue. The blue color is often enhanced through heat treatment and irradiation. ber

Brilliance: Although not spoken of much, it is one of the most important characteristics of a diamond. The effect created by light return as a result of a combination of brightness.

Brilliant: Cutting style that features vertical triangular or kite-shaped facets that radiate from the center. The round brilliant and princess cut are examples of this facet style which is different than step cuts featuring prominent horizontal facets.

Brillanteering: The process of cutting the final forty facets on the diamond including the upper and lower girdle and star facets.

Carat – A unit of weight. Carat weight is widely equated to diamond size, however diamonds can have exactly the same weight and significantly different dimensionality, depending on cut proportions.

Carat total weight (ctw): The combined weight of diamonds within a piece of jewelry. Often, jewelers describe carats using decimals i.e. 1.27ctw. In jewelry pieces with more than one diamond cut , may be described in terms of total carat weight (c.T.W.). For instance a pendant with .25 carats of baguettes and .50 carats of round diamonds could be described .75ctw.

Certificate – Common term for a gemological laboratory report.

Clarity – The degree to which a diamond has internal inclusions and external blemishes. Laboratory clarity grading is done by trained graders and assessed at 10X magnification. The fewer inclusions, the more the stone is worth. A diamond's clarity ranking is determined by the number, size, type, and placement of the inclusions.

Color– An evaluation of most gem-quality diamonds based on the absence of color. Diamonds are graded on a color scale ranging from D (colorless) to Z (heavily tinted) depending on how much body color they exhibit. D, E, F being the brightest and becoming more yellow as the alphabet continues. The closer the stone comes to colorless, the more valuable it is.

Conflict Diamonds – Diamonds illicitly obtained and involved in fueling conflict between militant groups and legally established governments. The Kimberley Process was instituted in 2002 to stem the flow of conflict diamonds.

Contrast – The differential brightness between adjoining facets which contributes to the perception of brilliance, fire and scintillation.

Cubic zirconia (also called CZ) is a synthetic crystalline substance used as an affordable alternative to diamonds and gemstones. Cubic zirconia is not a mineral the way diamonds are. One of the most popular imitations of diamonds.

Cushion – Square to rectangular shape with rounded corners. Also known as antique cushion or cushion cut diamond.combines a square cut with rounded corners, much like a pillow

Cut – Aspects of the proportioning and polishing of the finished diamond. Light performance and beauty are impacted more by cut quality than any other aspect. Sometimes ‘cut’ is also used in reference to the shape, e.g. emerald cut.

Diamond Testor: An instrument designed to indicate whether a stone is a diamond or some other substance.

Diamond: named from the Greek "adamas", meaning invincible. A diamond is a transparent crystal of tetrahedrally bonded carbon atoms, and is the hardest material known to man. Famed not only for its exceptional hardness, the diamond is also prized for its high refractive index and high dispersion of visible light - the ability to split white light into its component colors.

Emerald Cut: shaped like a rectangle from the top, with trimmed corners. The shape was originally developed for the cutting of emeralds.

Emerald Gemstone: one of the most valuable gems on the market today. Part of the beryl group, emeralds can range from medium green to dark green. Inclusions are tolerated in emeralds, as they are considered part of the character of the stone. Emerald is also the traditional birthstone for those born in May.

Extension: a feature at the end of a chain that allows for length variablity. Extensions are typically a 2 inch addition to the chain. Extensions are a convenience that make a necklace more valuable and multi-functional

Facet: A flat polished surface on a finished gem. Layers of faceting allow the stone to catch and reflect light. Highly responsible for the "sparkle" factor

Fancy Color: Refers to diamonds with body color beyond the normal range (beyond Z). Fancy color diamonds have their own grading system.

Fan – Any non-round diamond is referred to as a fancy shape.

Finish – Symmetry and Polish are together considered as finish characteristics and are indicative of the care and craftsmanship of the cutter.

Fire – a descriptive word related the diamonds. Colored sparkles created by refraction and the dispersion of white light into its individual components.

Fish Eye – The unappealing effect created when the girdle is seen reflected in the table at a small angle of tilt. This is the result of a shallow depth and large table.

Fluorescence - When exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, many diamonds temporarily luminesce, emitting visible light of different colors and different strengths. Fluorescence is an important factor to understand as it impacts a diamond appearance and value. There are five levels of diamond fluorescence described by the GIA: None, faint, medium, strong, very strong

Friction Post- This is the simplest and most common type of earring back (also known as “push backs”). It consists of a flat plate with a hole the size of the post. It slides through the post and goes against the ear.

GIA: Gemological Institute of America; the most widely known and respected gemological laboratory on the globe. GIA created the grading scales for diamond color and clarity used by the international diamond trade.

Gold: precious metal. Gold is the go-to choice in jewelry. Since pure gold is very soft, it is mixed (or alloyed) with other metals, usually copper or silver, to make it stronger. The quality of this alloy is expressed in karats (abbreviated as K or KT). Pure gold is 24K.

Gold fill is a thin sheet of karat gold (10K, 12K and 14K) which is fused to a thicker sheet bonded to a base metal such as sterling silver. although gold filled jewelry have similar appearance to pure gold. the layer of gold will eventually wear off exposing the metal underneath. This leads to discoloration and lesser apeal.

Gold over silver: A plating of karat gold (10K, 12K, 14K and 18K) over a piece of sterling silver jewelry. May also be called vermeil.

Gold plate: A thin layer of karat gold (10K, 12K, 14K, 18K, 20K, 22K and 24K), electroplated or otherwise applied as a coating to another metal. Also called gold electroplate.

Graduate Gemologist (GIA) - The credential issued to a student who has successfully completed the entire set of courses offered by the Gemological Institute of America and passed the final exam. The credential is commonly abbreviated GG.

Hardness: Resistance to scratching, measured on the mohs scale 1-10, with diamond being the hardest natural substance at 10.

Heart Cut: Unique and unmistakable heart-shaped gemstone. Heart shaped stones are very popular in solitaire pendants as well as rings. Iconic as an anniversary symbol

Hearts and Arrows: Desirable patterning achieved in a round diamond through a high degree of facet precision.

Hoop Wring: type of backing on a hoop

Huggie: Huggies are a variation of the hoop earring, but rather than loop down and around, they hug the ear, leaving little to no space underneath the earlobe. In other words, they still have a circular shape, but they are a thicker and smaller version of the traditional hoop.

Karat: a measure of the fineness of gold. Rule of thumb: the highter the karat, the purer the gold. Remember 24-karat is the highest pureity on the spectrum. 24 karat pure is most often blended with silver, zinc, copper, or palladium, to create different purities of gold ( karats) and different colors of gold, such as rose gold or white gold. It's blended with alloys simply to make it a stronger metal. Traditional karats used in fine jewelry number from 22k, 18k, 14k & 10k.

Keys to Symbols: Identifies the characteristics detailed on the diamond plot.

Lab Diamond: A diamond that was created through a controlled laboratory process. Mimicking the elements of earth's processes to create diamonds

Lab Report: An identification and quality analysis report from a gemological lab, often referred to as a certificate

Marquise: Elongated brilliant style faceting with points on both ends. Resembles the shape of a football

Moissanites: Moissanites have their own chemical and physical characteristics that are unlike that of a diamond. Moissinates are their own group of material. Natural occurring moissanites are extremely rare and as a result 95% of moissanites on the market are lab grown.

Mother-of-pearl: an organic gemstone made from the iridescent internal layer of mollusk shells. It is composed of nacre, the same material as pearls. Mother of pearl is used in all types of jewelry from watch faces to fashion jewelry.

Onyx: Onyx is part of the chalcedony family of colored quartz. The striking black and often-occurring crisp lines within onyx make it especially popular for jewelry. Because the lines can form in many different ways, each piece of onyx has a unique appearance. Onyx is opaque, meaning no light shines through it.

Opal: There is no other gemstone that looks remotely like iridescent opal. The shifting colors seen in opal, called "fire," are the result of microscopic spherical structures within the stone, which reflect different wavelengths of light, creating the colorful shimmering effect.

Oval: A brilliant style cut which is elongated with rounded ends. Also described as a hybrid between round and marquise shapes.

Pave: A jewelry technique involving small diamonds set very close to one another, like a road paved with stones. Micro pavé is typically done by a jeweler working under a microscope.

Pear: A brilliant style cut, sometimes called a tear drop, featuring a point on one end and rounded shape on the other. hybrid between an oval cut and a marquise cut with a tapered point on one end.

Pearls: the products of bivalve mollusks – usually oysters and mussels. Pearls are a build-up of nacre, or calcium carbonate, that form concentrically around a seeded irritant. Most pearls harvested today are seeded or cultured pearls.

Peridot: often called chrysolite or olivine, which is the proper name for the mineral. Its color is its most important quality, and can range from yellow to striking lime green. Peridot is the traditional birthstone for August.

Polish: The degree to the cutter has achieved a mirror finish on all of the diamond’s facets.

Polish: gold polishing

Pricing: Diamonds are priced generally along the lines of rarity based upon size, color, clarity, and cut quality. The diamond market is highly globalized and there are pricing guidelines that are published regularly that serve as a basis for pricing in the trade.

Princess: A brilliant cute with a A squared and stepped shape. Often square cut, but can is also found rectangular

Proportions – The relationship between the crown, pavilion, table and girdle.

Pure Gold: so soft it is rarely used in jewelry. Jewelers deal with various gold alloys, collectively called karat gold. Karat (K) tells the number of parts, by weight, of gold in 24 parts of alloy. The higher the percentage of pure gold, the higher the karat. Pure gold is 24K

Radiant: A brilliant rectangular cut with clipped corners forming an octagonal outline. The radiant cut is a combination of a princess and a cushion cut.

Rhinestone: Imitation of a diamond created by backing cut glass with a reflective paint. Most popular in costume jewelry.

Round Brilliant: The classic round cut, made up of apx 58 facets. Round is the most widely used cut, thus most believe it to hold its value best in relation to other shapes.

Ruby: red variety of corundum and is one of the most prized of the colored gems. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July

Screw back baby: an earring back, built for babies. It consists of a threaded post and nut that is spun on to the post, but stops before reaching the earlobe. The nut has a closed end which protects baby from the end pushing into the back of the ear.

Screw back: The most secure type of earring back. It consists of a threaded post and a nut that is spun on to the post, up to the back of the ear lobe. It cannot be pulled off- it has to be fully unscrewed. This is both a blessing and a curse - much less likely that you will lose an earring, but more time consuming putting them on and taking them off

Shallow Cut: A diamond that is proportioned so that the depth is small relative to its outer dimensions. This can cause deficits in light

Step Cut: A facet arrangement featuring horizontal facets that create a series of steps. Emerald, Asscher, and baguettes are examples of step cut stones.

Symmetry: The degree of precision in the alignment of corresponding facets in 3 dimensional space. Because it is sometimes confused with the “meet point” symmetry graded on a diamond report, a better term is optical precision.

Slider (adjustable): a mechanism built for flexible sizing on bracelets and necklaces. The sizing tool allows you to tighten and loosen the product by simply tugging. Golden Gal's favorite feature because its fashion & functional, just how we like it.

Trilliant: triangular shaped diamond with brilliant style facet arrangement.

Turquoise: the blue cousin to lapis lazuli, has been valued for thousands of years across various cultures, regions and traditions. The most valued of turquoise has a sky blue color.The blue color is created from traces of copper, while the green shades are created from traces of iron or chromium.