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Jewelry and Gemstone Glossary of Terms
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Mabe Pearl
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Mabe pearls are dome-shaped on one side and flattened on the other.
They grow attached to the inside shells of oysters. Because
the pearl grows against the inside shell, instead of in
the mollusk's body, these type pearls are set into rings, earrings
and pendants using prongs or bezels
to conceal their relatively flat backs. Mabe pearls are cultured
in the pearl fields of Japan, Indonesia, French Polynesia and Australia.
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Malachite
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Malachite, a hydrous carbonate of copper, is a popular opaque
stone with bands of green and
black. Many beautiful specimens of malachite contain other minerals,
such
as azurite,
cuprite, or chrysocolla. Malachite can be found in Zaire, USSR,
Germany, France, Chile, Australia, Arizona and New Mexico/USA. It
is a relatively soft stone with a hardness of 4 on the Mohs
scale.
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Matte Finish
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Jewelry which has a non-reflective metal surface is referred to
as having a matte finish as opposed to jewelry that is highly polished.
The surface will appear frosted, uniformly scratched or brushed
and is created using various techniques including a chemical processes,
sand blasting, tumble polishing or created by hand using abrasives.
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Metallic
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The quality used to describe a gem with a luster
similar to metal. Hematite, pyrite, stibnite, silver topaz and Gibeon
Meteorites are some gems which display a metallic luster.
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Mohs Scale
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The Mohs Scale of Hardness measures a substance's hardness
or how resistant it is to being scratched. The scale ranges from
1 to 10. For example, a diamond (hardness = 10) will scratch garnet
(hardness = 6.5-7.5), but not the other way around, so a diamond
is harder than garnet. See hardness
for scale of stones.
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Mokume-Gane
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This is a metalsmithing technique originated by the Japanese which
produces an effect that resembles a wood grain. Many layers of copper,
gold,and or silver are bonded together in alternating layers. After
bonding the
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