logo
Home - Welcome - Jeweller

 

Jewelery

 

Jeweler

The jeweler has a passion for precious or semi-precious stones. He shapes them to make ornaments on his workbench in a circle shape. Filing, sawing, crimping, and welding are stages of the manufacturing process. He has several tools, such as a saw carriage, pliers, diamond files, a mallet, a magnifying glass, and a small blowtorch. He uses the mold for the creation of metal parts.

In fine jewelry, the customer's request is first conceived in the form of a sketch. Knowing the methods of assembling parts and harmonizing colors are the core skills.

He works the plating, the gilding, and the enamels. Gold is subject to regulations regarding the purity of metals and the composition of alloys.
In the Middle Ages, golden roses were manufactured at the request of the Pope to attribute them to benevolent sovereigns.

 

A golden rose made in 1300

A golden rose made by the Sienese silversmith Minucchio in 1330,
without thorns like those of paradise,
preserved at the Cluny Museum along the route of the Camino de Santiago.

 

Gemology

The gemologist is an expert in gemstones, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and semi-precious stones such as aquamarine, amethyst, citrine, spinel, tanzanite, topaz, and tourmaline.

The work consists of determining the authenticity and value of these stones using instruments such as the polariscope (polarized light) or the refractometer (indexes of refraction, deviation of a light wave). Knowledge of chemistry and physics is required. He studies the purity, transparency, reflections, and properties of stones and is also interested in the places of extraction.

The oldest jewel found to date is an ornament fashioned from shells dating from prehistoric times, discovered in northern Morocco. The Taforalt cave, classified as a UNESCO heritage site, also has cave paintings. Animal antlers, stones, bones, and shells were the first materials used by man. A few centuries later, metals such as copper, bronze, and gold began to be used. Gold artifacts from Varna, in the northeast of Bulgaria, kept in the Archeology Museum are the oldest gold hoard. This material was later associated with precious stones.

The diamond was discovered about 3000 years before our era in India at Golconda. The engagement ring became a tradition when Maximilien 1er de Hasbourg offered a diamond ring to Marie de Bourgogne in 1477.

Gems of the 13th century.

Gems of the 13th century.