Jewellery or Jewellry

What is a Jewellery?

Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal ornament, such as a necklace, ring or bracelet, made from gemstones, precious metals or other materials.

The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel" round the 13th century. It has also been suggested that the word is derived from "Jew", as the Jews were important jewellery artisans of that time. Further tracing leads back to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. Jewellery is one of the oldest forms of body adornment; recently found 100,000 year-old beads made from Nassarius shells are thought to be the oldest known jewellery.

Although during earlier times jewellery was created for practical uses such as wealth, storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost exclusively for decoration. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural materials, such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it.

Jewellery has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality is made with gemstones and precious metals, there is also a growing demand for art jewellery where design and creativity is prized above material value. In addition, there is the less-costly costume jewellery, made from less-valuable materials and mass-produced. New variations include wire sculpture (wrap) jewellery, using anything from base metal wire with rock tumbled stone to precious metals and precious gemstones.

For Example;

Jewellry Celtic style rings are still popular as traditional engagement and wedding rings and are available in 9ct or 18ct yellow or white gold as well as the increasingly popular titanium and precious metal platinum. The ring featured here is from our gold celtic rings section.

Titanium and zirconium rings have grown in popularity not only because of their hard wearing and hypoallergenic properties but more importantly because the metals can be fashioned into such attractive jewellery.

Mens jewellery has become increasingly popular with a wider variety of styles and materials to suit all tastes. Our heavy silver bangles, bracelets and rings have proved very popular with modern men. Our designer silver cufflinks are also very popular for formal occasions. Pictured above is a barbed wire bracelet in solid silver.