Welcome to the updated Jewellery website!

There are more than 130 gemstone varieties, from Amber to Kornerupine to Onyx, out of more than 3,000 different minerals in the earth's crust.

To be regarded as a gemstone, a mineral must be beautiful in colour, durable - hard enough to withstand constant use and handling, and, most importantly it must be rare, as it is the scarcity which endows it with a greater market value.

Let's examine some of the most popular gemstones.

1. Diamond. The hardest mineral on earth. Pure colourless diamond is the most popular, but yellow, brown, green, blue, pink, red, grey and black diamonds are also produced. Diamond was discovered in kimberlite rock in South Africa around 1870. The main producer today is Australia. The extraction process involves processing vast quantities of rock, not casually finding them on the surface!

2. Gold. The colour of gold depends on the impurities it contains. To increase it's hardness, gold is alloyed to other metals. Silver, platinum, nickel or zinc can be added to produce white gold. 9 Carat gold is 37.5 per cent pure gold. 24 carat is pure gold. Gold is still extracted to this day by panning methods, though commercial mining involves the use of large earth moving machinery together with concentrated acids to process the ore.

3. Silver. When newly mined Silver has a characteristic bright, silver-white colour. However on exposure to oxygen in the air a black layer of silver oxide forms, which tarnishes the surface. To counter this silver is often alloyed with other metals, or covered with a thin layer of gold. Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver used since the Ancient Greeks, and contains 25 percent silver. Sterling silver contains 92.5 per cent silver. Mexico is a large producer of silver.

4. Platinum. Although in use for thousands of years, platinum was not recognised as a chemical element until 1735. Platinum is rare and valuable and does not tarnish, and is slightly heavier than gold. High temperatures of over 1000 degress are need to melt platinum, only from the 1920's on was technology developed to sufficiently work it.

We hope you have enjoyed this short tour of gemstones,to view the gold department, Enter The UK Jewellery Online Store here