An Article On Jewelery

By John B. Emmerson III

Jewelery or jewelry is an item of individual decoration, such as a necklace, ring, brooch or bracelet, that is worn by a person. It may be made from gemstones or valuable metals, but may be from any supplementary material, and may be appreciated because of geometric or other patterns, or meaningful symbols.Earrings and other body rings are also considered to be jewelery, while body art is not.

Also, items affixed to a garment, such as buttons, are not considered to be jewelery, even if they are unusual and highly decorative.

The word jewelery is derived from the word jewel, which was Anglicized from the Old French "jouel" circa the 13th century.Further tracing leads back to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything.Jewelery is one of the oldest forms of body decoration, recently found 100,000 year-old beads shaped from Nassarius shells are thought to be the oldest known jewelery.

Jewelery is sometimes seen as wealth storage or functionally as holding a garment or hair together. It has from very early times also been regarded as a form of personal decoration. The first pieces of jewelery were finished from common materials, such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. More exotic jewelery was most likely finished for wealthy people or as indications of social status. In some cases people were buried with their jewelery.

Jewelery has been made to decorate nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewelery. While high-quality jewelery is made with gemstones and precious metals, such as silver or gold, there is also a growing requirement for art jewelery where design and creativity is prized above material cost. In addition, there is the less costly dress jewelery, complete from lesser value materials and mass-produced. - 33380

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