Misc. Jewelry Question Corner

[MidModMin]

Hello! One of my favorite things about Pricescope is that there are many people here with advanced knowledge of how stones are cut and how jewelry is put together. You know what jewelry components are called, different fabrication techniques, etc., which really helps us newbies as we start buying our own jewelry pieces.

Sometimes, I'll have a minor question about jewelry, but it doesn't seem worth it to post an entire thread dedicated to it. I thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to all our miscellaneous jewelry questions, so we can help each other while shopping or planning custom designs.

What miscellaneous questions do you have about jewelry, jewelry construction, jewelry jargon, or jewelry wearing? Post them here!



I actually have two questions to get us started:

1. Can I safely wear an Argentium or Continuum pendant on a sterling chain, or will they wear the chain through? I understand Argentium/Continuum are harder alloys, but I'm not sure how much harder or how big a concern this is.
2. Is there a specific name for the detachable earring drops that you can add to a stud or hoop to make dangle earrings? An example image is below. I thought they were called enhancers, but that might just refer to a pearl pendant enhancer...I'm not sure.

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I look forward to learning from all of you!

 

[dk168]

Can't answer the first question, sorry. I believe it is down to the thickness/gauge of the chain.

As for the second question - I believe they are still called earring jackets if they are to be worn with a pair of studs.

For wearing with hoops, I would call them interchangeable drops myself and have a few pairs myself, however, I could be wrong and am not an expert by any means.

DK

 

[MidModMin]

Thank you, @dk168! I hadn't realized before that jackets could refer to a drop cycle, so you opened my eyes.

 

[Bron357]

With Silver, I wouldn’t think the slight increase in silver component ie 950 vs 925 significantly increases wear on the lower assayed piece. Keep in my that any repeated friction irrespective of the metal involved, will induce wear over time.
With gold pieces, it is not recommended to wear higher carat pendants on lower carat chains as this will “increase” the rate of wear on the bale of the higher gold carat pendant.
With earrings, my thoughts are that “ jackets” are what goes around a centre stud whereas anything that hangs is a “drop”.
An “enhancer” to me is a pendant that has a clip so it can be added over, most often, to a Pearl strand.

 

[MidModMin]

@Bron357 , thank you! I hadn't really considered that the difference between a 925 and 960 chain would be less than a 18k vs. 14k chain, but it makes sense.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Awsome idea for a thread

 

[goldnsilver]

I haven't had experience with Argentium/Continuum silver but I'd imagine the hardness difference between these and sterling silver is negligible for normal wear. Also depends on how much you wear them together. I wear 900 silver and 925 sterling silver pieces together all the time and haven't noticed any damage on the 925 from the harder, more brittle 900.

Also bear in mind that silver alloys in general are fairly soft and will wear down with time (for instance I have antique sterling watch chains where the links have worn "grooves" into each other).

I've seen sellers on Instagram call the detachable earring drops "earring charms" and "earring pendants" so that's how I usually think of them. Just did a Google search on "earring charms" and it seems to be a thing!

 

[MidModMin]

Earring charms! Thanks @goldnsilver . I never would have thought of that delightful phrase.

 

[MidModMin]

Hi, everyone! Quick question: on a bead-set halo, what is the technical term/name used to refer to the "walls" around the halo? The arrows point to what I am referring to.



Also, what would you call these "spokes" on the ring below? Arrow is pointing to the middle spoke.