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A Wide Range of Information Relating to
Sterling Silver, Gemstones and General Jewelry
and Jewelry Terms
F
Test your knowledge - click on the
question to find the answer
Q. Describe a
Sterling figaro chain.
Q. Fimo fashion jewelry.
Describe Fimo
Faberge:
Legendary Russian goldsmith and
jeweler to the Czars of Russia who
created ornate gifts, notably a
series of jeweled and
enamelled Easter eggs for
European royalty.
Facet: Facets are the small
flat surfaces of a polished
diamond
or
gemstone. These polished, flat
planes are a major determining
factor in enhancing the
diamond's ability to sparkle or
reflect light.
Faceted: A
gemstone carved with a regular
pattern of many planes, or "facets".
"Facets of Fire":
Keepsake's patented
diamond
cut with 74
facets that gives off more light
and greater scintillation than a
round-cut
diamond.
Faith Ring:
See Fede Ring.
False Topaz:
A name for yellow quartz.
Family Jewelry:
Jewelry embellished with the
name and
birthstone of a member of the
family, or sometimes just the
birthstone. See also Mother's
Rings.
Fancy Cut:
A term used for
gems that are
cut in a shape other than the
standard round-cut, such as single
cut, marquise,
emerald, pear, heart, oval,
square,
baguette, triangle, etc. Also
called fancy shape.
Fancy Diamond:
A
diamond found in a color other
than white, including yellow, blue,
green, red, and purple.
Fancy Jasper:
An opaque
gemstone, the stone varying in
shade from a pastel green to forest
green, pink to purple-red and
yellow-gold in color, frequently in
the same stone.
Fancy shapes:
Gemstones
cut in any way other than
round-cut. Another term for
Fancy cut.
Fantasy Cut:
Stones
cut in fancy shapes. See
Fancy cut
Fashion Jewelry may be precious gems and metals or cheaper costume jewelry that compliments the look of fashion.
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Faux:
(Pronounced like "foe") French word
meaning false, fake, imitation or
artificial. In a manufacturing
context, faux is used to indicate
something made to resemble something
else. Faux marble looks like marble.
Faux bois looks like wood. Faux
porphyry looks like stone.
Feather: A
kind of inclusion in a
diamond, usually only a tiny
crack. Although they may have no
affect on the strength or beauty of
the
diamond whatsoever, these
feathers, or “fissures” as they are
sometimes called, can make a stone
more fragile and susceptible to
cracking depending on the depth or
location.
Fede
rings: (or "Faith
rings") Are distinguished by
having the
bezel cut or cast in the form of
two
clasped hands, symbolizing
faith, trust or "plighted troth".
Fede
rings date from Roman times and
were popular in the Middle Ages
throughout Europe.
Feitsui: The
Chinese name for a highly prized
variety of pale green jade; the
royal stone of China.
Feldspar: A
family of minerals which are all
silicates of
alumina with either potash,
soda, or lime. They're usually white
or nearly white, flesh-red, bluish,
or greenish, and occur in crystals
and
crystalline masses, vitreous in
luster, and breaking rather
easily in two directions at right
angles to each other. The feldspars
are essential constituents of nearly
all
crystalline rocks, such as
Granite,
gneiss, mica, slate, most kinds
of
basalt and trachyte, etc.
Fetish: An
amulet, pendant or
charm, often representing an
animal or person, believed to have
magical power to protect or aid its
owner.
Fetish Necklace:
A necklace with shell and/or
turquoise
beads that has
charms in the shape of small
animals or birds along it's length.
Fibula: An
ancient and often ornamented
clasp or
brooch used in ancient Greece
and Rome to fasten clothing. It
usually consisting of a straight pin
coiled at one end to form a spring
and extended back to form a bow and
a catch-plate to secure the pin.. The pin is pushed
through the clothing to hold it
together. A fibula is sometimes
referred to as a ‘safety-pin
brooch’.
Filigree:
 A
design made with thin wire
intricately interlaced or bent into
rosettes, spirals, or vines. The
wire is typically
gold or silver and may be plain,
twisted, or plaited. There are two
major styles of filigree. The first
is to solder the wire to a metal
base. This style was used in
Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian,
Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and 13th century
German and Italian
jewelry. The second style is to
leave the wire as an openwork design
without a metal backing, which is
characteristic of European
jewelry until the 15th century.
Filigree was used on Jewish marriage
rings as well as Spanish and
Portuguese peasant
jewelry. In England it is found
on some mourning rings.
Filigree Enamel:
A type of decoration similar to
cloisonné enameling but having
the cloisons made of twisted wire,
(rather than flat strips of metal),
soldered to the base and filled in
with opaque
enamel. After the powdered
enamel in the spaces is fused
and, upon cooling, has contracted,
the wire shows above the surface.
Figaro Chain:
 Similar in style to a
curb link
chain, but the links alternate
between a long one and three round
ones instead of uniform links.
Figogucci Chain:
 A mariner link
chain where the links are
twisted and
diamond-cut so they lie flat
like a
curb link
chain.
Figure 8 safety
catch: A type of safety catch in
which a hinged wire in the shape of
a figure eight snaps over a pin. The
wide end of the eight connects at
the bottom to the hinge, and the
smaller end of the eight slips over
the pin to hold the
clasp closed.
Fimo:
 A
German-made polymer clay that comes
in over 30 colors and can be
hardened by baking in a standard
oven.
Beads made from fimo have become
popular in modern
jewelry.
Findings: All
types of construction components
used in
jewelry making such as
clasps,
pins, hooks, tabs, etc.
Fine Condition:
A piece in Fine
Condition may show extremely
slight wear, but not enough to have
developed a
patina.
Finial: A
sculptured ornamental knob, often in
the shape of a leaf, flower, or
fleur-de-lys,
at the terminal end of an object.
Finish: The
way the surface of a piece is
polished or textured. The finish of
a
diamond refers to the polish on
the external surface of a
diamond. When a
diamond or stone is well
cut and polished, it is said to
have a beautiful finish. Finish is
also used to describe the polish or
texture applied to a metal. Common
finishes include high polish, matte
or
brushed.
Finish,
Florentine: A surface in which
parallel lines are engraved in one
direction, then crossed with lighter
perpendicular lines resembling brush
marks. Also called
brushed finish
Finish Jewelry,
High Polished:
Jewelry which is shiny, smooth
and reflective.
Finish Jewelry,
Matte: With
jewelry which has a
matte finish the designer uses
either a chemical process or an
abrasive material to scratch the top
layers of the piece creating a dull
and non-reflective surface.
Fire: See
Dispersion.
Fish hook: A
fishhook-shaped finding used to make
earrings. The hook end hangs
from the lobe of a pierced ear.
Fissure: A
fracture or crack in the surface of
a stone.
Fleur-de-lys:
From Old French "flor de lis": flor
(flower) + de (of) + lis (lily). A
stylized three-petaled iris flower,
used as the armorial emblem of the
kings of France. It is commonly
found in jewelry items.
Florentine
Finish: A surface in which
parallel lines are engraved in one
direction, then crossed with lighter
perpendicular lines resembling brush
marks. Also called
brushed finish
Fluorescence:
A property possessed by
diamonds, fluorspar, uranium
glass, sulphide of
calcium, and many other
substances, of glowing without
appreciable rise of temperature when
exposed to ultra-violet rays,
cathode rays, X rays, etc. This
fluorescent glow is not always
considered when grading a
diamond for quality (using the
standard Four C’s);
it is an inherent characteristic of
a
diamond.
Fluoride: A
binary compound of
Fluorine
with another
element or radical.
Fluorine:
An
element of the halogen class of
elements which is only found in
nature combined with other
substances. It is found combined as
calcium fluoride in fluorite,
and as a double fluoride of
aluminum and sodium in
cryolite. Fluorine is very
active chemically, (the most
electronegative and most reactive of
all the
elements), and possesses such an
avidity for most
elements, especially silicon,
that it can neither be prepared nor
kept in glass vessels. This is why
even though it was first identified
by Scheele in 1771, it was not
isolated until 1886 by Moissan. When
isolated, fluorine is a pale-yellow,
highly corrosive, flammable,
poisonous, gas.
Fluorite: A
mineral composed of
calcium
fluoride which is found in many
different colors such as white,
yellow, purple, green, red, etc.
Often very beautiful,
crystallizing commonly in cubes
with perfect octahedral
cleavage. See
African Emerald.
Fluted: A
long, usually rounded concave grooves
repeated in vertical parallel lines
as a decorative motif. Commonly seen
on Greek and Roman columns.
Fob: A short
chain or ribbon attached to a
pocket watch, often with an ornament
or decorative seal attached to the
end.
Foil: A paper thin sheet of
metal placed behind a crystal or
glass stone to intensify the
brilliance of the stone. See
Foilback.
Foilback: A
method of coating the back of a
stone with silver, gold, or colored
Foil. This
enhances the
brilliance of the stone, by
reflecting back as much light as
possible. It is commonly seen in
costume jewelry. A foilbacked
rhinestone whose foil has been
damaged, (often from water creeping
in), does not sparkle anymore and is
said to be a "dead" stone, lowering
the value of the piece. Before,
modern, highly reflective
cuts were developed, even
diamonds were foilbacked.
Foldover Clasp:
A
clasp used on a necklace or
bracelet with a box on one end
and a V-shaped tongue on the other.
The lid of the box opens to reveal a
small hook. The tongue slips over
the hook and then the lid of the box
is snapped closed to secure the
tongue in place.
Fool's Gold:
See pyrite.
Fossilized: A
piece of bone, wood, or other
organic matter that has become
petrified and hard like a stone over
time.
Four C's:
The method by which a
gemstone is measured for
quality. The Four C’s are
cut,
Color,
Clarity and
Carat Weight. See individual
listings.
Foxtail Chain:
 An intricately woven
chain made up of three rows of
links. The top and bottom row are
oval-shaped links lying on each
other at a 45 degree angle, but not
linked together. The center row is a
set of flat connecting rings set at
an opposing angle and flush with
each other which bind the top and
bottom row together.
Fracture: A
type of inclusion in a
diamond or stone. A crack or
feather in a different direction
than its naturally occurring
crystals.
Fracture Filling:
A type of enhancement where tiny
fractures in a
gemstone are filled.
French Back:
See Screw back.
French Ivory:
A plastic produced to simulate
ivory. It was first produced by the
Xylonite Company in 1866. Other
names include
Celluloid,
Ivoride,
Ivorine,
Ivorite and
Pyralin.
French Jet:
Black glass which is made to
resemble real jet. Glass is heavier
and colder to the touch compared to
real jet.
French wire:
A curved wire resembling a fish hook
which passes through the pierced
earlobe and has a catch closure. It
is mostly used with
dangling earrings due to their
extra weight.
Freshwater Pearl:
 A pearl produced by a
mollusk
that inhabits fresh water, such as a
lake or river, as opposed to sea
water. These pearls are usually
shaped like an uneven grain of rice
and unlike the saltwater oyster,
which normally produces only one or
two pearls, each mussel can
simultaneously produce many.
Freshwater pearls are grown in many
countries such as the United States,
Japan, China and Ireland. Natural
freshwater pearls are found in a
variety of colors including blue,
lavender, violet, rose and gray.
They can also be dyed to enhance or
change their color. Freshwater
pearls are much cheaper than their
seawater cousins since they produce
several pearls at once and do not
require an irritant to be inserted
to produce a pearl.
Full Cut: see
Brilliant cut.
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