pendants '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" around the 13th
century.[[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jewel jewel. (n.d.).]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 7, 2007, from Dictionary.com
website.] 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.[22 June 2006.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5099104.stm Study reveals 'oldest
jewellery']. BBC News.] 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 jewelry
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.
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