Jewelry Books Reviews

Jewelry purchase is not straight-forward and lack of information and experience can make buying jewels confusing, overwhelming and costly. What you pay for an item vs. what your neighbor pays for a comparable item can be, and often is, widely different.

Therefore, it is important to have a first hand knowledge of jewelry and gemstones to avoid pitfalls. So, here I have listed down some of the good books from leading experts and authors from jewelry industry that will help you in widening your knowledge base.

Diamonds: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide Purchasing diamonds can be a magical experience, filled with excitement and anticipation. But lack of information, error, or misrepresentation can make buying gemstones confusing, intimidating, overwhelming, and costly. Whether you are buying a diamond for an engagement ring, anniversary, to commemorate a special moment, or for personal pleasure, today it is more important than ever to understand what you are buying. There are new shapes and cuts, fancy colors, high-tech treatments, and sophisticated frauds. There are new ways to buy (such as internet auctions and TV shopping). To help you avoid the pitfalls and keep the magic, author, an internationally respected expert on buying gems, puts her insider knowledge in this easy-to-read, easy-to-use guide. It offers in depth all the information you will need to buy sparkling diamonds with confidence.

Jewelry & Gems, The Buying Guide 7th Edition: How to Buy Diamonds, Pearls... This book tells you the stuff you need to know when buying, from what to ask the seller, to finding a reputable jewelry and choosing an insurer and appraiser. It will teach you virtually everything you need to know about buying gemstones. It is also filled with great tips to help you get the stone YOU want rather than what the salesperson thinks you should buy, and wonderful design ideas too. However, this book is more suitable for the novice collector than the specialist, and the price list in the middle should be used only as a guide and not as justification for appraisals.

Gold & Platinum Jewelry Buying Guide Knowing the terms the experts know helps when purchasing, so you know exactly what you’re getting. For instance, there is a chapter on testing jewelry to be sure its real gold. Newman offers instructions for simple ‘Acid Testing for the Lay Person’ as she calls it, of course including safety tips! With chapters dedicated to finding the best buy, caring for your jewelry, and appraising the worth of your jewelry, you can not only be knowledgeable, but with the help of this book you can make a profit off the old jewelry you don’t wear anymore with Newman’s tips for selling. All in all, this book is very helpful for those who are not quite sure how to handle the jewelry industry and need an inside look. Easy for the novice to follow, it's full of helpful, clear photos. Very interesting book for anyone wanting to learn more about the fundamentals of gold and platinum, and what traits to look for when making a purchase.

The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones A Complete Guide to using Precious Stones from Cut and Color to Shape and Settings. It is a book most jewelers and designers will need eventually if they are going to incorporate gemstones into their work. It will also help those who are looking forward to purchase gemstone jewelry. This book is divided into three sections: creating gemstones, types of gemstones, and designing with gemstones. Each section has been broken down further into subdivisions. First section about Creating Gemstones, talks in simple terms how gemstones are formed, sourcing, mining, usage and supply chains, gemstone properties, all the way through to facets and how to cut your own. Second section covers the numerous types of gemstones mined today, everything from topaz, garnet, and diamonds to the obscure kyanite, chalcedony and agate to the chrysoberyl. Final section talks about use of gemstones in jewelry designs while using the choice of color, settings, size and shape. This book is truly focused on jewelry-related aspect of gemstones along with the formation part of gemstones. One of the good points of this book is that, it is not full of scientific terms. However, this book may not cater to appraisers and those who want to learn about gemstone appraisal.

The Encyclopedia of Jewelry Making Techniques A very good book for first time jewelry makers, giving one hundred and seventy six pages of very useful information. As its name suggests, it may not be really encyclopedic, but it does cover most major techniques and subjects in enough detail to get you started. This book introduces everything from tools used, casting, riveting metals to stamp making blanks. Each chapter explains the process to ensure you understand the procedure that you are choosing with step-by-step close up pictures and captions, though a few of the chapters are too short to cover the techniques selected. The information in this book is easy to understand and follow, allowing you to use this book to help you with your jewelry making classes. This is a good book for a beginner in jewelry making/designing or for someone who is pursuing jewelry as a hobby.

The Art of Jewelry Design From Idea to Reality This book reveals itself as a scholarly work, perhaps even a text book for college level art and jewelry making students. The author assumes the reader holds a basic aptitude for drawing, writing, hand skills and jewelry mechanics. It gives artistic approach to designing jewelry. This book is for a newbie in jewelry design as well as someone already having understanding of jewelry. Someone having good basics will find this book stretch his/her creative process. But remember that this book is not about technicalities of jewelry design and jewelry fabrication, instead it will help your creative juices flowing for jewelry designing and putting it on paper.

Diamond Ring Buying Guide It's an excellent guide to buying diamonds and diamond jewelry, and written so that even beginners can quickly grasp important details. For the consumer, the book serves as a checklist for the purchase, mounting and care of a diamond. It presents helpful suggestions on detecting diamond imitations, in addition to well-though-out discussions of diamond cutting, and how the various factors can influence value. The close-up photography is fantastic; it gives an insider's view of diamonds that we don't usually see without a jeweler's loupe, with explanations to help us understand what we are looking at. A very readable way for the first-time diamond buyer to get familiarized with often a daunting subject of purchasing a diamond.

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