Hallmark:  Mark on the back of jewelry denoting gold or silver content.

Hand Wrought:  Made from a flat piece of silver or other metal entirely with hand tools.

Hematite:  Iron oxide, an iron ore found in igneous rock.  Opaque charcoal gray to black with an irridescent surface.  To clean your hematite, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean. Moh's scale hardness:  6 - 6.5. 

Intaglio:  (in-TAHL-yo)  A carved gem in which the design has been engraved into the stone.  Differs from cameo in that the figure is incised in the intaglio and raised in the cameo.

Iolite:  Gem version of the mineral cordierite.  Often called "water sapphire."  Deep sapphire blue/violet in color.  In fact, the term "iolite" comes from the Greek word for violet.  Sometimes shows at least two colors at a time depending on how the transmitted light strikes its surface.  Long known as the stone of power.  To clean your iolite, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water.  Never clean ultrasonically.  Never steam clean.  Moh's scale hardness:  7 - 7.5.

Jade:  Naturally occurring gemstone in shades of green.  The Chinese believe jade brings prosperity.  Many stones used in jewelry are called "jade," but are not.  These include African Jade which is opaque grossularite, Black Jade which is dyed serpentine, Malaysia Jade which is dyed translucent quartz, Mountain Jade which is dyed dolomite marble, Serpentine Jade which is chrysolite, Yellow Jade and Olive Jade which are serpentine.  All of these stones are beautiful in their own right, but should not be confused with genuine jade.  To clean your jade, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.  Moh's scale hardness:  6.5 - 7.

Japanned:  Black lacquered metal.

Jasper:  A naturally occurring stone with a very large "family."  Autumn Jasper which is brick red and avocado green, Poppy Jasper which is deep brown, brick red and cream, Leopardskin Jasper with markings of deep brown tones, Moukaite Jasper which comes in tones of brick red, golden yellow and all shades in between, Picasso Jasper which has wide streaks of black, gray and occasionally red, Picture Jasper which is brown, tan and cream, Rainbow Jasper which is burgundy red and gold banded with browns and tans, and Red Jasper which is deep brick red.  To clean your jasper, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm,soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean. 

Joyeria:  Spanish, can refer to jewelry or to a jewelry store.

Karat:  1/24th of the total weight in a gold alloy - 24 karats is pure gold.  Because of its softness, pure gold is not suitable for making jewelry.  Copper, silver, nickel and zinc are added to gold to strengthen it.  What is added and how much is added determines the color and karat of gold.

In Europe, gold is stamped according to its fineness.

US Karats      Percent of Gold

24                      l00%

22                      95.83%

18                      75%

10                      41.67%

 9                        37.50%

Labradorite:  Composition of feldspar minerals, albite and anorthite.  Grey blue with flashes of blue.  Said to be helpful for dream recall.  To clean your labradorite, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.

Lampwork:  Molten glass is wound around a steel rod, called a mandrel, to make a glass bead.  The name is derived from early glass bead makers in Venice who used oil lamps as their heat source.

Lapis Lazuli:  Naturally occurring stone which is deep royal blue, often with flecks of iron pyrite.  Traditionally a stone for royalty.  Said to invoke wisdom.  To clean your lapis, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically.  Never steam clean.  Moh's scale of hardness: 5 - 6.

Larimar:  A rare blue variety of pectolite found in only one place in the world, the Dominican Republic.  Its colorations vary from white, light-blue, green-blue to deep blue.  The deep blue variant is known as volcanic blue and is the most valuable.  In 1916 Father Miguel Domingo Fuertes Loren discovered the stone but because of miscommunication was not able to explore and exploit the mine.   The beautiful blue stone was forgotten until 1974 when it was rediscovered by Miguel Mendez and Norman Rilling.  Miguel named the stone after his young daughter, Larissa, and the Spanish word for the sea (mar) and formed Larimar.  Moh's scale of hardness:  4.5 - 5.

Lemon Quartz:  Naturally occurring yellow quartz related to citrine.  Occasionally has a burnt orange or green tinge.  To clean your lemon quartz, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water.  Ultrasonic cleaning is usually safe.  Never steam clean.  Moh's scale of hardness:  7.

Liquid Silver:  Sterling tube bead.  To clean your liquid silver if it has tarnished, sprinkle dry baking soda onto a soft cloth.  Rub the strands of liquid silver while carefully pulling them through the cloth.  Shake off the excess baking soda.

Lucite:  Trade name for acrylic resin introduced by Dupont in 1937.

Malachite:  Naturally occurring copper mineral with bands of medium green to pale green.  Malachite is thought to be a healing stone.  To clean your malachite, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.  Moh's scale of hardness:  3.5 - 4.

Marquis:  Oval shaped stone with a point on each end.  Also called a navette.

Mesh:  Construction method where the piece of jewelry appears to have been woven of thread.

Millefiori:  Glass handcrafted by artisans in Italy.  Means "thousand flowers."

Moh's Scale:  Conceived by German mineralogist, Mohs, it is the most commonly used scale of relative hardness of minerals.  Each mineral of a given hardness scratches all of those with a lower number.  The highest number in the Moh's Scale is 10 and only the diamond fits this category of hardness.  Please see the page titled "Moh's Scale of Hardness" for the Moh's scale.

Moissanite:  Faux diamond created by Charles and Colvard.  To clean your moissanite, you can use ultrasonic cleaning and steam cleaning.

Moonstone:  Naturally occurring stone with translucence and irridescence.  One of the most valuable varieties of feldspar.  The irridescence is called adularescence.  To clean your moonstone, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.  Moh's scale of hardness:  6 - 6.5.

Morganite:  Naturally occurring stone which is the pink variety of beryl.  Other varieties of beryl include aquamarine and emerald and sometimes morganite is referred to as pink emerald.  Discovered at the turn of the century in California.  Given its name by George Kunz, chief gemologist of Tiffany's at the time, in honor of JP Morgan. To clean your morganite, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.

Mosaic:  Decorated with many small pieces of multicolored stone (pietra dura) or glass (tessarae).

Mother of Pearl:  Irridescent inside lining of mollusks.  To clean your mother of pearl, avoid harsh detergents.  Wash with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly.  Never clean ultrasonically and never steam clean.

Murano Glass:  Made by glass artists in Murano, Italy.