Do You Know How Many Colored Alloys Gold Comes In?

Ever since before the beginning of recorded time gold has been considered a valuable and highly sought after substance. People the world over have lived and died and spent their entire lives immersed in one way or another in all that glitters. Whether a financier in the hallowed halls of The City in London or a South African laborer chained by the ankle to a mining site, gold has held mankind captive and captivated since our earliest memories of humanity on earth. There are stories on stone tablets written in Cuniform, the language of the Sumerians telling about the precious metal and how it was sought out and used by our ancient ancestors of prehistory. I wouldn't mind owning this 294 troy ounce Alskan gold nugget. I wouldn't even mind being chained to it by the ankle or around the neck! That's 18 pounds of pure gold!

It's often been said that one ounce of gold can buy a good man's suit and whether back in the 1930's or today, this still holds true in our world economic structure. Let's face it, gold holds its value and is the all time haven for safe investment whether through the purchase of bullion coins, mining stocks or jewelry. I'm sure you most likely already know all of this and if you do and still don't own at least a little bit of gold in your portfolio or in your jewelry box you're either watching too many hours of The Real Housewives of Atlanta or from another planet! Take the quiz to see which "Real" Atlanta Housewife you are!

But how much do you really know about how gold is made? How does it get from 24 Karat pure gold to 10 Karat and did you know there are at least six different colors of gold jewelry? It's never too late to find something you like made from gold. The prices can go from ridiculous to the sublime for jewelry, but there's nothing like it when you hold it in your hand. The magic is always present. I never tire of having gold in one form or another near by. Boullion is my favorite but I'll take it in any form, any karat and any size, large or small!


I love to touch it and wear it and it makes me smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Here's a few tidbits about karat gold and gold alloys to wet your whistle and help you know more about what you are buying.

Gold is a precious metal that is very soft when pure (24 Kt.). Gold is the most malleable (hammerable) and ductile (able to be made into wire) metal. Gold can be applied to things in the form of gold leaf or bent and formed into anything you can think of! Gold is alloyed (mixed with other metals, usually silver and copper) to make it less expensive and harder, thus more durable. The purity of gold jewelry is measured in karats. Some countries hallmark gold with a three-digit number that indicates the parts per thousand of gold. This system works in the following manner:

"750" means 750/1000 gold (equal to 18K) or 18K gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts of another metal(s), making it 75% gold.

"575" means 575/1000 gold (equal to 12K) or 14K gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of other metal, making it 58.3% gold.

"335" means 335/1000 gold (equal to 9/10K) or 10K gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts another metal(s), making it 41.7% gold. 10K gold is the minimum karat designation that can still be called gold in the US.

Alloyed gold comes in many colors:

• Yellow Gold = gold + 50% silver and 50% copper

• White Gold = gold + nickel, zinc, copper, tin and manganese or nowadays, the addition of palladium is added to make white gold. It's more expensive than nickle thus, white gold is usually higher priced in than the other colored golds used for jewelry.

• Pink (rose) Gold = gold + copper and silver. The more copper added the deeper and rosier the color.

• Green Gold = gold + high proportion of silver or cadmium

• Blue Gold = gold + iron

• Grey Gold = gold + 15-20% iron

Black Hills Gold Jewelry is a great example of mixed alloyed gold jewelry of different colors, usually yellow, rose and green gold all in one piece. Black Hills gold jewelry is a style of said to have first been created in the 1870's by a French goldsmith named Henri LeBeauold, who is said to have dreamed about the design after passing out from thirst and starvation. Black Hills gold jewelry depicts leaves, grape clusters and vines, and is made with a combination of green, rose, and yellow gold. The jewelry must be manufactured in the Black Hills of South Dakota in order to be called Black Hills Gold Jewelry. It's beautiful, fascinating and shows off some of the many colors.

See our website, Posh Adornment or our Posh Adornement Etsy Store for a great selection of gold and gold filled antique jewelry. We specialize in gold filled Victorian pieces, usually rose gold in color, and we often have solid gold pieces for sale to fulfill your fantasies and enrich your collection of fine jewelry.

Eye Popping 840 pound Emerald Has Its Day In Court!

Get a load of this! An 840 lb Bahia emerald cluster originally mined in Brazil is sitting at the Los Angeles court house waiting to be claimed and for its 'real' owner to be decided! Appraised at just below $400 million, this baby is one prize I wouldn't mind having in my curio cabinet. They say the the actual pieces of gem emerald are the size of arms! Wow, I bet Angelina Jolie who recently wowed us at the Oscars with her 2die4 emerald earrings that appear to weigh close to 500 pounds each would ante up to be the new owner of this heavyweight! And she's probably one of the few who could afford it too!

I have been a rock hound all my life, well maybe not ALL my life, but since I was about 11 years old, and love the idea of going out looking and digging for beautiful gems and crystals. That's actually how I got my first real love for gems and then when I realized you could add precious metals to that I discovered jewelry. But it's the gems that have their magnetic pull on me.

Look at the mind blowing specimens on Elegant Crystals to see some unbelievable works of art made by Mother Earth herself...without any help and not even one single sculpture course taken! If you are taken with any of these and decide you want to buy one, tell the owner, Crystal Bill that Susan from Posh Adornment sent you. I know him well and I bet he'll give you a special price! Here's a few of his goodies for your daily dose of pleasures!

Crystal Bill's 1200 pound Amethyst Royale Geode measures 6'7" high and 26" wide and as you can see a live person fits comfortably inside! Found also at Elegant Crystals.And here is what the raw material morphs into when it's in jewelry. A fabulous natural amethyst necklace consisting of large round beads and gold spacers. Heavy and sensuous and found here on Posh Adornment.

And for those that like a chaser of royal purple gem quality amethyst mixed with their solid 14K gold, check out this large, amethyst heavy four leaf clover set in solid gold also on Posh Adornment.

A perfect cluster of pure silica quartz also known as rock crystal weighs 422 pounds and measures 15" tall by 32" wide. Now THAT'S a coffee table sculpture for those with a devilish taste for the sublime!

And speaking of morphing, this is what can happen when a good stone cutter gets ahold of rock crystal! This amazing, loooong antique Edwardian faceted rock crystal necklace wraps around the neck up to three times and is a show stopper any way you wear it. A rare find and also at Posh Adornment.

What do you think of this humongous Russian Giant crystal point from the Ural Mountains? Also weighing in at 400 pounds and 36" tall. Doggie not included in the purchase price but it's a new twist on cheesecake ads where the girl lays across the car. Instead, cute puppy hugs large obelisk!

And not to be left out and given equal time, the kitty cat cheescake photos too! This Angel of Light gives new meaning to Crystal Balls weighing in at 288 pounds and 19.5 inches across. Incredible, no? Wow! All found on Elegant Crystals.com and sold by Crystal Bill.

Enjoy!

The Bells Are Ringing...Is There a Wedding in Your Life This Year?

Are there wedding bells ringing for you or someone you know this year? Are you ready to tie the knot, get hitched, bite the dust and exclaim undying love and devotion forever for your sweetheart? If so, have you found that all important dress, chosen your flowers and caterer, decided upon a location and most important of all...decided on what jewelry you will wear? Are you in a quandry, not quite sure how your dream will unfold? If you haven't made all your plans yet and imminent panic has struck, have no fear! We at Posh Adornment have a great direction to point you toward! How about going VINTAGE or ANTIQUE?!

Not only will you be able to reuse and recycle freeing your conscience and saving your bank account, but best of all, you'll be able to take advantage of the most gorgeous dresses and jewelry available and much that is no longer made or made with the kind of quality and detail that they used in the 'good old days'. Now, I'm not suggesting a vintage or antique dress to help save the silk worms or reusing your aunt Josie's polyester flowers! But there are tons of ways to romanticize your wedding, save a little money if that's your thing...or not, get exactly the perfect dress that will make you feel like a princess and that perfect necklace to make you feel like a queen. Have a look at some of the fabulous antique and vintage dresses and jewelry I have featured here for some new ideas to add to your wedding brew! And while you're looking, remember the mother of the bride, the groom and of course your brides maid's gifts!

When I got married sometime just after the dinosaurs roamed I wore a beautiful antique Civil War wedding dress which I would love to show you but unfortunately our house was victim to a flood a few years ago and we lost many of our valuables and photos :-( so I can't show you my dress...but it looked something like this antebellum styled Oleg Cassini silk beauty featured on Etsy by Eclecticas. Wow, this one would even have fit me then! It was very romantic and my hair was swept up in a curly, whispy do! And best of all, I wore this fabulous sterling silver Art Deco marcasite necklace with matching earrings from Germany, studded with a fabulous genuine amethyst and I was fit to be a queen. The necklace was one of many pieces of amazing jewelry my husband (now my ex, but who knew then?) gave to me. At least he had great taste! (You gotta look on the bright side.)


What about one of these incredible dresses below for your special day? There's genuine antique and antique / vintage style. Etsy has a wealth of goodies and I didn't have to look very far to find these. I'm sure if you search the internet there are more, so have fun with it.

An elegant Vintage Wedding Dress featured by Little Town on Etsy.


Pair the stunning dress above with our fabulous antique, LOOOONG Edwardian Rock Crystal necklace and wrap it three times for a knockout look!

Do you prefer a simpler, more sedate or mo-dern look? This unusual Edwardian Great Gatsby antique linen dress offered by Neatcurios is stunning and a marvelous twist on the more decorative wedding dress, offering a lovely pallete for any jewelry you might want to add.

How about pairing that amazing Gatsby dress with this feminine Art Nouveau Pink Sapphire Glass Czech necklace?

Or... for a more contemporary look, visualize the Gatsby dress with this eye popping necklace of Large Natural Amethyst Royal Purple and Gold Beads? Just be careful when your eyes pop to keep track of where they might roll! :-)

Are you a die hard romantic whose gotta have lace, fantasy and the top dog most feminine antique dress around? If so look at these two amazing antiques. First, is the most divine and quintesential Victorian silk wedding dress replete with hand made lace and the perfect look! Offererd by fadedrosevintage.

Accessorize this outstanding dress with an outstanding piece of Victorian jewelry, our Victorian Porcelain Protrait Cameo Necklace a 2die4, great find from the mid 1800s.

And look at this remarkable, romantic Edwardian Gauze wedding dress offered by myfavoritevintage. Totally hand made and so cool for a hot summer wedding!

Wear that summery gauze dress with our stunning Edwardian Rock Crystal Necklace long and languid or doubled or try it with a deep heart throb red Antique Art Deco Natural Faceted Cherry Amber Necklace for a marvelous, different look!

And last but not least, for those of you wanting something intensely romantic and very different, here's a beautiful vintage Gone With The Wind inspired dress from ForeverClassique. Pair this with our Art Deco Topaz Vauxhall Glass Festoon Necklace for a smashing summer wedding look that will make all your friends envious!

For some it's about the dress and for others it's the flowers or the location. For us, it's all about the jewelry of course. Remember the mother of the bride, the groom who needs a wedding band and studs, your bride's maids gifts and have a look at what we have to offer in vintage and antique jewelry at our Posh Adornment! website or at our Etsy Posh Adornment store.

For more great wedding day ideas for Etsians and non-Etsians alike, check out the Indie Wedding Guide where you'll find a complete directory of vintage wedding suppliers, contests, and lots of relevant and helpful information for your big day!

I hope this has been an enlightening and helpful article as well as enjoyable. It's always fun to look at gorgeous dresses and jewelry! Congratulations if it's your big day coming up. We'd love to see what you choose to wear, so send your photos to poshadornment@yahoo.com and I'll post them on our blog!

And REMEMBER! This gorgeous jewelry is not just for weddings. You can wear it every day! :-)

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD ...AND THE WORD WAS JEWELRY!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was JEWELRY...and the Word had a name and the name was Jeanne, I mean Sayde....um, no! I mean Etta, my great grandma’s name...and forever after her legacy has been passed on to me and my daughter in the form of an unending love and enjoyment of antique and vintage jewelry. And with that in mind, Posh Adornment was born and the jewelry gods smiled on our new venture.

Welcome to the Posh Adornment blog! I’ve had so many people ask me about me, about how I got into the jewelry business, what it is I love about it, wanting to know who the face is behind the jabber and how and where I find our jewelry that I have decided to blog about it…tell you some about us and our journey, how we think, and show you some fabulous jewelry along the way…mine and others’.

So here the journey begins!

I’m Susan and my daughter is Bryana and we decided to join forces as a team and run this business together. Keeping it all in the family has its pros and cons…mostly pros, and it’s great to be working with the next generation of jewelry addicts in my great grandma Etta’s line. I remember my great grandmother even tho’ I was only two or three years old when she passed away. It was because of her incredible collection of jewelry. She always wore something sparkly or full of lively colors, and even when she was ill at the very end of her life, she wore her beautiful jewelry. I loved the diamond pin, long and graceful encrusted with sparkling stones and always sitting right where I expected it to be at the base of her throat.

I started buying and selling antique jewels thirty four years ago and eventually chose to set up our existing business as a full time entity as a way to feed my addiction and allow me to continue buying and collecting what I love. First I set up my shop Jeweljuggler on eBay where we still run our auctions under the jeweljuggler name. After many years there, I decided to expand developing Posh Adornment which is currently being hosted on Etsy.com. Bryana and I are now on the brink of launching our private website which will be coming soon so keep an eye out here for our announcement on February 18th.

Being born in the Chinese year of the Tiger, I have a voracious appetite for almost everything and lots of initiative, imagination and determination. I was the wild child and everything I have done has been done with great vigor and an intensity that has sometimes been off putting, but always interesting and quirky. Eccentric and quirky are great words to describe me and even as a child I was quirky, talking to invisible friends who I knew were real, ardently digging through mom’s jewelry wearing her baubles and good stuff for dress up and fueling my unending curiosity for information and history all the while.

Nowhere was it written that I had to be ‘normal’ and even today I have no idea what that means. When everyone else was out on the playground I was reading books on history, taking art classes, drawing on everything I could find, dreaming of a life in ancient Egypt and talking in my mind to the oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece. I loved the fantasy of being ‘back there’ and adored the costumes of old European times and the jewelry and buttons of the day. Who woulda thunk it, that I would one day pull all these interests together combining them with my insatiable appetite for eclecticism to form the business that I am now enjoying!

That leads me back to the future…well not really the future…but the nearer past. I found MY first score of gorgeous jewelry and what a pleasant surprise it was. It was 1975 and I was in Los Angeles. I went to participate in the controversial Primal Scream Therapy with Arthur Janov and while living there for two years screaming my head off I made great discoveries. I found the flea markets, the antique shows, the many stores of Rodeo Drive and the Rose Bowl. Not for playing football mind you, but for the largest, once a month colossal flea market you have ever seen and it was there I started officially as the jewelry junkie dealer…but it was an accident.

Working in LA was something of a challenge at that time. I’d found a job on Sunset Strip at an infamous bar called Filthy McNasties and I was the front door girl bouncer who took your entrance fees and screened those customers who could and couldn’t come into the club. The owners affectionately called me “Ruth in the Booth” ! Not the most lucrative or safest job in the world but I got to come in late at night and do some scat singing with the band and a gal named Ruby, had all the Tequila I could drink and never had to wear high heels and pantyhose to work. So I learned to live with it and enjoy.

During my days when not sleeping, I crawled the local flea markets for goodies and fresh air and one Sunday I discovered the Rose Bowl flea market. Exhilaration was my emotional state and I was well on my way. I bought an antique gold ring with three little diamonds for $5 and then another, an aquamarine ring in 14K gold for $5 and another and another until I had all ten fingers decked out. I stood in front of someone’s booth and the lady said, “Honey, I love your ring!” I asked her which one and she said “All of them, how much you want for ‘em?” It only took me two minutes to contemplate and I sold them all for $250 and that’s how it all began. An investment of about $50 and one hour later a profit of $200. Wow! That was so easy and in a flash… an epiphany of light and I started the long trail forward bedecked in incredible jewelry deals for the next 34 years! I will tell you tho’, that I kept those very first two rings and here they are, now in the proud ownership of my daughter’s much beloved collection and worth a few pennies more than the $5 each I spent.