Know exactly what you are buying
300 pearl and jewellery terms, each one linked to a piece you can hold.
Where would you like to begin?
Types of Pearl
Freshwater, saltwater, South Sea, keshi, and how to tell a real pearl from a coated bead.
Shapes
Round, baroque, drop, coin and the rest, and what each one is worth paying for.
Quality & Grading
What AAA actually means, plus lustre, nacre, orient and the claims to be sceptical of.
Size & Length
Millimetres, choker to rope, bangle sizing, and which length suits which neckline.
Jewellery Styles
Jhumka, mangalsutra, kundan, polki, temple work and the rest of the Indian vocabulary.
Gold & Hallmarking
Karat versus carat, 22K and 18K, 916, plating, vermeil and what a BIS hallmark proves.
Gemstones & Cuts
Ruby, emerald, sapphire and zircon, their Indian names, and the cuts from princess to cabochon.
Metals & Plating
925 silver, platinum, brass and the alloys and finishes a piece is actually built from.
Clasps & Construction
Clasps, knotting, drilling and settings, the parts that decide whether a piece survives.
Care & Authenticity
Storing pearls, the tooth test, restringing, and the astrological terms buyers ask about.
Buying & Value
Making charges, wastage, gold rate, GST, buyback and what a piece is actually worth.
Terms starting with F
1–11 of 11
Facet
One flat polished surface on a cut stone. Their number and angles decide how it returns light.
Filigree
Lacework made from fine twisted wire, soldered into openwork patterns. Light for its size.
Findings
The trade word for all the small functional parts of a piece: clasps, jump rings, posts, backs, caps and pins.
Fineness
Purity expressed in parts per thousand rather than karats. 999, 916, 750 and 585 are the numbers you will see stamped.
Finger Ring
A ring set with a pearl, usually a single dome-backed or button pearl in a protective setting.
40 in stock · from ₹400
Fireball Pearl
A freshwater pearl with a comet-like tail, formed when the mussel partly rejects the bead.
Fixed Price
One price for the finished piece, with no separate metal, labour and tax lines. Standard for pearl and fashion jewellery.
Flat
Deliberately flattened pearls, including squares, pentagons and irregular tablets.
3 in stock · from ₹3,750
French Wire
A fine coil of wire threaded over the silk at each end of a strand, protecting the thread where it turns at the clasp.
Freshwater Pearl
A pearl grown inside a mussel in a river or lake, rather than an oyster in the sea. Most pearl jewellery sold today is freshwater.
916 in stock · from ₹400
Full-Drilled
A pearl drilled all the way through so thread can pass. How every strand pearl is prepared.