Diamonds Jewellery, Some useful Links, Information and expert Articles

Australia is the home to the world famous Black Opal from Lighting Ridge in New South wales. Australia is also know for other unique gemstones which are mined in different regions of Australia .These stones are sold around the world. One great Example are Pink diamonds which only come from the Argyle Diamond mine in Western Austrlalia. Whether you are looking for Australia's famous Argyle Pink Diamonds, Boulder or Black Opals, GemstonesDownunder is the right place to look. Explore some of our links to find the gems from Australia you have been looking for !

Find Rare Gems Here !

Ninety five percent of the world's opals are mined in Australia, mainly in Anda mooka, Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge, Mintabie and other areas in NSW, SA and QLD.

• Black : Black opals have a rare body tone that often features an impressive play of colour.    
• White: More common white or milky opals , do not reflect colour as well and are often less valuable than black opals.   
• Boulder or matrix: Boulder opals , also called matrix opals, are a type of natural opal. They are mined in brown ironstone deposits. The opal is cut with the ironstone remaining in the back creating a unique and fashionable look.    
• Crystal: . They have a transparent to semi transparent state that tends to reflect a fair amount of colour. Crystal opals rank under the black opal in terms of rarity and value.    
• Fire: Rare red-orange fire opals are popular for their eye-catching colour.    
• Doublets: Doublets are a form of composite natural opal. The stone is actually made of two pieces, a solid piece of opal cemented to a black backing.
• Triplets: Triplet opals are made out of three pieces - a solid piece of opal, the black backing and a crystal cap cemented on the top.
• Synthetic and imitation: Synthetic opals are made of materials which have the same composition and physical structure but are man-made. Imitation opals simply just imitate the play-of-colour without having the physical or chemical structure as natural opals. Synthetic and imitation opals usually appear glassier than natural opals and have a precise and organised colour scheme, typically in a snakeskin pattern.
  

Platinum Enhanced Silver Jewellery
Robert Kelly
Silver seems to be in with a capital 'i'. More and more people are turning away from the expensive spectrum of jewellery like gold & platinum set with diamonds or other precious stones in favour of rhodium plated silver set with cubic zirconia's and other semi precious stones. The process of rhodium plating has given silver a whole new look, but most people do not even know what rhodium is. Rhodium is from the platinum family of precious metals and is one of the rarest elements on earth! Rhodium is bright white in colour and extremely hard making it ideal for jewellery plating as its very scratch resistant. Rhodium has been used for the last few years to plate silver jewellery as it is very resistant to corrosion, so will protect your silver from tarnishing. The rhodium gives silver a shine that looks like white gold or platinum and with it still being a precious metal it means that you are not compromising with quality, just saving money. Rhodium plating or platinum enhanced sterling silver as it's sometimes known, means that your silver will not go dull and grey like silver items from previous generations, but instead will sparkle brightly like platinum.

Major fashion houses like Tiffany are producing some stunning lines in rhodium plated silver, along with other major designers like Gucci and Christian Dior. When rhodium plated jewellery is combined with semi precious stones, you get a very desirable look at a very affordable price. This allows people to change their jewellery much more frequently than before due to the affordability and wear it without the great fear of loss that we all have when wearing an expensive piece of jewellery. This also makes fantastic common sense as more and more of the countries police authorities advise against the wearing of any expensive jewellery when out in a busy place at night like London etc.

The semi precious stones for next season have to be peridot and bright cubic zirconia, there is still a strong influence of men and women wearing cubic zirconia instead of diamonds. The quality of cubic zirconia are so good now it is very difficult to tell the difference between a CZ and a good quality diamond. For a fashion item why spend hundreds on a diamond when a CZ will cost a fraction of the price, look very much the same and do the same job?

The future of jewellery and in particular silver is rosy. Women will always want jewellery, and no woman will ever have enough earrings or rings in her jewellery box. Silver is becoming a more precious and scarce material. With modern manufacturing and high standards of machine jewellery rather than hand made items the versatility is not only promising but also a method to be watched intently.

This article is brought to you by Robert Kelly of http://www.iluvm.co.uk Wholesale silver Jewellery