Jewellery

Jewellery (jewelry or jewelery in English) is a personal ornament, such as a necklace, ring, or bracelet, made from jewels, precious metals or other substance.

The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was Anglicised from the Old French language "jouel" in around the 13th century. Further tracing leads back to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. Jewellery is one of the oldest forms of body adornment; recently found 100,000 year-old Nassarious shells that were made into beads are thought to be the oldest known jewellery.

Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more practical uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost exclusively for decoration. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural material, such as bone, tooth and carved wood. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it.

Jewellery is made out of almost every material known and has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpin to toe ring while high-quality and artistic pieces are made with  and precious metals, less-costly costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced. New variations include wire scultpture (wrap) jewellery, using anything from base metal wire with rock tumbled stone to precious metals and precious gemstones.

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