The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC is home to so much that’s rare and wonderful on the planet.

One of the more spectacular collections is the collection of gems in the Museum of Natural History.

There you can see wonderful crystals and minerals in their natural form, as well as some of the most incredible pieces of jewelry every created.

There are crowns worn by royalty, enormous diamond earrings worn by the doomed French queen Marie-Antoinette.

They’re all stunning and awe-inspiring, but nothing is more mysterious than the rare earth-green of the emerald. The Smithsonian is home to the most fabulous emeralds ever known, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have them in this country.

Hooker Emerald

One such emerald is the Hooker Emerald, which legend has it was once part of the belt buckle of a Turkish sultan.

Another brilliant example of emerald jewelry, combined with diamonds is the Spanish Inquisition necklace. It’s a spectacular double row of diamond shapes, ending in a pendant of a chandelier shape with emeralds.

The world of fashion is composed of two things namely; clothes and accessories.

One of the many accessories the person may choose to have is a bag to hold on some stuff and jewelry.

Traditionally, these things come in the form of an earring, a necklace or a bracelet. Lately, there is a new trend and this involves putting jewelry on one’s body.

Where to find body jewelry?

Body jewelry is seldom sold in the department store. This is perhaps because most of the customers are quite conservative. The customer will have to visit tattoo or body piercing shops or check these out in some carts located in the mall.

There are many types of body jewelry readily available. The person can get this for the nipples, the nose, the tongue and the navel. These accessories are not only for women since some men have also purchased it to be part of the crowd.

There are two ways for this to stay on the body. The first will be after someone pierces it to the skin. The other will stay there with the help of a magnet.

Necklaces come in a wide variety of lengths. The length of a necklace was once attributed to specific age groups or classes.

However, currently choosing the right necklace length is a matter of personal taste.Collar necklaces are between 12 and 13 inches in length. Necklaces of this length will fit snuggly around the center of the neck.

Collar necklaces are often made up of three or more strands of necklaces. They are an ideal accessory when wearing off the shoulder or low v-neck attire.A choker necklace is usually between 14 and 16 inches long. This is a very traditional and versatile length. It can compliment almost any outfit and neckline. In addition it can easily be dressed up or down, depending on what it is paired with.

Anything longer than 16 inches is generally classified as a long necklace.The princess necklace is typically between 17 and 19 inches long. This is the most common length for a necklace, with the end falling right at the collarbone. This length works well for low cut and crew necklines. This is the length you should purchase if you cannot decide which length will work best for you.

Whenever you get a great piece of jewelry, when you’re not wearing it, you often want to display it for all to see. To display your jewelry, you’ll want to get some sort of jewelry display case.

You can find jewelry display cases wherever jewelry is sold. After all, go into any jewelry store and you’ll see that they’re experts at displaying jewelry.

If you need help, ask one of the workers who work at the jewelry store. Displaying jewelry is part of their daily job and they’ll likely be more than happy to help, especially if it means making them a sale.

Size of the display case

When creating a good jewelry display, the first thing you need to consider is the size of the display case and where you plan to place the display. The size of the display case is dependant on how many pieces of jewelry you want to showcase.

If you only have a few pieces of jewelry, a small display case is fine. If you have many, you’ll want to go larger. You’ll want to watch out for crowding. Each piece of jewelry should have at least a half to a full inch space between each item, to make them easier to see.

The legacy of beads has certainly come a long way from about 75,000 years ago when the first beads were unearthed from archeological sites in Egypt, France, Japan, India, North America, and South Africa.

Modern uses of beads have extended from jewelry to curtain crafts, embroidery, and just about anything that require decorating.

But typically, among the multiple purposes of beads are being applied for creative works. Jewelry designers and artisans use beads to enhance the value of their works.

Beads appear to be closely related to human’s instincts to have a sense of one’s self.

Beads are commonly being produced mostly by indigenous peoples as part of their culture but people in urbanized countries use them often for glamour, which is the reason for large-scale production of beads.

Beads are cheaper when bought as wholesale. There are various sites that help you find wholesale beads of varying kinds.

Finding wholesale beads

There are several types of wholesale beads available in the market today. There are those that cost lesser compared to pearls and Swarovski crystals that due to rarity are considered precious and more expensive.

Even in antiquity, this mineral has been widely employed however, in the quest of obtaining more deposits; people in the past learned that there were more mines in the western hemisphere.

In the last stages of the 1700’s, the stone was not only widely used but even abundantly excavated.

The metal was a raw material in various jewelries such as sterling silver beads that until this juncture are highly appreciated by thousands of people.

History ofSterling Silver Beads

The name sterling silver beads have a historical root. In the twelfth century, there were five districts in the east of Germany that united to establish the Hanseatic League, a body engaged in important business exchange in England.

As a means of payment, the entity employed “Easter lings”, its own currency generated out of the mineral that has been combined with other natural ingredients. Later on, the locals discovered how extremely dependable the stone was.

A soft mineral in genuine form, sterling silver beads have already been formulated with other alloys for the purpose of functionality and stability.

Since the stone is very ductile, where even if little force is applied, will result to breakage, is popular for the mixture and not for the authentic kind.

It’s hard to imagine that a mineral with a name as mundane as corundum yields gems as exquisite as the ruby and sapphire, or even that these two stones, so different in color and mystique, are actually the same mineral family.

Ruby and Sapphire

Lucky you if your birthstone is sapphire (September) or ruby (July).

These are among the richest-colored of all gemstones with a romance and history as colorful as they are. Rubies are actually rarer than sapphires, and only red corundums are called rubies. Any other color is a sapphire.

When grading colored stones, the density and hue of the color are part of the evaluation, and it’s the richest, deepest colors that are the most prized. In rubies, the most prized variant of color is called pigeon’s blood.

Large gem quality rubies can be more valuable than comparably sized diamonds and are certainly rarer. There is a relative abundance of smaller, (1-3 carat,) blue sapphires compared to the scarcity of even small gem quality rubies, making even these smaller stones relatively high in value.

Stones of Burmese origin generally command the highest prices. The vast majority of rubies are “native cut” in the country of origin.

Who doesn’t love rose quartz in all its varying hues of pink?

Rose quartz takes its name from the flower because of its translucent and delicate pink color caused by traces of iron, manganese or titanium.

Rose quartz is usually very large – meaning that it doesn’t form crystals.

Rose quartz is found in Madagascar, India, Germany and several areas in the USA. Much rose quartz was extracted from a famous site near Custer, South Dakota, but now, most of the world’s supply comes from Brazil.

Rose quartz is one of the most valued varieties of quartz. The pink to rose red color is unique.

Color of rose quartz

The color of rose quartz is still not completely understood. It has been said to be due to a number of different minor impurities present in the rose quartz including titanium, manganese and even colloidal gold.

However, recent studies using micro-analytical methods have discovered that the color of massive rose quartz is actually due to microscopic mineral fibers in the rose quartz.

X-ray diffraction tests on these microscopic fibers yielded patterns similar to the mineral dumortierite, suggesting the possibility of a totally new and as yet unknown fibrous mineral causing the color in massive rose quartz.

Glazed quartz

In ancient Egypt, glazed quartz served as a substitute when no high quality examples of Turquoise could be found.

The Greeks had originally named quartz, krystallos, the word for ice, but this soon came to mean any crystal.

In China’s Ming Dynasty, quartz often showed up as stone in jewelry work. In Pre-Columbian America, explorations of Mixtec graves have uncovered quartz use for ear jewelry.

Smoky Quartz

In European history, Queen Elizabeth I’s court spiritualist’s crystal ball was Smoky Quartz, which is also the national gem of Scotland, whose national scepter included a large Smoky Quartz on its top.

In modern times, it was the first crystal used in radio transmission and reception and was essential in the development of computers.

Clear quartz

Clear quartz is of the traditional healing stones believed to draw out pain and amplify healing energy. Crystal Healers use clear quartz in rituals meant to treat convulsions, diarrhea, dizziness, exposure to radiation, general pain, hemorrhages, headaches, hypochondria and kidney diseases.

Rose quartz

Rose quartz is used for treating cardiovascular health, fertility, headaches, kidney disease, migraines and sexual dysfunction, as well as those disorders occurring in the throat, ears, nose and sinuses.

While quartz is the most plentiful mineral on earth, it also provides endless fascination and beauty for experts and casual observers alike.

It is found in nearly every geological environment and is at least a component of almost every rock type.

It is also the most varied in terms of varieties, colors and forms. This variety comes about because of the abundance and widespread distribution of quartz.

A collector could easily have hundreds of quartz specimens and not have two that are the same due to the many broad categories.

Quartz is usually clear, but in granite it is also cloudy white or grayish in color. It can also be dark (as in smoky quartz). Many gemstones are actually less common colored varieties of quartz. Examples include purple amethyst, yellow citrine, and pink rose quartz.

Because quartz is so resistant to weathering due to its chemical composition and atomic bonds, it accumulates as the other minerals in a rock erode. Light colored beach, Aeolian and alluvial sand is composed of mainly quartz grains.