The beautiful precious gemstones known as “jade”  are all actually one or other of two distinct kinds of minerals –  jadeitite and nephrite – that were long mistakenly believed to be the same thing.  It was only in  the year…

There is a lot more to jewelry making than stringing beads along wires or sting or using jewelry glue to fix stones to the backs of earrings. Jewelry design is an art form – an ancient art…

One of the most spectacular all-diamond pieces of jewelry in the Smithsonian Institution is the Napoleon necklace. Thought to have originally been owned by Catherine the Great of Russia, it was presented by the Emperor Napoleon of…