For: Jewelry (group)

Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal ornament, such as a necklace, ring or bracelet, made from gemstones, precious metals or other materials.

The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel" circa 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 beads made from Nassarius shells are thought to be the oldest known jewellery.Study reveals 'oldest jewellery', BBC News, June 22, 2006.

Although during earlier times jewellery was created for 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 materials, such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it.

Jewellery has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality is made with gemstones and precious metals, there is also a growing demand for art jewellery where design and creativity is prized above material value. In addition, there is the less-costly costume jewellery, made from less-valuable materials and mass-produced. New variations include wire sculpture (wrap) jewellery, using anything from base metal wire with rock tumbled stone to precious metals and precious gemstones.

Form and function

• Currency, wealth display and storage,
• Functional use (such as clasps, pins and buckles)
• Symbolism (to show membership or status)
• Protection (in the form of amulets and magical wards), URL: Magic Of jewels: Chapter VII Amulets George Frederick Kunz was gemmologist for Tiffany's built the collections of banker J.P. Morgan and the American Natural History Museum in NY City. This chapter deals entirely with using jewels and gemstones in jewellery for talismanic purposes in Western Cultures. The next chapter deals with other, indigenous cultures.
• Artistic display

Most cultures have at some point had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewellery, or create jewellery as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; an example being the use of slave beads.Fact: date=February 2007