All About Jewels: Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry

PASTE Paste is glass that is cut and faceted to imitate gemstones. The Trifari set above has high quality paste emeralds, rubies and sapphires.

PATE DE VERRE Pate de verre (also known as glass paste) is glass that is ground into a paste, molded, and then melted. The final piece is an opaque, dense glass with a frosted surface.

PATINA Patina is the change of an object's surface layer that result from aging. Exposure to the air for an extended period of time oxidizes many metals, turning copper and bronze green, and gold reddish. Artificial patinas can be applied to newer objects by using acids or electrolytes.

PAVÉ Pavé settings are stones set very close together. The stones hide the underlying surface. In better pieces, claw settings are used; in less expensive pieces, the stones are simple glued in.

PAVILION The pavilion is the lower part of a cut gemstone, below the girdle.

PEACOCK PEARL Peacock pearls are a type of black pearls that are dark-green (almost black). These pearls (like all black pearls) are produced by the oyster Pinctada margaritifera.

PEAR CUT A pear cut gemstone (also called a drop cut) is teardrop shaped This type of cut is used for pendants, drop earrings, rings, and other pieces of jewelry.

PEARL Pearls are organic gems grown within oysters and a few other mollusks. Pearls are formed when a foreign object (like a tiny stone) has made its way into the mollusk's shell. The mollusk secretes nacre, a lustrous substance that coats the intruding object. As thousands of layers of nacre coat the intruder, a pearl is formed; this process takes up to seven or eight years (an oyster's useful life span). The most valuable pearls are perfectly symmetrical, large, naturally produced, and have a shimmering iridescence (called orient luster). There are many types of pearls, including natural pearls (made with no human interference), cultured pearls (pearls made by inserting a bit of a mother-of-pearl) into [nucleating] a living oyster or by inserting a bit of foreign tissue), baroque pearls (irregularly-shaped pearls), freshwater pearls, seed pearls (tiny pearls), Biwa pearls (a type of freshwater pearl from Lake Biwa, Japan from the freshwater mussel, Hyriopsis schlegeli), blister pearls (grown attached to the shell), black pearls (gray to black pearls), Mabe pearls (cultivated blister pearls), etc. Pearls can be gently cleaned with mild soap and water. The biggest natural pearl, known as the "Pearl of Allah" or "Pearl of Lao-tse," weighs 14 pounds (6.4 kg).

PEKING JADE Peking jade is the same as jade, but often refers to nephrite.

PELL Pell is a costumy jewelry company that was founded in 1941 by the brothers Bill, Joe, Toy, and Alfred Gaita. Pell makes high-quality pieces; older jewelry was pedominantly figural and made of clear rhinestones; later pieces are primarily gold-plated with faux pearls. The pin above is a older Pell butterfly with clear, round rhinestones and tiny, red glass eyes.

PENANNULAR BROOCH Penannular brooches are a type of early Celtic jewelry. They are circular brooches with a long pin (oftern hinged to the base of the pin). These pins were used to fasten two pieces of cloth together (before buttons were invented). The earliest-known piece is the Hunterston brooch from A.D. 700

PENDANT A pendant is a hanging ornament. Necklaces, pins, and earrings often have a pendant. The Christian Dior pendant shown above is costume jewelry.

PENDELIQUE A pendelique cut in one that is lozenge shaped. This cut is frequently used for flawed stones. Pendelique cut stones are often used as pendants.

PERIDOT Peridot (also known as the "evening emerald" and chrysolite) is a yellow-green semi-precious stone with an oily luster; peridot is a transparent, green form of olivine. Peridot exhibits double refraction; when you look through the stone, things appear double. For example, when looking into a faceted peridot gemstone, the number of bottom facets appears to be double the actual number of facets. Most peridots are from a volcanic island in the Red Sea, Zebergit/St. John, the "Serpent Isle." Peridots have been found in meteorites. Peridot has a hardness of 6.5. Peridot cat's eye also exists.

PETRIFIED WOOD Petrified wood (also called xyloid jasper or jasperized wood) is wood that has fossilized - all the original chemicals in the wood have ben replaced with minerals, making a stone-like replica of the original wood.

PEWTER Peweter is an metal alloy that is composed mostly of tin combined with lead, antimony, bismuth, copper, and/or silver (the formulation varies quite a bit). When pewter is polished it has a silvery luster. Most pewter is over 90 percent tin. Pewter is a soft alloy that is worked by casting, hammering, or turning.

PIDIDDLY LINKS Pididdly Links is a costume jewelry company that was formed in 1969 in Lake Katrine, New York. Pididdly Links creates antique reproduction pieces (including pins, earring, necklaces, bracelets, and barrettes) in Victorian, Art Nouveau, and other decorative styles. The jewelry mostly has a gold-tone finish and Swarovski crystals.

PIERCED WORK Pierced work is jewelry (or other metal work) that has patterns cut out of the metal. Pierced work is done with a piercing saw, a tiny chisel, or a stamping machine (with a die as the pattern). When a saw is used, the pattern is drawn on the metal, then a small hole is drilled in each of the future holes. The saw is then used to cut out the desired areas.

PIETRA DURA Pietra dura (meaning "hard rock") is an ancient technique of inlaying semi-precious stones (like alabaster, agate, onyx, lapis lazuli, jasper, topaz, and carnelian) into marble or other soft stone. This art form superficially resembles mosaics.

PIN A pin (also brooch) is an ornament that can be pinned to a garment. The pin above is by Trifari.

PLIQUE À JOUR Plique à jour is a back-less enamel that is a bit like stained glass. In plique à jour, the enamel work is translucent (light shows through it) since the backing of the enamel is absent. Cells of enamel are surrounded by delicate wire. Plique à jour is made by shaping cloisonné wire on a thin sheet of metal (or mica). Enamel (powdered glass) is fired into the wire cells. After the enamel has melted and cooled, the backing (metal or mica) is peeled away and the translucent enamel is left suspended in a supporting framework of cloisonné wire.

POINT A point is a hundredth of a carat or 0.002 gram.

PORCELAIN Porcelain is often used in jewelry. It is made of fine clay (containing kaolin) which is fired in a kiln to about 2,000°F. The porcelain is covered with a glassy, decorative glaze.

POROUS Porous stones have tiny holes in them. These holes allow water, oils, and other substances to penetratethe stone, frequently changing their appearance over time. Many stones are porous, including turquoise.

POT METAL Pot metal is an inexpensive metal alloy, usually containing lead. It is sometimes used for inexpensive costume jewelry.

POURED GLASS Poured glass is a jewelry technique in which glass is suspended within a metal framework. The result is a stained-glass-like effect with translucent glass. The Trifari brooch above is made of yellow glass.

PRASE OPAL Prase opal is a green, translucent opal that looks quite similar to chrysoprase (hence the name "prase") or jade. This type of opal is found in Tanzania, Africa. This gem does not display the iridescence found in some opals.

PRECIOUS STONE A precious stone (also called a gemstone) is one that is valuable and rare.

PRINCESS CUT A princess cut is a square-cut stone. This fancy cut is relatively new and is also known as a Quadrillion or Squarillion cut.

PROVIDENCE Providence, Rhode Island, is a major US center for costume jewelry, silversmithing, and other metalwork. Many costume jewelry companies are/were located in Providence, including Monet, Danecraft, Barclay, J.J., Lang, Trifari, Speidel, Van Dell, and many, many more.

PRYSTAL A prystal is an imitation crystal made from translucent, phenolic plastic.

PT. Pt. is an abbreviation for platinum.

All About Jewels: Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry

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