Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — solid gold

Tanzanite is a beautiful blue-violet crystal and is one of the birthstones for the month of December.  The blue color appears stronger under fluorescent light and the violet hues are more apparent when under incandescent lighting.  The mineral was first discovered in the Mererani Hills of northern Tanzania near Mount Kilimanjaro in 1967 and is extremely rare to find outside this region.  The mineral was named by Tiffany & Co in a campaign advertising that tanzanite could now be found in two places: "Tanzania and at Tiffany's". The tanzanite is predominantly blue gemstone, and is an affordable alternative to sapphire for...

Today we are continuing our metal series with gold-filled, a cheaper alternative to solid gold. While gold-filled is not as valuable as solid gold, it should not be confused with gold-plated, as the two are very different. Gold-filled items are 50 to 100,000 times thicker than most gold-plated items, making them much more valuable and resistant to tarnish. Unlike gold-plated items, gold-filled items will not rub off or turn colors either. So what exactly is gold-filled? Gold filled items are made from solid gold (ranging from 10K to 14K) and filled with other alloys such as rhodium, brass, or sterling...