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For over Forty-Five years, Mémoire has delivered the best value in classic, diamond essential jewelry collections. Mémoire's commitment to outstanding quality and craftsmanship is evident in each and every design.

Don't see what you're looking for? Customize Opal & Tourmaline necklaces, rings, earrings, and pendants in any color and style you can dream of.

Build your custom Opal & Tourmaline jewelry here.

Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, pearls—both natural and modern cultured pearls—occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar colors are white and cream (a light yellowish brown). Black, gray, and silver are also fairly common, but the palette of pearl colors extends to every hue. The main color, or bodycolor, is often modified by additional colors called overtones, which are typically pink (sometimes called rosé), green, purple, or blue. Some pearls also show the iridescent phenomenon known as orient.

https://www.gia.edu/pearl-description

There are four major types of cultured pearls:

• Akoya—This type is most familiar to many jewelry customers. Japan and China both produce saltwater Akoya cultured pearls.
• South Sea—Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are leading sources of these saltwater cultured pearls.
• Tahitian—Cultivated primarily around the islands of French Polynesia (the most familiar of these is Tahiti), these saltwater cultured pearls usually range from white to black.
• Freshwater—These are usually cultured in freshwater lakes and ponds. They’re produced in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and colors. China and the US are the leading sources.

Platinum is 30 times more rare than gold. If all the platinum ever mined were melted and poured into an Olympic-sized pool, the platinum would barely reach your ankles. Gold, however, would fill three pools. Think about that when you compare platinum with other precious metals, especially if you’re in the market for an engagement ring or wedding band. Precious platinum is truly as rare as your love.

If translated into numbers, platinum—for all of its known deposits—is considerably more rare than gold and is the rarest metal of all. And it is, truly, a gift from the heavens. Found in just a few known regions of the world, including Russia and South Africa, platinum has also been discovered in heavy concentrations in meteorites- first reported in F. G. Hawley’s research papers, published in 1939. Yes, the precious metal that graces your beloved engagement ring is a celestial metal with incomparable qualities of strength, purity, and durability.

Platinum is the natural choice for milestone jewelry, such as engagement rings and wedding bands, because it holds significant gemstones better than any other precious metal. Platinum is extremely durable, so there’s a minimal chance that prongs made from platinum will dislodge your diamond. Diamonds set in platinum are also enhanced by the natural whiteness of the metal, whose glowing patina gets more beautiful with time. And unlike white gold, which retains its whiteness only by being plated with rhodium, platinum will never need re-plating.

Platinum’s purity also means that it is naturally hypoallergenic. Recognized as an element in the 18th century, scientists soon discovered that this unusual white metal, difficult to melt using traditional methods, was also nearly incorruptible by gases or chemicals making it thoroughly non-corrosive. Platinum is also extremely dense. One cubic foot of platinum weighs in at “a little more than 1,330 pounds,” according to precious metals investor I. M. Vronsky, making it 11% heavier than gold. This density has made it a favorite among those who appreciate the feel of a weightier piece of jewelry.

When compared with the gold alloys commonly used in jewelry, platinum contains a higher concentration of its elemental metal. Pure gold is known as 24K, but is much too soft and malleable to be worn in most jewelry, so it must be alloyed with other metals. White or yellow 14K gold contains only 58.5% of the actual metal and 18K contains 75%. Naturally durable yet malleable, platinum need only be mixed with the smallest amount of other platinum group metals to create an alloy that can be molded, cast and shaped into the world’s most elegant jewelry. Platinum jewelry is either 90% or 95% pure platinum.

Look inside a piece of platinum jewelry and you’ll see its purity stamp. The Federal Trade Commission demands specific marks for the content of any precious metal alloy. To protect American consumers, a high-content platinum alloy will be marked 950Pt, 950, plat or platinum, meaning that it’s at least 95% pure, elemental platinum. It’s also the only platinum alloy that can simply bear the “Platinum” stamp to identify that it’s 95% pure platinum. Other common metals that comprise the remaining 5% are iridium, ruthenium or cobalt. Another platinum alloy that’s popular in the United States contains 900 parts platinum to 100 parts other metals. The stamp for this particular alloy, per FTC guidelines, is 900Pt. In the United States, a brand’s registered hallmark must also accompany the purity stamp.

Platinum's resistance to tarnish and corrosion, as well as its silver-like shine and extreme rarity, make it ideal for making jewelry (its second largest usage).

Watchmakers such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and Rolex, use platinum for producing limited edition watch series.

Physically, platinum is heavy, soft, malleable (easy to work—only silver and gold are easier to shape), ductile (easy to draw into wires), and has a fairly high melting point (~1770°C or 3220°F). Chemically, it's often described as a noble metal because it is so unreactive. It doesn't even react with oxygen in the air so it doesn't rust or tarnish. It's also reasonably resistant to attack from acids. Although platinum earned its name only in the 18th century, platinum metals (and alloys rich in platinum) were known in ancient times. Platinum is thought to have been described for the first time in 1557 by Italian chemist Julius Scaliger (1484–1558), though it was found in large quantities only in 1750 when Spaniards mining for silver in Rio Pinto, Colombia discovered it as an impurity and named it "little silver" (it's also sometimes called "white gold").

Timeless, yet modern... Roman & Jules, by First Image Design, delivers two cutting-edge jewelry labels that personify what the modern-day love story is all about. Through a unique design process, Roman & Jules offers fashionable, bold, and expressive jewelry at affordable prices.

As solidly linked as the name implies, Royal Chain Group is a third-generation manufacturer and distributor of precious and alternative metal jewelry. Collections include gold and sterling silver, a diverse offering of basic and fashion jewelry, and some of the strongest, coordinated branded jewelry programs in the industry

This Mounting will hold your Gemstone or One of your choosing.  Click on this link in order to find the stone of your dreams. A semi-mount ring is an alternative to a ready-made, complete ring sold by jewelers. It bridges the gap between a completely custom-made ring and an off-the-shelf ring. It allows you to choose a setting and then choose a center stone, and have them assembled. This is popular with people who want to choose a loose diamond or other precious stone, or who already have a stone, and would like it mounted in an attractive ring setting.

Search for the Diamond of your dreams below.

https://www.thevaultlg.com/diamond-search/#/

Search for the Colored Stone of your Dreams below.

http://blacys.jewelershowcase.com/browse/gemstones

Don't see what you're looking for? Customize Sapphire necklaces, rings, earrings, and pendants in any color and style you can dream of.

Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes so-called “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, black, or brown.

Build your custom Sapphire jewelry here.

https://www.gia.edu/sapphire 

BIRTHSTONES & ANNIVERSARIES

Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 5th and 45th anniversaries.