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Speaking professional this diamond is going to be the most expensive gem in the world. This is not only because of its size but because of its green ting. THAT is VERY, VERY, VERY unusual.I still wouldn't mind having it for my nic-nack shelf.
You wouldn't want that 1 - it's paste []
Quote from: DoctorBeaver on 29/08/2007 20:05:21You wouldn't want that 1 - it's paste []Why do they call fake/costume jewelry paste?
Quote from: Carolyn on 30/08/2007 03:20:34Quote from: DoctorBeaver on 29/08/2007 20:05:21You wouldn't want that 1 - it's paste []Why do they call fake/costume jewelry paste?The word "paste" is derived from "pasta".In olden times, Italian peasants wore adornments made from pasta painted bright colours. As you can imagine, due to the amount of different pasta shapes, there was quite a variety to choose from.At 1 time it became fashionable for aristocrats to wear this pasta jewellery. Andrea Borgia was well known for wearing bright orange tortellini & Caterina de Medici had necklaces made from spaghetti. []
StrassA brilliant paste made out of lead glass and used to simulate various transparant gemstones. It is a borosilicate of potassium and lead, with small quantities of alumina. When uncoloured it was used to simulate diamonds, being transparent and very refractive, although much softer; the addition of metallic oxides and salts produces coloured strass to imitate most known gemstones. It is named after Georges-Frédéric Strass (1701-1773) who was born at Wolfsheim, near Strasbourg, where he learned to make jewelry and artificial gems; he moved to Paris in 1724, and there invented, from 1730 to 1734, new techniques for making imitation precious stones (imitation diamonds having been known in Paris in the 17th century). He ceded the making of such ware in 1752 to Georges-Michel Bapst (1718-1780), husband of his niece. Such artificial gems are now made mainly in Czechoslovakia, Austria, and France. Many writers and standard dictionaries have attributed the invention to a Joseph Stras(s)(er) of Vienna, but no record of such a person is known, and the legends about him has been discredited.