A full-colour guide for lay people and professionals about gold, platinum, palladium, silver, copper, bronze, brass, iron, titanium, niobium, aluminium, stainless steel, Damascus steel, tungsten carbide and cobalt chrome. This book explains how to test, buy, sell, and care for jewellery with precious and alternative metals. High-quality colour photographs show how these metals are creatively used in jewellery. Besides providing an historical perspective and interesting facts about the metals, this book discusses jewellery manufacturing methods, plating and responsible mining & business practices. You will learn: How to read the stamps on jewellery mountings; How to identify jewellery metals; How to determine the gold content in jewellery; How and where to sell your unwanted jewellery; How to spot a fair consignment contract; How to select refiners and prepare shipments to them; How to prevent and remove silver tarnish; How to clean metal jewellery.

Since its initial appearance in 1961, Theorie und Praxis des Goldschmieds has become a standard for training goldsmiths and professional workshop practice, and is here translated from the 1994 edition. It discusses materials, basic techniques and tools, and such specific techniques as joining and pl