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| JEWELRY |
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Jewelry,
ornaments of precious metal, sometimes set with gems,
worn since ancient times by people of all cultures for
personal adornment, as badges of social or official
rank, and as emblems of religious, social, or political
affiliation. In its widest sense the term jewelry encompasses
objects made of many kinds of organic and inorganic
materials such as hair, feathers, leather, scales, bones,
shells, wood, ceramics, metals, and minerals. |
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However,
the term properly refers to mounted precious or
semiprecious stones and to objects made of valuable
or attractive metals such as gold, silver, platinum,
copper, and brass. |
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Jewelry has been worn on the head in the form of crowns,
diadems, tiaras, aigrettes, hairpins, hat ornaments,
earrings, nose rings, earplugs, and lip rings; on the
neck in the form of collars, necklaces, and pendants;
on the breast in the form of pectorals, brooches, clasps,
and buttons; on the limbs in the form of rings, bracelets,
armlets, and ankland at the waist in the form of belts
and girdles, with pendants such as chatelaines, scent
cases, and rosaries. Current knowledge of ancient jewelry
is derived largely from the preservation of personal
objects in tombs. Information about the jewelry of cultures
that did not bury valuables with the dead comes from
portraits in surviving painting and sculpture. ets;
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