If you choose to delve into the history of jewelry, you will realize that initially man and women in ancient civilizations used copper jewelry. After the discovery of alloys such brass and bronze, artisans making jewelry started using these alloys. Gradually, gold and silver ornaments gained popularity. In the recent past, pearl jewelry, platinum jewelry, and diamond jewelry have also become sought after. But gold remains to be the preferred material for fancy ornaments.

That said, we all know that gold prices are touching the sky. This makes it impossible for the salaried or worker class to afford ornaments made of pure gold. In order to reduce the cost of gold ornaments, a small amount of a less precious metal such as copper or silver is alloyed with gold to make ornaments.

The amount of additional gold in an alloy made of gold and a less costly metal is measured by a unit called carat. If you go to a jewelry shop, you can see a number and a sign for carat marked against each ornament. 24 carat depicts pure gold whereas 18 carat gold means that the ornament is made of an alloy that contains 75 percent gold and 25 percent of some other less precious metal.

It is extremely hard to create 24 carat gold jewelry since gold is soft, bending and cracking quite easily. Due to this low tensile strength, little flakes can be abraded off an object made out of solid gold. Purchasers can only find gold "biscuits" or coins made of nearly pure gold. Aside from those, one has to settle for something made out of an alloy.

In case your financial status does not allow you to buy 22 carat gold jewelry, please do not feel crestfallen. There are less costly options available which generate as much visual appeal as pure gold ornaments. 14k jewelry ornaments with embedded ruby, sapphire, emerald, and turquoise, known as semi precious jewelry, is one such option.

Another possible alternative is to purchase silver jeweler that has gold coating on it. Only a jeweler can claim to successfully distinguish gold plated silver jeweler from pure gold jewelry at all times. Yes, they look so similar to pure gold jewelry.

Several materials are used to design ornaments. Initially, copper was used in ancient civilizations. Then bronze and brass became popular. With the discovery of gold and silver, designing and wearing jewelry became expensive. Fascination for gold jewelery has only grown. If you are not one of those people who can expend a fortune on gold jewelry, don't be dismayed. There are a variety of ways to buy jewelry that looks just as good as the high end merchandise. One way to do this is to buy semi precious jewelry that combines semi precious stones like sapphires, rubies, and emeralds with 14k jewelry.