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The Virgin Mary and Gold Jewelry

The Virgin Mary and Gold Jewelry

Dec 13th 2018

The veneration of the Virgin Mary is a central theme of Roman Catholic beliefs, but also a focal point of the Christmas holiday.

Through proclamations of the Roman Catholic Church from its very beginnings, the Virgin Mary was viewed as the Mother of God and also the Mother of the Church. Her veneration grew over the years in importance, not only in prayer but in art, poetry and music.

Since the 11th century, many of the world’s greatest cathedrals have been dedicated to Mary and pilgrimages from one Marian shrine to another have been going on since then. The Marian movement appeared in the Americas in the 16th century with St. Juan Diego’s vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Marian culture has moved out of the Catholic Church with the formation of Marian Movements and Societies around the world. But the Catholic Church didn’t stop developing it within the church. In 1974, Pope Paul VI issued “Marialis Cultus,” an Apostolic Letter subtitled “For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

As with many artists, gold jewelry designers have long been part of Marian culture and Sarraf.com provides a large selection of gold jewelry featuring the Virgin Mary or Mother Mary and Jesus.

For Christmas and throughout the year, Sarraf.com honors its Christian customers with a selection of jewelry to signify their beliefs.

  • Gold is durable, sturdy, dependable, and makes an ideal setting for your precious diamond jewelry. Gold also comes in a variety of colors -- yellow, white, and rose (or pink).
  • The karatage of the jewelry will tell you what percentage of gold it contains: 24 karat is 100 percent, 18 karat is 75 percent, and 14 karat is 58.5 percent gold. When comparing gold jewelry, the higher the number of karats, the greater the value.
  • When buying gold jewelry, always look for the karat mark. All other things being equal, the higher the karat, the more expensive the piece. In the United States, 14-karat gold, or 585 parts pure gold, is the most common degree of fineness. Nothing less than 10 karats can legally be marked or sold as gold jewelry in the U.S. However, lower karatages, such as 8-karat gold and 9-karat gold, are popular in other countries
  • Approximate Metal Weight is intended use is for you to have an indication of Approximate weight of the metal. While being accurate is very important to us at Sarraf.com, due to factors beyond our control it is impossible to be exact each and every time, therefore we strive to maintain an accuracy of ± 5%.
  • In its pure form silver is almost as soft as gold, and therefore is usually alloyed with copper for strength. Karatage is not marked because, legally, anything called "silver" or "sterling silver" is 92.5% pure.
  • Fine Silver in its natural state, 999/1000 pure, is too soft an element for practical jewelry. To make it workable, an alloy such as copper is added. Here are the main silver alloys. Sterling Silver is a mixture of 92.5 % pure silver (925 parts) and 7.5 % metal alloy.
  • "Carat Weight" is simply the weight of the diamond.
  • By definition, 1 carat is exactly 200 milligrams. Since most diamonds sold in the jewelry industry weigh less than 1 carat, the carat is usually subdivided into "points." There are 100 points in 1 carat, so that a diamond weighing 3/4 carat would be a "75 point diamond." In summary:

    1 carat = 200 milligrams = 100 points
  • Carat is the simplest and most objective of the four C's. A 1.00 Carat diamond weighs 0.2 gm on scales weighs. In the trade we call 1/2ct - 50 points.
  • Naturally more Carat weight means more cost because BIG diamonds are very rare. A diamond of double the weight costs around 4 times more. Add the magic weight idea to rarity: a 1.00ct D color Flawless costs 1.7 times more than a 99 point D Flawless.

Diamonds are graded on a letter scale from D to Z: D, E, or F diamonds have no color detectable to the unaided eye; grad G, H, I, or J are nearly colorless, but a trained gemologist can detect a slight yellow cast. J through Z colored diamonds have yellow or gray color visible to the unaided eye. Diamonds rated lower than I have color that is detectable even to the untrained eye. Those rated J to M have a trace of color, while any diamond with an N or higher carries a noticeable yellow tint

The charts above are clarity plots, which is a representation of the number and size of inclusions typically present in diamonds of a particular clarity grade. Look for a clarity plot on a diamond certificate, or grading report, to get a clear idea of the number and size of inclusions in a particular diamond. From this map, you can perfectly determine a diamond's clarity without even

Gemologists use grades of clarity to describe how many inclusions a diamond has. These grades range from flawless (FL) or internally flawless (IF) to included (I3), with the numbers indicating varying degrees of quality within a grade (1 being the best). Most commonly diamond sold are diamond that has no inclusions visible to the unaided eye, like VS1 and SI1-2. Diamonds of this clarity are much less expensive than flawless diamonds, and will not contain inclusions that would reduce from the splendor of the diamond

MM
Inches
Inches
MM
Inches
Inches
1
0.04
1/32 inch
2
0.08
1/16 inch
3
0.12
3/32 inch
4
0.16
1/8 inch
5
0.20
3/16 inch
6
0.24
Just under 1/4 inch
7
0.28
Just over 1/4 inch
8
0.31
5/16 inch
9
0.35
Just under 3/8 inch
10
0.39
Just over 3/8 inch
11
0.43
7/16 inch
12
0.47
Just under 1/2 inch
13
0.51
Just over 1/2 inch
14
0.55
9/16 inch
15
0.59
Just under 5/8 inch
16
0.63
5/8 inch
17
0.67
Just under 11/16 inch
18
0.71
Just over 3/4 inch
19
0.75
Just over 3/5 inch
20
0.79
Just under 13/16 inch
21
0.83
Just over 13/16 inch
22
0.87
Just under 7/8 inch
23
0.91
Just over 7/8 inch
24
0.94
15/16 inch
25
0.98
1 inch
26
1.02
1 and 1/32 inch
27
1.06
1 and 1/16 inch
28
1.10
1 and 3/32 inch
29
1.14
1 and 1/8 inch
30
1.18
1 and 3/16 inch
31
1.22
Just under 1 and 1/4 inch
32
1.26
Just over 1 and 1/4 inch
33
1.30
1 and 5/16 inch
34
1.34
Just under 1 and 3/8 inch
35
1.38
Just over 1 and 3/8 inch
36
1.42
1 and 7/16 inch
37
1.46
Just under 1 and 1/2 inch
38
1.50
Just over 1 and 1/2 inch
39
1.54
1 and 9/16 inch
40
1.57
Just under 1 and 5/8 inch
41
1.61
1 and 5/8 inch
42
1.65
Just under 1 and 11/16 inch
43
1.69
Just over 1 and 3/4 inch
44
1.73
Just over 1 and 3/5 inch
45
1.77
Just under 1 and 13/16 inch
46
1.81
Just over 1and 13/16 inch
47
1.85
Just under 1 and 7/8 inch
48
1.89
Just over 1 and 7/8 inch
49
1.93
1 and 15/16 inch
50
1.97
2 inches

In order To get clearer understanding of how thick or wide is a piece of jewelry, you can use US coins for reference. For thicker items you can stack multiple coins to acquire the approximate thickness or the width of your selected jewelry.

  • Dime Thickness is 1.35mm and Diameter is 17.9mm
  • Penny Thickness is 1.55mm and Diameter is 19.05mm
  • Nickel Thickness is 1.95mm and Diameter is 21.21mm
  • Quarter Thickness is 1.75mm and Diameter is 24.26mm