“Traditionally, jewels were identified as precious, unique objects composed by a combination of noble metals (silver, gold, and platinum) and stones (diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires), produced and decorated by the handcraft manufacturing of expert goldsmiths. However, recently, the concept of jewel has experienced a change because of market segmentation, which now gives a diversified offer: from high-target noble jewels to low-target ones, in which non-noble and seminoble metals have gained importance. As a consequence, large improvements have been made in those fields of jeweler?s craft that use steel, aluminum, and titanium. Processing methods often diverge from the traditional techniques used in jeweler?s art, to adjust to the logics of series production: the most commonly applied technique consists of a first plastic deformation step followed by either mechanical or galvanic surface finishing, most likely electropolishing or anodic oxidation.”
