Are you planning a gift of jewelry? Buying jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether it's for yourself or for someone you love, build in time to get a good background on the subject. Here's some information to help you get the best quality jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store by catalog or online.

Gold
The word gold, used by itself, means all gold or 24 karat (24K) gold. Because 24K gold is soft, it's usually mixed with other metals to increase its hardness and durability. The karat quality marking tells you what proportion of gold is mixed with the other metals. Fourteen karat (14K) jewelry contains 14 parts of gold, mixed in throughout with 10 parts of base metal. The higher the karat rating, the higher the proportion of gold in the piece of jewelry.

Sliver
The words silver or sterling silver describe a product that contains 92.5% silver. Silver products sometimes may be marked 925 which means that 925 parts per thousand are pure silver. Some jewelry may be described as silverplate: a layer of silver is bonded to a base metal. The mark coin silver is used for compounds that contain 90% silver.

Diamond
A diamond's value is based on four criteria: color, cut, clarity, and carat. The clarity and color of a diamond usually are graded. However, scales are not uniform: a clarity grade of "slightly included" may represent a different grade on one grading system versus another, depending on the terms used in the scale. As with other gems, diamond weight usually is stated in carats. Diamond weight may be described in decimal or fractional parts of a carat. If the weight is given in decimal parts of a carat, the figure should be accurate to the last decimal place. For example, ".30 carat" could represent a diamond that weighs between .295 - .304 carat.

Gemstones
Know the difference between laboratory-created gemstones and naturally mined stones. Since stones created in the lab look exactly like stones mined from the earth this can be tricky. The big difference is the cost. Man made gems are less expensive to make than stones created by Mother Nature.

Some common treatments that you may be told about and their effects include:
* Heating can lighten, darken or change the color of some gems, or improve a gemstone's
   clarity.
* Irradiation can add more color to colored diamonds, certain other gemstones and pearls.
* Impregnating some gems with colorless oils, wax or resins makes a variety of imperfections
   less visible and can improve the gemstones' clarity and appearance.
* Fracture filling hides cracks or fractures in gems by injecting colorless plastic or glass into
   the cracks and improves the gemstones' appearance and durability.
* Bleaching lightens and whitens some gems, including jade and pearls.