Kundan Jewelry

The jewelry of India knows no bounds in its offerings to the modern world. This is because India must be one of the most prolific countries when it comes to making jewelry, whether it be the simple enjoyable ones or the highly delicate ones that are intricate in its designs. There are just many types of Indian jewelry that even the young could find what they want among its offering of beads and shells in interwoven colorful threads. One of the most highly regarded Indian jewelry nowadays is the kundan jewelry.

Kundan jewelry is made of gold that is highly refined and is known as kundan in India. Indian jewelers also have another meaning of the word. For them, kundan is not only the gold that is made into a jewel but also the type of setting on which they set the precious stones. Kundan jewelry is not made of real solid gold. Its center part is made of lac or a natural resin made from hardened tree sap. The jewelry pieces that makes the whole kundan jewelry, which are usually justified into hollow separate halves, are usually handled by separate jewelers or assistant jewelers for its shaping before they are fitted together through soldering. Holes are then bored into the separate halves of the kundan jewelry, once they are fitted together to make the pattern designed by the jeweler. These holes are where the stones are set. Any engraving is done before the hollows of the kundan jewelry are then inserted with lac. Because the lac could still be seen through the holes in front, the highly refined kundan gold is poured on the setting to cover the lac and only then is the stone pushed right into the still pliable kundan.

Kundan jewelry is also one of the old types of jewelry in India because the style on which it was made was used only way back when claw settings were still yet unknown in the country. Then, kundan jewelry had its precious stones were only set in gold and it wasn't only until the nineteenth century that claw settings were introduced and used by the jewelers in India. This was during the Rajastahan empire when kings paid their jewelers handsomely for the exquisite kundan jewelry that they made that called for excellent craftsmanship.

There are now a lot of kundan jewelry available in the market and they could even be bought online. There are spectacularly designed kundan jewelry necklace sets that come with earrings. The most common are those that have uncut diamonds and other precious stones set in gold. Among the commonly used gems in kundan jewelry are emeralds, rubies and sapphires. This kundan jewelry, though, is often just a replica of the original one made in the eighteenth or seventeenth or nineteenth centuries. The original pieces could sell for as much as $200,000 or more per set.

Buying kundan jewelry nowadays may have been made more attainable for those who have deeper pockets as compared to the olden times when only kings and queens could afford them. Having kundan jewelry replicated and sold at lower prices is a welcome alternative for those who could not afford to buy the original antique pieces.

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