Rarity4u

A lab ruby, or lab sapphire, is a synthetic laboratory-made stone. It has the same composition, hardness, and specific gravity as natural rubies or sapphires but is much less expensive than a natural stone since they are relatively inexpensive to create in the laboratory as compared to mining gemstones. These lab-produced stones can be legally referred to as "real" stones as opposed to "natural" mined stones.

Labradorite, a variety of plagioclase feldspar, is a fairly abundant greyish mineral that has brilliant flashes of colour (usually green, blue or red) after it is polished (called labradorescence). The crystals are transparent to translucent. There is a darker variety of labradorite (called "black moonstone") which has bluish inclusions.

Labradorite is usually cut with a flat surface in order to highlight the flashes of colour. Finnish labradorite is also known as spectrolite.

Labradorite was originally found along the coast of Labrador about 1805; it is also found in Newfoundland, other parts of Canada, also known as spectrolite, the Ukraine, the Ural mountains, and the USA.

Labradorite has a hardness of 6 to 6.5 and a specific gravity of 2.70

A lapidary is someone who cuts and polishes gemstones

Larimar is a form of pectolite with copper found only in a single place in the Dominican Republic. It is an opaque sky blue stone with white streaks. There are often some red to brown impurities.

Larimar is usually shaped and polished, but not faceted.

Larimar is not enhanced

Larimar was named for Larisa, the daughter of Miguel Mendez, a geologist who helped reintroduce this stone and mar the Spanish word for sea.

Larimar has a hardness of 4.5 - 6.0

Lava from the volcano Vesuvius near Pompeii in Italy has been used to make jewelry, especially cameos.

Lava jewellery was popular in the 1800´s

Lead crystal is high-quality glass containing at least 10% lead oxide.

Glass containing at least 24% lead oxide is called lead crystal.

Glass containing at least 30% lead oxide is called full lead crystal.

Lead added to the melt produces very clear glass resembling rock crystal. The process of making lead crystal was discovered by the English glass maker George Ravenscroft in 1676.

Crystal is coloured by adding various metallic oxides to the melt.

When cut and polished, crystal becomes quite brilliant.

Jewellery strung on a thin leather cord has become popular recently. Pendants, beads, shell, feathers, and/or sharks teeth are strung on leather to make interesting necklaces and bracelets

One of the earliest forms of obtaining a light was by striking a flint with sharp steel. By the end of the 1800’s the Austrian scientist Auer von Welsbach discovered that a metal alloy containing 30% iron content which, when struck by a sharp object, produced a spark. The spark was used to ignite a flammable substance such as a petrol soaked wick. Welsbach patented his invention in 1904 and the age of the lighter had begun. The familiar wheel replaced the striking action, and lighters were produced in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials. In 1947 the gas lighter was invented which replaced the wick with a miniature valve, and in 1961 the French Criquet plastic dispensable lighters were introduced. Among the most lavish lighters were those by Boucheron and Cartier in tooled gold, sometimes encrusted with precious stones. Dupont was another important French manufacturer.

Inner sleeve of a vessel made of silver, plate or glass.

System for strengthening and stabilizing hollow objects, such as candlesticks or candelabra, whereby an iron rod is secured inside the body using pitch or plaster of Paris.