Coral: Underwater Treasures

Trying to find that unique piece of jewelry can sometimes be difficult. Oftentimes, women tend to choose pieces that are made using an expensive metal and add a number of rare gem stones to create their own personal style. For those of you, who are on the lookout for something different and unique, why not try purchasing your own personalized coral jewelry.

Most of you may think of coral as strange looking rock-like mutations on the ocean floor. But as of late, Italian designers have introduced a number of jewelry collections using coral. These collections include earrings, brooches, pendants, rings, cufflinks, tie bars, and belt buckles. The larger pieces of coral are used to make umbrella handles, necklaces, walking sticks, and jewelry boxes.

These designer coral jewelry collections come in a variety of vibrant colors, which include red, black, blue and gold. The most classic and expensive coral is red coral and is known for its beauty, hardness, and color.

Coral is formed from marine animal deposits of calcium carbonate. This creates polyps made of fibrous calcite crystals. These polyps grow out like branches and form a skeleton like form. The coral then grows and spreads along the sea floor and can require boats of 12 to 14 tons with a crew of 10 to 12 men to bring some of these coral to the surface. Once the coral has been cleaned, it takes many hours to create beautifully polished coral jewelry. This is one of the main reasons why such jewelry is so costly.