Tag Archives: spirituality

About The Wedding Ring

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One’s wedding ring is often a person’s most essential item of jewellery, because of the huge significance that it has for its wearer. It is intended to denote the love that exists between two people. In most countries, the wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand – the ring finger, although in Norway, Germany and Russia, it is worn on the fourth finger of the right hand.

It is usually a good idea to have your finger measured by an expert, before buying an expensive ring, because fingers swell and shrink over the course of a life span and a good jeweller will know how much leeway to allow. If the change in the size of your finger is likely to be lasting, it is a good idea to have the ring resized, this is so that it will neither cut into you nor fall off your finger easily.

These days a lot of couples like to go shopping for wedding rings together, because they want to buy a pair of matching rings that both of them likes. However, it does not have to be like that. In fact it never was, because the man bought the ring for his fiancee as a surprise. So, if you do not have the same tastes, do not worry about it.

There are hundreds of designs to pick from and several varieties and qualities of metal too. Yellow gold is still the most popular, but there is white gold and specialist golds too like Welsh gold, which is very rare. Besides gold, platinum and titanium are very popular too.

A fast developing trend is for a couple to design or have designed a unique pair of wedding rings. At first, you would think that this would be very expensive, but it is not necessarily so. If you keep your design moderate and the stones, if any, equally so, then the rings might only cost 10%-20% more than those off the shelf.

Gold is still the most popular metal for a wedding ring, but silver is starting to gain ground too, although it was always looked on as the poor cousin before. Likewise, diamonds are the still the number one stone of choice, but sapphires are also very popular nowadays. Or you could go for plain bands with something like a Celtic knot design.

Shopping for wedding rings can be enjoyable, but it is easy to go over the top and spend much more than you planned to. You could decide how much you can afford and stick to it, not that that always works either. Count on to pay a lot more for the bride’s wedding ring than the groom’s. This is because the bride’s ring usually contains diamonds, whereas the groom’s is often a plain band of gold.

You could further personalize your wedding rings with an inscription and a date. Personalized, or unique wedding rings often get handed down through the generations. Possibly, yours will too. Or, if you want to wear your grandmother’s handed-down ring, you could personalize it in some way, so that it is both old and yet something of you as well.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Celtic Knot rings. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

One Of A Kind Wedding Rings

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The practice of giving and wearing a wedding ring dates back thousands of years. A wedding ring represents fidelity and love between two people and are given on the day of a couple joining forces. Before the time that the skill of how to work metal became widely known, people used such things as plants, grass and even hair to ‘tie the knot’, which is what I think a wedding ring stands for.

These days a typical wedding ring might be made from precious metals such as gold, titanium, platinum or even white gold. Women’s wedding rings often hold a diamond, although sapphires are rapidly becoming more prevalent. Men’s wedding rings are frequently just a simple band of gold. There are many different styles of wedding rings, but the most popular for men is definitely the plain gold band.

For those who want something a bit more flamboyant, there are plenty of examples on the market. A man might want a more grandiose wedding ring, because it is often the only piece of jewellery that a man wears. Some alternatives to the plain band of gold are the Celtic Knot and the Claddagh gold rings.

It is essential for men’s wedding rings to be made from a strong alloy of gold. Most men do physical labour of one sort or another, even if it is only gardening, so it is a lot to ask of a pure gold wedding ring to last thirty or forty years.

A 14 or 18 carat gold ring will probably manage it, but a 22 carat ring would not. It would just wear away because it is too pure and consequently too soft. Platinum or titanium are much harder, although most people have a preference for gold.

In most countries tradition dictates that people wear their wedding ring on their left hand, although in a few countries such as Germany, Russia and Norway, people wear their wedding ring on the right hand.

Some couples would rather have a unique wedding ring and that is not so difficult to achieve as it might first appear to be. The easiest way to personalize your ring is to have an inscription like names and a date engraved on it.

Another way, would be to buy a precious stone separately and have the jeweller set it into the ring for you. The best alternative though is to find a jeweller you can trust and have him or her make up a pair of matching rings to your own design. I have done that and it is not a lot more expensive than a decent ring.

Wearing matching wedding rings is a notable experience. People notice that your ring is ‘something different’ and many people ask, where you got them from. It all goes to help make that special day unforgettable for ever.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with theCeltic Knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Investing In Gold – The Basics

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A very diversified investment portfolio has a small space for a position in gold. Some people think that investing in gold means holding gold coins, usually South African Kruger Rands, which are one troy ounce in weight. Other speculators purchase gold futures on the commodity exchange.

However, futures contracts are extremely precarious because you are betting that the price of gold will rise or fall in the future. The contract itself takes a fairly small up front payment, but you will have to put up guarantees called margin to take care of daily changes in cost.

The reason investors are interested in gold at the moment is because often in the past, when the stock market is down, the gold market is up. Weakness in the dollar frequently brings a surge in the price of gold too.

Another method of investing in gold is through stocks and precious metal funds, which can be purchased through a stock broker. However, you will need to select your stockbroker very carefully, because this field of investing requires highly expert knowledge.

The following tips are meant as examples only as you will need up-to-the-minute information, if you are considering investing in stocks, shares and funds. One of the names that will come up in any search is Agnico-Eagle Mines, which trades on the NYSE and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker AEM. They have 30+ year history in the production of gold and In that time, they have produced 4,000,000+ ounces of gold.

Gold has made huge profits for investors in gold since the late 1970′s. However, the secret to making money from gold is knowledge of the various resistance points in the price and the assessment of the global market for the use of gold. It is used primarily in jewellery and electronics and some other kinds of manufacturing.

The biggest markets for gold jewellery is India and other Eastern countries. China’s new-found prosperity is also having an effect on the markets, although manufacturing is still of prime significance there.

You will need a good stockbroker or adviser, because the gold market is so complex. If you are investing in gold as a hedge against a weak dollar, you are taking huge risks and you will need to watch for any strengthening in the dollar like a hawk. A pretty sensible tactic is to set yourself realistic goals. For example, are you content with a 10% profit or are you going to hang out for a 25% gain?

Gold can be affected by seasonal events. Check out when people in India get married. It is seasonal and around Christmas time. Then St. Valentine’s Day is a realistic influence too, but you or your adviser will have to examine the trends and the graphs.

You can invest in gold mining stocks for quite small money, but it is not the price of the share certificate that is important, it is the yield on those shares. Be wary with small mining companies, because the expenses of exploration are ruinous. Likewise, profits on hitting a big seam would be tremendous for a small company.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Clogau Welsh gold. If you have an interest in wedding rings too, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

What Is In A Wine Glass?

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The growing trend of popularity of wine has led to a boom in things to go with wine like corkscrews, stoppers, coolers, napkins, pouring baskets, decanters, candles, thermometers, bottle jackets, hydrometers and dozens of variations of each accessory from electric versions to manual ones. Needless to say, a lot of these accessories will be used until the novelty wears off and then left at the back of the cupboard.

However, there is one category of wine drinking accessory that no wine drinker should be without and that is wine glasses. They are essential, I am sure that everyone would agree. But the good thing about wine glasses is that they are attractive when they are not in use too. A set of six lead crystal wine glasses is a fine-looking sight. And a fine set of glasses correctly shaped for the wine you are drinking will greatly enhance your enjoyment of that wine.

This is because the shape of the glass is very influential on the drinker’s ability to savour the taste and the aroma of wine. Therefore, it is necessary to use the right glasses for the type of wine being served.

Red wines gain a lot from contact with air, so, aside from opening the bottle an hour before drinking it, you could decant it. The older and heavier the wine, the more air it must have. The next step is to serve the red wine in large glasses. This is not so as to be able to get as much wine in there as possible! A full, normal size bottle contains six servings no matter what glass you use, but a large glass allows you to swirl the wine around the glass, thereby increasing its contact with air.

A large tulip shaped glass is a good example of this kind of wine glass and any dark red wine would benefit from being drunk out of such a vessel. Try a Rioja or Bordeaux, for instance.

White wines, on the other hand, do not need to breathe for as long as red wines and are best served slightly chilled. Therefore, the wine glasses tend to have a smaller bowl and a longer stem. The bowl is smaller, because swirling is not essential and the stem is longer, so that the warmth from your hand does not warm the wine up prematurely. Try a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon or a German wine in these glasses.

Champagne glasses are called champagne flutes because the bowl is long and narrow, which allows the bubbles to float through more of the wine than if the bowl were short. This is beneficial for the wine, the taste and its appearance. The stem is also long as with other white wines to diminish heat transfer.

The last main kind of glass is the sherry schooner, which is also used for port. Sherry and port are both heavy reds and so need to breathe, which is one of the reasons why they ought to be decanted. However, a schooner has hardly any stem, because the warmth from your hand is required to keep the wine at the right temperature.

Apart from the shape of the bowl and the length of the stem, the next most significant factor is the quality of the glass and its design. Some people like hand-blown glass and it can be very beautiful, but it also tends to be light and fragile. I prefer to use lead crystal glasses, which are a lot heavier and can take a deeper pattern.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

California and The Gold Rush

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In January 1848, James Marshall was overseeing the building of a saw mill for his employer, when he noticed an odd rock glinting in the upturned soil.

He was not sure whether it was gold or not and did not want to get people’s hopes up. So Marshall tried to break the yellow rock with a hammer. It did not crack, but it did dent. just like gold would. The woman who was cooking meals for the saw mill construction team, tried another test by boiling the rock in lye.

They boiled it all day, but it did not change colour. So, they passed the rock over to the mill’s owner, Mr. John Sutter, who also conducted a few tests. Eventually, everyone agreed that this rock was indeed gold.

It seems that the Sierra Nevada Mountains held huge hordes of gold, but that over tens of thousands of years, erosion had loosened up gold nuggets and the mountain streams flushed them down to the bottom of the mountains. Sutter’s property was situated between two rivers and so was likely to generate great wealth.

Sutter had plans to build an agricultural empire on his 39,000 acres of land, so he asked his employees to keep quiet about the find. However, as is to be anticipated, word leaked out. In due course news of the gold find reached the small town of San Francisco.

There, a newspaper publisher shouted around the streets: “Gold from the American River!” and within three days of the news arriving, 400 of the 600 inhabitants had set out for Sutter’s land. It was a groundswell and by the end of the year, gold prospectors had traveled to California from as far afield as Mexico and Chile.

When word of the gold strike got to the east coast, President Polk confirmed the discovery. It was December 1848 and ‘The Gold Rush’ became a national and even a worldwide event. The gold miners of 1849 and later years became known as forty-niners.

What has to be borne in mind is though, that most people, who came from Canada, Mexico and the eastern United States came by wagon train, as there were not locomotive! This meant a treacherous trek of between six and nine months

Nevertheless, at least 32,000 people actually walked to California in 1849, and about 44,000 more got there in 1850. Others, such as South Americans, faced an arduous journey by sea. They suffered storms, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, disease, and overcrowding and after all that, some still had to face mule rides through jungles and deserts! Still, in under a year, about 40,000 people arrived in San Francisco from abroad.

The new arrivals caused a dramatic change in California’s population, because in 1848, California had had about 100,000 residents, most of whom were Native Americans, but within two years, the state population more than doubled but the variety of backgrounds increased tens of fold.

Some prospectors found gold and made a lot of money in the Californian riverbeds, but most people did not become rich in the Gold Rush. When gold was found, the cache was usually cleared quickly. James Marshall had little success as a miner, and he died on the breadline. John Sutter, who had once owned 39,000 acres, left California in heavy debt after miners trampled his land.

In fact, it was easier to make money selling spades and other provisions to the prospectors. Most people lost everything they had, so they stayed to farm the vast expanse called California or to set up businesses. By 1856, San Francisco had a very cosmopolitan population of over 50,000 people and California had become the most exciting state in the nation.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Celtic knot rings. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring