Glossary of Jewelry Terms: F
Facet: A small plane surface on a cut stone that is polished.
Fancy Cut: Any style of diamond cutting other than the round brilliant or single cut. Fancy cuts include the marquise, emerald cut, heart shape, pear shape, keystone, half moon, kite, triangle, and many others. Also called the “fancy-shaped” diamond or “modern cut.”
Faux (pronounced "foe"): French word meaning false, fake, imitation or artificial. In a manufacturing context, faux is used to indicate something made to resemble something else. A common example is that cubic zirconia stones are faux diamonds.
Filigree: Thin strands of wire are intricately interlaced or bent into rosettes, spirals, scrolls and vines. The wire is typically gold or silver, and may be plain, twisted, or plaited. There are two major styles of filigree. The first is when wire is soldered to a metal base. This style was used in Byzantine, Carolingian, Ottonian, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and 13th century German and Italian jewelry. The second style is to leave the wire as an openwork design without a metal backing which is characteristic of European jewelry until the 15th century. Filigree was used on Jewish marriage rings as well as Spanish and Portuguese peasant jewelry. In England it is found on some mourning rings.
Findings: All types of construction components used in jewelry making such as clasps, headpins, jumprings, etc.
Finish: Finish is used to describe the polish or texture applied to a metal. Common finishes include high polish, matte, scratched or brushed.
Fire: Flashes of different spectrum colors seen in diamonds and other gemstones as the result of dispersion.
Fleur-de-lis: From Old French "flor de lis": flor (flower) + de (of) + lis (lily). A stylized three-petaled iris flower used as the armorial emblem of the Kings of France. It is commonly found in jewelry.
Florentine Finish: A Florentine finish is a cross-hatched pattern, tooled into the surface of a metal. The lines are often coarse and more deep than that of a "brushed finish".
Fob: A short chain or ribbon attached to a pocket watch, often with an ornament or decorative seal attached to the end.
Foil: The reflective coating on the back of a gemstone or rhinestones to increase brilliance and depth of color. It was often used on gemstones in the 18th & 19th centuries. Today, foiling is mostly used on rhinestones.
French Ivory: A plastic produced to simulate ivory. It was first produced by the Xylonite Company in 1866. Other names include Celluloid, Ivoride, Ivorine, Ivorite and Pyralin
French Jet: Black glass that is neither "French" nor "jet". Originally meant to simulate real jet which is black ignite (fossilized coal). Victorian jet was made into jewelry for use during mourning and was made popular by Queen Victoria . As a result, sources of natural jet were quickly depleted.
French Wire: A curved wire resembling a fish hook which passes through the pierced earlobe and has a catch closure. It is mostly used with dangling earrings due to their extra weight.
Freshwater Pearls: Pearls produced by fresh water mussels.Humans place an irritant inside the mussels covers it with nacre which eventually produces a pearl. Multiple pearls are created at one time by one mussel. They are then harvested after a set amount of time. Freshwater pearls are much more expensive than saltwater pearls but have similar look.
Full-Cut Brilliant: A brilliant-cut diamond or colored stone with the usual total of 58 facets, consisting of 32 facets and a table above the girdle, and 24 facets and culet below.
Full Lead Crystal: Full lead crystal is the finest man-made crystal because its high lead oxide content serves to enhance its natural color spectrum. The production of full lead crystal begins by combining proportionate amounts of quartz and soda, potash and lead oxide which are then subjected to extremely high heat until molten. Crystal is not considered full lead until the lead oxide content goes above 30%. Swarovski full lead crystal has a lead content of 30% plus.