Since ancient times, there are several types of coral used in jewellery due to its beauty, its hardness and some properties that have been attributed to it over time such as its ability to protect people from their enemies and from bad energy vibrations.
In addition, in the Middle Ages corals were used to protect the wearer from the evil eye, even in the 18th century King Ferdinand I of Naples wore a coral amulet, which he always wore in his clothes, and it is said that he took it out and placed it on his face when he suspected that someone had bad intentions with him, which destroyed these negative vibrations.
This stone of organic origin belongs to the hexagonal crystalline family with chromium and vanadium content, it is a cyclosilicate mineral which appears in oceans and seas, giving way to the formation of banks, atolls and reefs. Its hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale makes it suitable for making quality jewellery, being red, white, pink, blue and black its most common colours, but the dark red coral is the most valued along with the black one, although there is another variety also highly appreciated which is a coral in soft pink tones that is known as “Angel Skin”.
The different types of unworked coral are matt in colour, and when polished, they acquire their characteristic shine. Three quarters of the world’s coral production is worked on Italy and the remaining in Japan.
One of the reasons why it is decreasing more and more in size is the large extraction of pink and red corals to make jewellery and for the world art trade, being noted that a few decades ago the average diameter was 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) and currently it is two centimetres (0.8 inches), which represents a significant decrease.
Also, of the red and pink coral types, the most sought after in the world for jewelry making are the gold coral, which grows in very few places, among which Alaska and Haiti are. Also, we have the black coral, called “anthiparian”, which grows in shallow water and can even be harvested by divers. But not all are beautiful. These have been very exploited over time, and therefore, some countries have had to ban their exportation because it barely exists, which is the reason why it has become one of the most expensive varieties.
We can also have the bamboo coral, one of the types of coral which not much is known about, although it is more porous than others, and it is said that a good amount of red coral that is on the market in reality is bamboo coral, which is then dyed. In addition, these types of coral are used in the field of orthopedics.
On the other hand, the blue coral is the only one found in the reefs in shallow water and it is widely used in jewelry making due to its beautiful colour which ranges from gray to blue, but its skeletons must be filled because they are very porous, while the sponge coral is also used in jewellery but must be dyed; and within this type it is the apple coral, which is imported from Indonesia and Taiwan and its colour sometimes tends to be “natural reddish”; however, it is also dyed to improve color quality.
If we talk about the types of coral according to their shape, we find that in jewelry the round ones are used, which are symmetrical and roll in a straight line; the baroque ones, which are irregularly shaped; the semi-round ones, which are not totally spherical, and the semi-baroque ones, which have pear, drop, button or oval shapes or all shapes that are not round, semi-round or baroque.
Different types of coral are used in the different collections of many jewellery designers to promote them in each season through very well crafted pieces such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and bracelets with designs that give luminosity to each style and that will always be fashionable.
For the elaboration of jewels, the hard and limestone trunk of the coral skeleton is used, which is subjected to a process of coarse or carved polishing to then perform a fine polishing depending on the design and the garment to be made. When it comes to fine coral, it is generally recognized due to the observation of the cross-section of the concentric layers of materials, and that when burned, a strong smell of burned horn originates, which happens with almost all types of fine coral.
Nevertheless, the branches of the different types of coral are also used that at the time of collection are called gross coral which has a certain value according to the variety and quality of the work that is done in the jewellery workshops since in the process of machining, carving and polishing there are significant losses of raw material that can be three quarters; therefore, the gram of coral in jewelry has a higher value than gold.
ALFA