These pretty Sterling Silver Cubic Zirconia heart stud earrings feature a lightly domed and rounded heart motif in Silver, pave set with 16 sparkling Cubic Zirconia.
Also available in Rose Gold Vermeil with Black Cubic Zirconia, and a matching pendant is available for each finish.
The term pave (pronounced “pah–vay”) setting is used to describe gems that are set very close together and are only separated by tiny prongs or metal beads. Because of the look that this style creates, it is named after the word “pavement”.
Cubic zirconia, as a Diamond substituent and jewel competitor, has been seen as a potential solution against conflict Diamonds and the controversy surrounding the rarity and value of Diamonds. This is attributed to confirmed evidence that there were price-fixing practices taken by the major producers of rough Diamonds, in majority attributed to De Beers Company known as to holding a monopoly on the market from the 1870s to early 2000s. However, De Beers and Co do not have as much power over the market, the price of Diamonds continues to increase due to the increased demand in emerging markets such as India and China. A closely related issue to this monopoly was the emergence of conflict Diamonds. It has been shown that the Kimberley Process is not as effective in decreasing the number of conflict Diamonds reaching the European and American markets as intended. A 2015 study from the Enough Project, showed that groups in the Central African Republic have reaped between US$3 million and US$6 million annually from blood Diamonds. Diamond substituents, therefore, have become an alternative to boycotting altogether the funding of such unethical practices. However, concerns from mining countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo are that a boycott in purchases of Diamonds would only worsen their economy. Therefore, it is argued that in the short term Diamonds substituents could be an alternative to reduce conflict around the market of Diamond mining but a long term solution would establish a more rigorous system of identifying the origin of these stones.
When the Phoenicians first came to what is now Spain, they obtained so much Silver that they could not fit it all on their ships, and as a result, used Silver to weight their anchors instead of lead. The stability of the Roman currency relied to a high degree on the supply of Silver bullion, mostly from Spain, which Roman miners produced on a scale unparalleled before the discovery of the New World, from 600 to 300 BC. The Romans also recorded the extraction of Silver in central and northern Europe in the same time period. Central Europe became the centre of Silver production during the Middle Ages, as the Mediterranean deposits exploited by the ancient civilisations had been exhausted. Most of these ores were quite rich in Silver and could simply be separated by hand from the remaining rock and then smelted; some deposits of native Silver were also encountered. In the Americas, high-temperature silver-lead cupellation technology was developed by pre-Inca civilizations as early as AD 60–120; silver deposits in India, China, Japan, and pre-Columbian America continued to be mined during this time.
