Jewelry making almost dates back as far as modern Mankind itself. The earliest known evidence of jewelry making has been found in cave excavations dating back as far as 10,000 years. Primitive people made necklaces, bracelets and other ornaments out of a variety materials including leather, bones, feathers, seeds, shells, and pebbles. These items were often worn for purposes other than body adornment, especially for religious rites to ward off evil spirits and protect against calamities and disease.

Much later, various, especially gold became popular in making jewelry, and peoples such as the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians became artisans in making beautiful jewelry items out of gold, silver, and precious stones. Copper, a material used by the Egyptians in making a variety of utensils, including weapons of war, was also used in making jewelry. Semi-precious stones such as turquoise, obsidian (fused volcanic glass) and other stones such as quartz were also incorporated into jewelry by Egyptian craftsmen. Some of the most beautiful gold jewelry every created, including entire face masks and breast plates have been found in excavations of Egyptian tombs.

Beautiful gold jewelry was also made by the Greeks, who loved jewelry pieces with carved replicas of flowers, fruits and animals included in jewelry items which also contained caricatures of Greek deities. Other people living the Mediterranean basin, including the Minoans of Crete and the Etruscans (who predated the Romans) also created and prized beautiful jewelry. The Romans, particularly the wealthy upper classes loved jewelry and many evidences of this have been found in excavations of tombs and former residences of Patricians and other Roman nobility.

During the Middle Ages, jewelry became prized by European nobility, especially due to the scarcity of gold and other precious metals, not to mention precious stones. So desirable was gold as a malleable precious metal for making jewelry and religious ornaments that alchemists were constantly trying to find ways to convert base metals such as pewter and copper into gold. Though jewelry during these times was largely confined to noblemen and very wealthy individuals, religious charms and jewelry were also sought out by members of the Church, especially in Rome. Jewelry charms and amulets, made of silver, pewter, and other more common metals were also popular among the more common people, and ways were even found to produce imitation pearls out of a mixture of ground glass, egg whites and snail slime as the real ones came from as far away as Africa and India and were even more expensive than diamonds and other precious stones.

In the Far East, exquisite jewelry pieces and charms had already been made for centuries, even as far back as the first Chinese dynasties. Ivory, jade, pearls, and other precious metals and materials were often made in beautiful jewelry items and talisman pieces, many with caricatures of Budha and other deities. The same was true in India and other countries on the Indian Sub-continent.

Jewelry making became more refined during the 18th to 19th centuries, and exquisite pieces made by known artisans have become very sought after by collectors. Only more recently, particularly during the 20th Century that ways were found to mass produce jewelry items; and this made the cost of jewelry more available to ordinary working people. The advent of what became known first as "costume jewelry" using base metals plated with gold and with non or semi-precious stones, made jewelry affordable by everyone; and today examples of this kind of jewelry, much of made in the Far East are found in virtually all variety and chain clothing stores, as well as in discount houses such as Wallmart.

Yet, the allure of hand crafted Fine Jewelry and Fashion Jewelry still attracts many who want on the best in beautiful, hand made jewelry made only the best diamonds and other precious stones and individually created by the hand of the master craftsman.