In some cases, hooks or even objects as large as bike bars being placed into the recipient’s skin. Although this procedure is often carried out by tribal or semi-tribal groups, often acting under a trance during religious ceremonies, this practice has seeped into western culture. Most often, these hooks are used in conjunction with pulleys to hoist the recipient into the air. This practice is said to give an erotic feeling to the person and some couples have even performed their marriage ceremony whist being suspended by hooks. Lip plates are worn by the African Mursi and Sara people, as well as some South American peoples.

All gemstones have some characteristics falling short of perfection though; even the seemingly perfect Diamond has four directions of cleavage. Since quartz is everywhere especially in common dirt and dust. Any material that is softer may be scratched during ordinary wear. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones.

Nowadays such a distinction is no longer made by the trade. Rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, cassiterite and bixbite. Some minerals can be very beautiful, but they may be too soft and will scratch easily (such as the mineral fluorite). Fluorite is extremely colorful and pretty but has a hardness of only 4 on the hardness scale and has four perfect cleavage directions, which makes it only an oddity as a cut gem.

|| Home || Advertise with Us || FAQ || Terms & Conditions of Use || Privacy Policy || Site map || Disclaimer || Contact Us || Feed Back ||