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In India, bangles or kangans showed a woman was married and are a part of the 16 adornments customarily worn by a Hindu bride. Traditional West African beads are a sign of cultural identity. Each one has a meaning and tells a story.Today, women's bracelets are still culturally significant. In India, jewelry often depicts religious symbols and meditative mantras. Balinese bracelets may also depict dragons, thought to be the protectors of the gods, or the Hindu Barong deity, also a protection symbol.

Nuggets of turquoise convene on a handcrafted leather bracelet by Jes MaHarry. A hand-hammered quintet ring, with five 14kt gold-filled strands, encircles your finger in infinite style. Kyanite, moonstone and cultured pearl dangle dreamily amid Thai silver charms. Sterling silver chain; lobster clasp. Strands of espresso brown Italian leather hold a sparkling sea of kyanite beads bound by gray-blue pearls. Lined with Japanese glass cube beads and finished with a silver-plated magnetic clasp.

Over the centuries it came to be a sign of social or religious rank, and in Renaissance Italy, jewelry-making reached the status of a fine art. By the 19th century, industrialization brought jewelry within the reach of the middle class. Firms opened by such jewelers as Carl Fabergé and Louis Comfort Tiffany achieved great success by making fine jewelry for the wealthy.

In addition to adornment and status, the Aztecs also used jewellery in sacrifices to appease the gods. Priests also used gem-encrusted daggers to perform animal and human sacrifices. Jewellery played jewlery a major role in the fate of the Americas when the Spanish established an empire to seize South American gold. Jewellery making developed in the Americas 5,000 years ago in Central and South America.

Small beads were often crafted to be placed in men and women's hair. The beads were about one millimetre long. Starting in the late 18th century, Romanticism had a profound impact on the development of western jewellery. Changing social conditions and the onset of the Industrial Revolution also led to growth of a middle class that wanted and could afford jewellery. As a result, the use of industrial processes, cheaper alloys, and stone substitutes led to the development of paste or costume jewellery.