When a friend told me about the Cellini Project, I could not hide a big smile.

I never bought Elsevier’s Dictionary of Jewellery and Watchmaking by Carl Forget (English-French-Danish-Italian-Spanish*. Amsterdam: 1984) because of its hefty price and pronounced leaning towards mechanical watches. Instead, I made do with my glossaries and the help of my contacts in the trade, both in Venice (the diamond capital of Italy) and Vicenza (where a good chunk of the “18K Made in Italy” pieces are produced). Knowing its sponsors, including the European Commission - Directorate General Education and Culture, The European Parliament of Jewellery Schools, France Education Ministry, and Regione Toscana, and the sources (Le Arti Orafe - Jewellery International School, Florence; the Scuola di Arti e Mestieri, Vicenza; the Escuela Internacional de Joyeria, Gemología y Tosaciones [sic!], Madrid; North Glasgow College, Glasgow; Lycée Professionnel Jean Guehenno, St. Armand Montrand; Rok Zadkine – Volkschool voor Edelsmedenen fijne techniek, Amsterdam; and the Escola Antonio Arroio, Lisbon), I expected a solid dictionary that could finally alleviate our severe shortage of specific multilingual references.

I finally purchased the dictionary after a merry chase lasting almost two years, but upon opening it my smile became definitely thinner. Considering the excellent price, I could not justifiably protest the coarse recycled paper, the perfect binding, or the stiff and brittle cardboard cover. Nor do I know the difficulties of publishing such a major recueil at the top European level and coordinating more than two dozen editions in several countries. Still, my first thought after looking at the result of such great effort and commitment was: “Another triumph of political correctness over common sense.”

Worse still, the ballooning text has forced the exclusion of 2,500 terms and their related equivalents, which were included in the original database (the dictionary was abridged in order to save printed space). The issue is clarified on the fourth page, where we are informed that the whole database is offered on a free CD, and that an Internet site has been dedicated to database query and downloading. Of course, that was in 2001. Today, the site no longer exists and I cannot tell where, when, or who produced the original CD.

The loss of 2,500 terms is a very minor event in comparison to the burning of the library of Alexandria or the sacking of Iraq’s antiquities, but it still makes us poorer. Then again, if we only have to deal with the dictionary in se and per se, relative deprivation is meaningless and even the textual organization must be downgraded from absurd to mildly irritating.

In consideration of its central role, I started my exploration with castone (or bezel). The Cellini Project team lists five variants (castone a griffe, Cartier, a illusione, diritto and per diamanti, or claw setting, Cartier’s, illusion, sraight [sic!], and diamond bezels).

A cross-check on bezel, shows that the other trade-related meaning of the noun (sfacettature principali superiori, or the top main facets of a brilliant cut diamond) is not included. This is the common fate of almost all the names for diamond facets (girdle or collare; quoin or angoli superiori; although table or gradino is listed), diamond defects (such as piqué), and standardized diamond colors (see table below).

Color	Description
River	bianco azzurro o eccezionale
Top Wesselton	bianco raro o finissimo
Wesselton	bianco
Top Crystal	bianco con lievi tonalità
Crystal	bianco colorato
Top Cape	lievemente paglierino
Cape	paglierino
Light Yellow	lievemente giallastro
Yellow	giallastro

The Dictionary section lists both gold karat and stone carat (carato), albeit without stating the difference. Every major diamond cut, or taglio, (21 in total) is duly presented under Gemology (emerald, brilliant, marquise, square, step, oval, rose, trap, and baguette cuts or tagli smeraldo, brillante, marquise, quadrato, a gradini, ovale, a rosa, a tavola e gradini, baguette, etc.).

Gemology is probably the best section to read, because it is concentrated in only 64 pages and more uniform in content. Precious and semiprecious stones are well documented, as indicated by the sample table below, although the inclusion of pearls and mother of pearl (madreperla) is understandable, but semantically ludicrous (a gem is by definition a cut and polished stone). To fully justify such classification (limited to the relentless repetition of natural, baroque, cultivated, and blister pearls or perle naturali, barocche, coltivate e blister), the Cellini Project team could have enlarged its research, including expressions such as bird wing pearls (perle barocche di fiume); pearl-eye (perla sferica perfetta); bird’s eyes (occhi d'uccello, indicating slightly imperfect fresh-water pearls with dark rings).

The distinctions between the dictionary’s sections are often blurred. For instance, opale appears twice under the Dictionary section, while only fire opal (opale di fuoco) is included under Gemology; and cameo (cameo) is not listed in the same section of pearls and mother of pearl, but in the Dictionary section. This same section lists cuttlefish bone (osso di sepia, a material which is used to produce small gold castings), in addition to crucible (crogiuolo) and crucible holder (portacrogiuolo). Similar confusion is created by placing carta smeriglio (emory paper) under Tools and pumice stone, bench peg, and grindstone (pietra pomice, stocca, and pietra da affilare) under Dictionary.

Notwithstanding the apparent confusion, the listing of tools is concentrated within 32 pages and contains some 100 entries. The same relevancy is quite high throughout the volume, as shown by a basic absence of filler words.

In conclusion, even though it is frustrating and repetitious, this is an excellent dictionary. The CD version must have been a delight to use. Too bad we are stuck with this printed nightmare.