Where colored stones are concerned, categorization on the basis of clarity is a little different from diamonds. In an earlier post we discussed various clarity issues related to colored gemstones. Read the rest of this entry »

Clarity refers to the presence, or rather, the absence of internal (inclusions) or external (blemishes) flaws. Flawless colored stones are probably harder to find than flawless diamonds, but flawlessness is not fussed about as much in the case of colored stones as diamonds simply because flaws don’t show themselves as much in the former. And this is a continual attribute, meaning that the lighter the stone, the more the clarity required. Read the rest of this entry »

Intricacies of Color Examination

So you know the various parameters essential in describing a stone. Now you take a few gems and try to examine their color. But you will face problems that you won’t have even thought of. Better educate yourself on those matters. Read the rest of this entry »

When you look at a gemstone, what colors do you expect to find? First and foremost, the spectral colors (the VIBGYOR in a rainbow); then the normal white, black, gray and brown in varying quantities. Now these later ones are not in places, they are mixed with the spectral colors. Read the rest of this entry »

Now we come to the all important matter of evaluating the virtues of a colored stone. You might already have gathered an idea from What Differentiates a Gem From Any Other Stone?; nonetheless, we will discuss it in detail. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of the most bizarre, and I dare say funny, incidents take place in the gemstones market. I remember this enterprising businessman who once bought a few sapphires and rubies at an auction which displayed, with each stone, a certification confirming each stone as an original. He put a few hundred dollars into it, just to find out, to his dismay, that if sold, they wouldn’t even fetch him a Friday night dinner. He couldn’t understand what went wrong. They were not fakes; the flaw was in his perception – that every original stone is a gem. So the question is – what differentiates a gem from any other stone? Read the rest of this entry »

Glossary and Terms related Gemstones

One of the most important things in jewelry business, whether you are a customer or a jeweler, is to know how to look and describe characteristics of a gemstone. I am not talking about the observation part (using a loupe and all that) – we have already done that. I am talking about what you do after that – the inference part – how you describe what you saw in a gemstone, how compare the gemstone with other sets of observations, how you describe to a jeweler the gemstone of your dreams. For doing that, you first need to acquaint yourself with the terminology and conventions used in the gemstone trade. Read the rest of this entry »

Things that a Jewelry Loupe can tell you:

With time and effort, you will start enjoying using the jewelry loupe – not just the playing-with-it part, but also the amount of information a jewelry loupe gives you. A seasoned professional in this jewelry business, using a jewelry loupe, can tell you if a gemstone is natural, a synthetic, or a piece of glass and if it is natural, then make out characteristic flaws – inclusions and blemishes, pertaining to the gemstone. Read the rest of this entry »

All right, let’s get down to jewelry business. You are examining a gemstone that interests you for flaws and in doing so you need to use an instrument called a Jewelry Loupe. Read the rest of this entry »

The Story of Gemstones

Since ancient times, the human race has had a deep-seated fascination and awe for gemstones. To whatever physical feature this might be attributed, it cannot be disputed that in a monetary sense, these things were valued above anything else. All civilizations, without exception, associated certain physical and characteristic attributes to the persons wearing these stones and magical and astrological powers to the gemstones themselves.
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