What is a gemstone?

Have you ever wondered what exactly gemstones are? Do you think they are similar to diamonds? Surprisingly, they actually are, yet gemstones and diamonds differ drastically.

Diamonds are in fact considered a type of gemstone. However, what differs diamonds from gemstones is that they are formed from one single element, high pressured carbon, rather than several elements.

There are diamonds, and then there are all the other coloured stones, which we call gemstones.

Of all gemstones, there are three important ones you should know:

  1. The Red Ruby
  2. The Green Emerald
  3. The Blue Sapphire.

These three gemstones are super pricy and can achieve close to the high prices we often see for diamonds. When evaluating gemstones, by far the most important factor is their colour. We aim for a gemstone of beautiful colour, spread out evenly in the stone. We often assess for the presence of ‘windows’ which are areas in the stone without colour. Additionally, the stone shouldn’t be too dark, and yet not too light. Lastly, we evaluate whether the stone has been treated in any way to achieve its colour. All of these factors are applied to the three important gemstones, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, when considering their price.

However, there are many other gemstones, and the criteria to become a gemstone, and not just a pebble on the beach is that the stone has to be:

  1. Beautiful
  2. Durable
  3. Rare

You can probably name many different gemstones, so let me just name a few:

  • Violet Amethyst
  • Blue Topaz
  • Blue Aquamarine
  • Yellow Citrine
  • Green Tourmaline
  • Smokey Quartz

There are more than two hundred different gemstones, and they differ in price depending on their respective rarity and their demand. Almost all gemstones are heat treated yet this doesn’t influence their price, as they wouldn’t display the same concentration of colour if they weren’t treated.

The coming weeks will focus on the three most important gemstones, where I will start by telling you more about emeralds, then rubies, and then finish off with the blue sapphire.

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