Precious Stones
The centerpiece of most jewelry, whether an ornate necklace or simple wedding band, is the stone. ‘Stones’ are a wide variety of mineral crystals alternately called gemstones, gems, precious or semi-precious stones, and even some materials that aren’t minerals! Ever wonder why diamonds are held higher than say, amethyst? Well, that’s just the subject we are going to cover today on the blog.
Historically, the order of gemstones can be traced back, as with many things, to the Greeks. Stones are divided into two major classifications: precious and semi-precious. These two names continue to the modern era, and they represent the rarity of the stones in ancient times. Precious entails diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire with all other stones are semi-precious. While these names reflect ancient rarity, they do not reflect modern value.
They are further classified and characterized by scores of different systems developed by various agencies. For instance, for diamond consumers, the predominant things to look for are the Four C’s: color, cut, clarity, and carats. These can be applied to all gemstones to some effect, though the value each C represents will vary based on stone. For instance, when it comes to diamonds the cut is the most valuable characteristic.
Earlier we mentioned materials that aren’t minerals that also find their way into our jewelry. These things such as jet, amber, and pearl are all organic materials (jet being made of decomposed wood from million years ago, amber is fossilized tree resin, and pearl, of course, are hard objects formed out of the same materials as mollusk shells). Because these are rare and used for jewelry as well, they are often contained within that larger umbrella of ‘gems.’
We hope this very brief overview of the world of gemstones has provided you with some useful info. While the identification of gemstones is a professional gig (gemology for those curious!), it ultimately falls to you the consumer on what stone you feel looks or best fits and personal taste you can’t put a price tag on. We’ll see you next time on the blog until then remember your Four C’s!
