Useful Tips To Remember When Buying Gemstones

By Author: SIlver Street Jewellers
Total Articles: 4
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A gemstone is an organic material or mineral that is extracted from the sea or the earth. In their original form, gems are dull and asymmetrical before they are cut, polished, and turned into beautiful jewellery. Once a gemstone is shaped into a piece of jewellery, it is considered a precious jewel.

The lustre and sparkle of gemstones have made them cherished objects for a very long period of time. Gems are admired for their colour, transparency, rarity, beauty, and high value-to-volume ratio. You can find plenty of elegant gemstones and trinkets at amazing gems and jewellery events organized by renowned jewellers. These events have thousands of options to choose from and are worth every penny.

Choosing a piece of jewellery or gemstones can be a daunting process, but having some knowledge about gems can help you narrow down your options. If you’ve been planning to buy some, here are a few useful tips to keep in mind.

The value of gemstones is determined by the 4 C’s - Color, Cut, Clarity, and Carat Weight.

COLOUR
Gemstones are available in almost every imaginable colour. When it comes ...
... to buying precious gems, colour is one of the most important value factors. Moreover, a specific type of gem can have many distinctive hues. For instance, sapphires and garnets come in blue, yellow, and pink hues. Ruby and emerald can be found only in red and green respectively.

The attributes of colours can be broken down into three categories:

i) HUE
It refers to the specific color of the stone. Usually, it is preferable to have the purest hue possible, which means any secondary colour should either be minimal or nonexistent. There are 6 primary hues - violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Between the primary hues are secondary hues like blue-green. Gemstones that are very dark or pale are less valuable.

ii) TONE
The tone of a gemstone is determined by the amount of black or white shade mixed in the primary colour. The dark tone implies a high percentage of black is mixed in, whereas light tone implies, white is mixed in. However, a gem is never graded based on its tone alone. it is valued according to the stone’s tone combined with its colour.

iii) SATURATION
Saturation, also known as intensity or chroma, is the amount of colour present in the gemstone. When you think perfect ruby comes to your mind, you probably imagine a deep red that has no trace of pink, yellow, or orange. It is an example of flawless saturation. The true sign of an excellent saturation is a pure colour uninterrupted by grey or brown tints.

CUT
The cut refers to the way it has been styled and faceted to refract light. Jewellers use carving techniques to amplify a stone’s brilliance by geometrically cutting many flat facets into a gemstone. The styling terms used for gemstone - cut and shape are often confused but have different implications. “Cut” focuses solely on faceting a gem to display its brilliance. While “shape” is the general outline of a stone when viewed from above.

Some of the common cuts are
Brilliant Cut
Ceylon Cut
Heart Cut,
Barion Cut
Old Mine Cut, plus more.

Some popular shapes are
Heart
Emerald
Marquise
Round
Oval
Asscher
Baguette, plus more.

CLARITY
Clarity refers to how visible a stone’s inclusion is. Inclusions are objects like dust, liquids, insects, air pockets, or any other minerals that may be enclosed in the gemstone during its formation. A gemstone that is free of inclusions is the one that has inclusions that even under 10x magnification cannot be seen. The stones with very few or no inclusions are considered very valuable, while more inclusions drive down the value and price of the gems.

CARAT WEIGHT
The sale of gemstones is done by weight, not size. Carat is the standard weight measurement used, that converts one-fifth of a gram. Since each and every stone is made with different minerals, their density varies. For instance, one-carat ruby and one-carat emerald will weigh the same, but ruby will be smaller because of its high density.

While buying gemstones, never forget your personal choice as the industry standards might not always align with what exactly you’re looking for. Go for the gemstones you’ll love rather than the one you think you should love, but also considering the above tips. Look for some awesome jewellery upcoming events and buy beautiful gemstones and jewels.

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