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 Home / Gem Library / Resources / Overview March 19, 2024  

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What are Gemstones?

The precious materials most widely used in jewelry are gems – any precious or semiprecious stone. By definition this group also includes some animal and vegetable products with precious characteristics, such as amber, pearls, and coral.

Gemstones have attracted humankind since ancient times, and have long been used for jewelry. The prime requisite for a gem is that it must be beautiful. The beauty may lie in colour or lack of colour; in the latter case, extreme limpidity and "fire" may provide the attraction.

Iridescence, opalescence, asterism (the exhibition of a star-shaped figure in reflected light), chatoyance (the exhibition of a changeable lustre and a narrow, undulating band of white light), pattern, and lustre are other features that may make a gemstone beautiful.
A gem must also be durable, if the stone is to retain the polish applied to it and withstand the wear and tear of constant handling.

In addition to their use as jewelry, gems were regarded by many civilizations as miraculous and endowed with mysterious powers. Different stones were endowed with different and sometimes overlapping attributes; the diamond, for instance, was thought to give its wearer strength in battle and to protect him against ghosts and magic. Vestiges of such beliefs persist in the modern practice of wearing a birthstone.

Of the more than 2,000 identified natural minerals, fewer than 100 are used as gemstones and only 16 have achieved importance. These are beryl, chrysoberyl, corundum, diamond, feldspar, garnet, jade, lazurite, olivine (peridot), opal, quartz, spinel, topaz, tourmaline, turquoise, and zircon. Some of these minerals provide more than one type of gem; beryl, for example, provides emeralds and aquamarines, while corundum provides rubies and sapphires.

The physical properties of gemstones, their hardness, their specific gravity or density and they way they break, depend on chemical bonding and the atomic structure within the stone.

Inclusions are internal features of gems. The may be solids, liquids, or gases that the crystal enclosed as it grew, or cleavages, cracks, and fractures that filled after the host material finished growing.

The most usual method of fashioning a gem is to cut the surface into a number of flat faces, known as facets. This gives the stone its final shape and "cut"

Finally, color is the most important factor in determining the value of gemstones and its the most obvious visual feature, but in fact it is just one of many optical properties, all of which are dependent upon light.

GIA suggests to describe colour for the colour gemstones as Hue, Tone and Saturation, where: Hue – the dominant and any additional colors visible in a stone. Tone – the relative lightness or darkness of a hue or color sensation. Saturation – the strength, purity or intensity of the hue present in a color sensation



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About Gemstones /

Gem Library/
Gems Legend and  Lore Gems Legend and Lore
Some of the latest of ways that gems have been associated with Birthstones and Signs of the Zodiac.
Understanding Gemstones Understanding Gemstones
Learn about Physical and Optical properties, color, clarity and cut of gemstones.
Gems Glossary Gems Glossary
Ever wonder what are "Blemish", "Luster", "Saturation" "Uniformity" or "Mine Run" means?
Reference and  Links Reference and Links
Recommended books and links to Gem, Jewelry&Mineral Magazines, Gem Institutes and Labs.

Book’s Corner/
Buy at Amazon.com DK Handbooks: Gemstones by Cally Hall and Harry Taylor
Price: USD 15.16
"Very good reference book to gems, stones and bones used in jewelry and ornamentations. Easy to use and read..."
see more Multicolour.com recommendations

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