Rubies, Sapphires, Beryl Rough “Oh My”

Shoshana Westermark Posted in Gemstones | No Comments »

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Gemstones Start Out Rough, But Become Pieces of Beauty

There are two main categories of gemstones: the precious stones and the semi-precious stones. There are four stones that are classed as precious they are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, all other gemstones are classed as semi-precious.

Amethyst, up until 19th century, was known as a precious stone but was re-categorized when huge deposits of this gemstone was found in Brazil. Also pearl can be classed as a precious gem but (strictly speaking it is not a gemstone).

Presently, gemstones are widely used to flair up fashion creations and even jewelries but the 4 precious stones are always the more popular of them all

It is widely recognized that the hardest naturally occurring substance is the diamonds, discovered initially about 6,000 years ago, they have always been recognized as a precious stone, since 19th century, its popularity skyrocketed mainly because of rising supply, more advance cutting, and better techniques coupled with its noticeable luster.

Rubies the name given to red, gem quality (corundum), is one of the best gemstones for jewelry settings. Although ruby may come is different shades of red, the most sought after ruby is that with pigeon blood hue. Interestingly, rubies naturally have minute imperfections which have been used by many as basis for knowing the real ones over synthetics. The rubies that underwent various treatment are more common and affordable and the untreated one are of higher quality but are more expensive.

The gemstone that distinctly appears in bluish color is sapphire. Sapphire generally ranges from pale blue color to deep blue ones which considered as the most valuable sapphire. Other sapphires come in yellow,clear, ink, and even black color but these are labeled as the fancy type of sapphires. It should be noted that prior to 19th century, only the blue ones were recognized as sapphires.

Gemstones sapphire and ruby belong to one single class (corundum) and emerald is categorized as a separate class (beryl). Emeralds are generally regarded as a special but those with flawless textures and great colors are most highly sought after. Enhancing the overall quality of emeralds by adding oil is a common practice among gem traders. It is also recommended that an emerald buyer must first consult with experts to ensure that he or she will get his or her money's worth.

All of these gemstones have synthetic counterparts that are make in laboratories a synthetic diamond is a cubic zirconia, and ruby, sapphire and emerald synthetic are called created gems, created ruby, created sapphire and created emeralds. People actually prefers some replicas because they look more perfect and outstanding than the real ones. It is no wonder that people actually consider their value almost the same as they do with the real ones.

Diamonds rate 10 on mohs' scale of hardness, being the hardest of all gemstones, ruby and sapphire rates 9 on mohs' scale and emerald rates 7.5 on mohs' scale which means all of these precious gemstones are quite hard. Therefore, they wont easily fade being if they are worn most of the time. Generally, ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is used to maintain the gemstone expect for emeralds whose oils will die out when exposed to this type of cleaner.

Therefore, if you are thinking of putting aside certain resources for investment, collecting these gemstones is going to be a good undertaking that will last even more than a lifetime.