Gemstones Updates

Gemological Article Of The Month

Collecting Prescious And Semi-Prescious Gemstones

By Lee MacRae

Why would anyone collect items like loose gemstones, you ask? For many people it's because they've been sought for their beauty for many centuries. And like their more familiar cousin, natural diamonds, they can become extremely valuable over the years. Many people love to collect and work with the nearly 150 types of gemstones found today. Read long as we examine the loose gemstones hobby.

At the very beginning you need to learn all you can on the wide variety of stones available. This knowledge will help you to know the properties of each stone and prevent you from wasting your money. Get the answer to questions like how, where and what to buy.

First, color is a major part in evaluating a gemstone. The closer the color of the gemstone is to its purer spectral value the more highly prized it is. Traditional spectral colors include violent, blue, green,, orange and red. Colors that are darker or palerthan a pure color diminish the value of the stone.

Gemstone cut is very important and factors highly into the appraisal of not only diamonds along with gemstones. A precision cut gemstone showcases the pure color of the stone, lessen any inclusions and highlight the proportions and symmetry of the stone. One way to determine the precision of gemstone cut is to consider if it is able to reflect light on a consistent level over the stones complete surface. If the gemstone is cut to shallow much of the light will refract out of the gem instead of reflecting inside. Gem color appears washed out.

Next up is the aspect of clarity. Clarity refers to the the internal conclusions or flaws of a stone. Normally large flaws are visible to the naked eye while others require close examination using a 10X magnification.

Next on the agenda is the duo of size and weight. Because gemstones can vary in density or specific gravity. Weight and size are not equal for each and every stone. If a diamond of a certain size weighs 1.00 carats then a sapphire of equal size would weigh 1.20 carats. An equal sized Emerald would be 0.95 carats while an Alexandrite would be about 1.23 carats.

Although gems are frequently used in jewelry, loose gemstones are great for collecting. Actually there are many interesting and attractive gems that are just too big or fragile to be used for jewelry. Take each loose gemstone and consider it as a piece of art and value it for its beautiful colors and the finish you apply to it. And unlike many hobbies where you have to buy everthing you can actually go hunting for raw gemstones in the field. In the United States in Hawaii you can find Peridot and Coral. And if you travel to Canada you will find nephrite jade in Dease Lake, British Columbia or amazonite (microcline) near Eganville, Onttario and even amethyst from Nova Scotia. Think of collecting gemstones as a great hobby and pastime.

Buy loose ruby gemstones as well as champagne loose diamonds and also natural diamonds today in our store!

Gemstones For Sale

Tips On loose semi precious gemstones

Aquamarine is March's birthstone and is a beautiful, medium priced, light blue
or blue-green stone. It sparkles and shines so wonderfully that is it often made
into an aquamarine engagement ring. Though this gemstone is wonderful in any
setting, we found that aquamarine rings, aquamarine pendants and aquamarine
earrings are the most popular aquamarine jewelry.
Buy round Amethyst loose gemstones today!

Amazonite is a gem variety of microcline feldspar. It displays a schiller of
light which is caused by . Amazonite varies from bright verdigris green to a
bluish green and is mined in the United States, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Russia,
Australia and Namibia.
Buy cabochon ruby loose gemstones today!

The 45.52 carat steel blue Hope Diamond was found in India back in remote times
as a rough crystal weighing 112 carats. It first came to light when Jean
Baptiste Tavernier, the noted French traveler of the 17th century, was
approached in India by a slave who had a very secretive manner about him. It
turned out that he had in his possession an intriguing steel blue stone which at
first look seemed to be a large sapphire, but the well-experienced Tavernier
soon realized it was a diamond � the largest deep blue diamond in the world.
Buy natural purple diamonds today!

loose semi precious gemstones News

At the libraries: Oct. 16-30 - Brookline TAB

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:11:55 GMT

At the libraries: Oct. 16-30 Brookline TAB, MA - 9 hours ago Irina Droznina, self-taught artist, photographer and natural semi-precious gemstone jewelry designer, will be exhibiting her work on the first floor at Main ...

Posted By HAROLD CARMICHAEL, THE SUDBURY STAR; - Sudbury Star

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:26:37 GMT

Posted By HAROLD CARMICHAEL, THE SUDBURY STAR; Sudbury Star, Canada - Sep 27, 2008 On one display wall, there are four-inch, semi-precious stone bracelets and 16-inch necklaces featuring stones such as tiger eye, red jasper, green avent, ...

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