So You Want To Collect Gemstones
By Lee MacRae
The term gemology refers to the science, art and profession of identifying and evaluating gemstones from loose gemstones to natural diamonds. A number of people taken up this profession as a passionate hobby. They become interested in collecting items like loose gemstone or natural diamonds. You'll even find some that like to travel to different areas close by or to other countries to look for rough gemstones. Some of them will even tumble or finish off the gemstones themselves. If this hobby interest you follow along as we reveal the various factors in gemstone collecting.
To start off right you need to learn all you can on the various gemstones available. You'll find it very helpful to know the properties of each stone so you buy the right items. Get the answer to questions like how, where and what to buy.
To start with, an important aspect in gemstone evaluation is color. Without a doubt, gemstones are the most intensely colored naturally occurring materials you can find. Gems have become so synonomous with color, they've even had their names combined with associated colors. Everyone knows ruby red, emerald green, sapphire blue, aquamarine, turquoise, and jade green Gemstones will have a higher value the closer they are to the colors in the spectrum of orange, green, yellow, violet and blue. They are valued much less the farther they deviate from the natural color.
Gemstone cut is an important aspect to consider when buying a gemstone. The stone has to be cut with precision to reflect the light properly. A gemstone with the poor cut will be muted or washed out. The color hue, color tone and saturation will never be consistent.
A third consideration is the clarity. This means the purity of the stone or the lack of internal inclusions, spots, or particles within the crystal structure. Obviously, stones with a lack of flaws will make a gemstone very valuable.
Gemstones are often listed according to their size criteria because of being more uniform than carat weight. But two different gemstones may be the same size but have different carat weights that result in different prices as well. This factor comes from the difference in relative density or specific gravity depending upon the materials chemical composition and crystal structure type Normally a one carat brilliant round diamond with standard proportions will be approximately 6.5 mm in diameter. A comparable round brilliant ruby of the same size and proportions will weigh in at 1.55 carats.
Although gemstones are normally used for jewelry, they are a great hobby and pastime as well. Actually there are many interesting and attractive gemstones who that are too fragile or too large to be used in jewelry. Here's a suggestion -- don't think of a gem as a component of jewelry; consider it as a piece of art and value it for its unusual nature and for the craftsmanship of the artisan who shaped it. And in this hobby you don't have to always lay out cash because you can use vacation time to actually hunt for raw gemstones in stead of buying. In the United States in New Hampshire you can rock hunt for Beryl, Rock Crystal and Garnet. And in Canada you can hunt for nephrite jade in the Frances Lake area in the Yukon Territory or labradorite on the adjacent islands and coastal area of Labrador and even the unique deep blue beryl in Canada's Yukon Territory. Think of collecting gemstones as a great hobby and pastime.
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E.W. Streeter, in his book Precious Stones and Gems (1892), describes a number
of fine sapphires. One of these was in the collection of the Mus�e au Jardin des
Plantes, in Paris, and weighed 133.06 carats. The same stone was also described
by Sourindro Mohun Tagore in his classic, Mani-M�l� (1879, 1881), referring to
it as the Wooden Spoon-Seller�s Sapphire, in reference to the poor man who is
said to have found it in Bengal, India. Streeter said it was without flaw. This
is undoubtedly the same stone that resides today in Paris's Museum of Natural
History, for it is of a distinctive lozenge shape and possesses only six facets,
appearing like a huge sapphire rhomb. It is indeed nearly "without flaw,"
containing only one small feather and crystal inclusion, and is possibly of
Burmese or Sri Lankan origin. According to the museum's H.J. Schubnel, the
sapphire actually weighs 135.80 carats. In the museum it is known as the Ruspoli
Sapphire. During the 17th century, a Roman prince named Ruspoli sold this
sapphire to a salesman, who in turn, sold it to King Louis XIV sometime before
1691. At that time it was the third most prominent gem in the French Crown
Jewels.
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Synthetic or "lab-created" stones are grown using the same ingredients as the natural stones. They are chemically identical to natural stones, but more affordable, and its easier to get a large, well-colored lab-created gem than a natural one. Lab-created gemstones frequently have fewer "inclusions", the internal flaws common in precious gems. With technical advances, many high quality lab-created stones can only be differentiated from a natural by a trained professional. Almost any gemstone can be made in a lab, but the precious gemstones - emeralds, rubies and sapphires - are the most common
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