Gemological Information Article
Collecting Gemstones
By Lee MacRae
Why collect loose gemstones you ask? Well to begin with they've been sought for their beauty for many centuries. And just like natural diamonds they can become extremely valuable over the years. Many people love to collect and show case each and every one of the 150 varieties available. Read long as we look at the hobby of collecting loose gemstones.
To start off right you need to read up on each of the gemstones out there. You'll find it very helpful to know what exactly you're looking for so you buy the right items. This will help you make informed decisions.
The first criteria you need to evaluate is stone color. Without a doubt, gemstones are the most intensely colored naturally occurring materials you can find. Gems have become so synonomous with color, they have even lent their names to specific colors. Without a doubt you will recognize sapphire blue, ruby red, jade green, aquamarine, emerald green or turquoise. Gemstones will have a higher value the closer they come to the natural spectral colors of orange, green, yellow, violet and blue. They are valued much less the farther they are from the spectral color.
Gemstone cut is very important and factors highly into the appraisal of not only diamonds but along with your gemstones. An excellent cut will highlight the natural color of the gemstone, diminish any inclusions, and exhibits good overall symmetry and proportion. One way to determine the precision in the cut is to look at how evenly it reflects light throughout its surface. But if a gem is cut too shallow, much of the light will refract out of the gem instead of reflecting inside the gemstone. Gem color appears washed out.
The next factor to consider is the gemstone's clarity. This refers to the purity of the gemstone with no internal conclusions, spots, or particles within the crystal. Without a doubt, zero flaws would make the gemstone highly valuable.
Gemstones are often listed according to their size since it is more uniform than carat weight. But two different gemstones may have the same size but differ in carat weights and as a result different prices as well. This is due to the difference regarding specific gravity or relative density depending upon the materials chemical composition and crystal structure type Normally a one carat brilliant round diamond with normal proportions is approximately 6.5 mm around. A comparable round brilliant ruby of the same size and proportions will weigh in at 1.55 carats.
Taking up the hobby of gemstones can be very enjoyable and rewarding in the long run. You can start small and don't have to spend a lot of money and yet you can buy some very beautiful items. Many people love to set aside vacation or weekend time to go hunting gemstones. Take the example of the US. In New Hampshire you can rock hunt for Beryl, Rock Crystal and Garnet. Or you can take the time to travel and find opal in Opalton, Yowah, Queensland, Austalia, topaz in Beechworth, Victoria or hunt the quartz regions in Yellowdine Lake in Western Australia.
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Hints About natural color diamonds
The amount and quality of light reflecting from the surface of a gemstone is known as its lustre. For example, vitreous is a "glass-like lustre" and adamantine is the 'very high lustre' seen on the surface of a polished diamond. The lustre of gemstones are also described in terms that are easy to relate to, i.e. metallic, resinous, pearly, silky, greasy, waxy and dull. It is usually found (with exceptions) that the harder the gemstone material the brighter the lustre. The quality of the surface polish is important, as a poor polish will display a poor lustre.
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The Logan sapphire is named after Mrs. John Logan who donated the gemstone to
the Smithsonian Institution in 1960. The Logan sapphire is a flawless specimen,
possesses a rich blue color and is the second largest (blue) sapphire known,
weighing 423 carats (84.6 g). The cushion-cut stone is one of the world's most
famous sapphires and is set in a brooch surrounded by 20 round brilliant cut
diamonds weighing in total 16 carats (3.2 g). The Logan sapphire originates from
Sri Lanka, a famous location for sapphires.
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