Gemstones were already used as jewelry around 5,000 years ago in the advanced cultures of China, India, and Babylonia.
Even in this modern time, these precious stones are very much more valuable for their qualities and beauty.
Jewels & Gemstones
Jewels and gemstones differ in their workmanship and value.
Gemstones such as sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds are valuable because they are made of minerals formed deep in the earth.
Their special beauty comes from their purity, composition, and symmetrical structure, which gives them hardness.
Various inclusions develop their intense colors. It is only through the precise cut that refines the gemstone into a high-quality piece of jewelry that it becomes a jewel.
What is a Gemstone?
Gemstones are synonymous with diamonds and colored gemstones (colored stones).
However, the term gemstone is not scientifically defined precisely, and the previously common distinction between precious and semi-precious stones is a thing of the past.
How to identify a Gemstone?
We speak of gemstones when the (cut/faceted) mineral has the highest possible transparency/purity, as well as a certain rarity and, as a result, a corresponding value.
The respective degree of hardness only plays a minor role, although the often-cited minimum hardness of 7 according to Mohs is no longer necessarily relevant for gemstones today.
Other categories of Gemstones
There are certain gemstones with a slightly lower hardness, such as tanzanite, some garnet varieties, opal, peridot, etc., which deserve the status of “gemstone” and are even among the most sought-after and sometimes most valuable gemstones.
You can find some of these stones in Antique necklaces, rings, and others.
This also applies to numerous gemstone rarities which are unsuitable for jewelry making due to their specific properties, but which sometimes achieve top prices among gemstone collectors.
Diamonds are an absolute specialty among gemstones due to their exceptional hardness of 10 – no other gemstone moves such high sums of money in the search for deposits, their extraction ,and their sale.
Those minerals with little or no transparency, very common occurrences, and lower value are called gemstones (e.g. moonstone, turquoise, chalcedony).
In most cases, these are processed into cabochons or used for necklaces/strands – faceted examples of gemstones are comparatively rarely offered.
You can view these magnificent gifts of nature in their unsurpassable variety of colors and beauty in great variety.
More about gemstones and precious metals
A gemstone is the name given to a piece of mineral crystal formed deep within the Earth’s mantle.
Certain stones (such as lapis lazuli and opal) and sometimes organic materials that are not mineral crystals (such as amber, jet, and pearls) are also used in jewelry and are therefore often considered gemstones.
In the Western world, a distinction is made between precious and semi-precious stones.
The precious stones are emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, and all other precious stones are semi-precious stones.
Three main qualities can categorize a gemstone: beauty, rarity, and durability.
The four precious metals most commonly used in jewelry are gold, platinum silver, and sometimes palladium.
These metals share the properties of attraction, workability, durability, and rarity. Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, precious metals tend to be less reactive than most other elements.
