All About Gemstones

What is Gemstones?
A Gemstones or Gem is a or also called a Precious and Semi-precious gemstones is a piece of mineral, which in cut or polished form, and however certain rocks like Lapiz Lazuli (Lazulite Specimen) and organic materials like Amber or Jet are not minerals, but still used for jewelry, and therefore often considered to be gemstones as well.
Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their lustre or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity is another value to measure gemstones.



The Traditional gemstones classification in the West, which goes back to the Ancient Greeks, begin with the distinctive Precious (Corundum such as Ruby, Sapphire, then a Diamond), and Semi-Precious (such as Garnet, Tourmaline, Topaz, Quartz, etc). Another classification are based on their Hardness which measured in Mohs Scale from the range of 1-10, lustre, clarity, color, origin, and translucency. In modern times gemstones are graded by the expert called Gemologists, who describes gemstones, and their characteristics using technical terminology specifically such as its density, chemical compositions, originality of the gemstones from a treatment such as heating, irradiation, or else, crystal system of the gemstones (like Hexagonal, Trigonal), refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, cleavage, fracture, and determine whether it's a double refractive or not, or it has pleochorism effect. Gemstones are distinctive from its inclusions such as the most common inclusions in Topaz are the bubble inclusions (water bubble).
Cutting and Polishing the gemstones are also determine the value of the gemstones.
A treatment may be applied on the gemstones to enhance its color, clarity and it definitely influenced its value in the market. Treated African Ruby are popular in the market  nowadays because the scarcity of the good and natural ruby, and the prize of the natural rubies are extremely high, and unaffordable.


Gemstones are fashion, lifestyle and a bright investment, and what is the difference between gemstones and a gold? Gold is uncertain, it may go up and down, just like a property or stocks investment, but Gemstones are the only investment in the world, that will never go up and down, as the year goes by, the prize will increase by itself.