What are Precious Gems?
Traditionally, only these were considered precious gems: Diamonds, Rubies, Emeralds & Sapphires.
And everything else, such as amethyst, topaz, citrine, etc were considered semi-precious gems.
But nowadays, these traditional terms don't mean very much anymore although the traditional precious gems are still valued above other gemstones.
Being a traditional ole fogey, I'll stick to the old-fashioned classification system in Blingalicious. That means, only rubies, emeralds and sapphires will be referred to as precious gems here :))
Generally, the price of precious and semi-precious gems are determined by a variety of factors including cut, clarity, size, colour & rarity.
Some rare gems/minerals include andalusite (look out for upcoming creations with this relatively rare lovely dark golden cognac coloured mineral!), bixbite and cassiterite.
Another very good site to check out is the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Just Google "GIA" -- it should be the first link. I can't put the link here because the GIA has stipulated copyright conditions concerning links to their site, but a search is simple and fast.
4 comments:
Everything looks so yummy in this post. LOL. When I first started crafting jewelry, I was confused about these terms as well because different people were telling me different things. Now I remember ruby, emerald and sapphire as a pyramid of all gems. Haha.
Hello Wan! Yeah it can be verrrry confusing, especially now that many consider all gems to be precious. Can't go wrong with the rubies, emeralds and sapphires though :))
hey simone, wow i love reading your info snippets! Really helpful and enlightening! Thanks for filling us cluesless pple in! :)
Hello Gorgeous Yiwen! Awwww, you're very kind. I'm just a huge busybody who likes to ferret out info to share :))
I'll be coming by to support you at your event this weekend!!!! See you soon.
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