How To Buy Gemstones page 3 of 10
previous page    next page  

The price of a gemstone also naturally depends on whether it is natural or artificially synthesized. Because of their great popularity, and because supply of good natural material is scarce, a huge forgery industry has developed especially over the last thirty years. Two major trends are discernible: one is the artificial creation of gemstones, mainly ruby and sapphire. These fake corondums are made in a laboratory in a process that imitates the natural growth of the crystal. It is legitimate to sell laboratory-created gemstones as long as one informs the buyer that they are not the real thing. Many honest people produce and sell laboratory-created stones, but many crooks operate in this area as well. So if you can, especially when you are dealing with a valuable stone, insist on a genuine certificate from a respected laboratory or buy from someone you trust.
The second trend in the enhancement and treatments of natural gemstones. Here, the typical procedure is to take raw material of low quality (bad color or many impurities), heat or inject it with chemicals that improve the color (sometimes almost unrecognizably). In Emeralds, where clarity is a major issue, the common treatment is to fill the stone with special oil that hides the impurities and create the illusion of a clean stone. The problem is that the oil disappears after a few years...
Again, it perfectly legitimate to sell treated stones if one informs the buyer of the treatment. But some unscrupulous sellers try to pass off treated stones as natural. Again, a certificate from a prominent laboratory is a good way to protect yourself, as is buying from a reliable source. (It should be noted, however, that simply heating stones to get better color - rather than chemically tampering with them, has become practically the norm in the industry. [Herzel, this is last sentence is quite confusing here. Maybe delete it now or find a better place for it) The third tier of gemstones is the “semi semi precious” stones, and includes the much loved Quartz (Amethyst, Citrine, and so on) and Topaz, both of which are much less rare than the top two tiers. Here, you can expect prices in a range of 5 to 15 dollars a carat in stones weighing 2 to 10 carats, but there are also some exceptional stones, such as the Imperial Topaz, whose price can reach hundreds of dollars per carat.
But enough about the general background. When it comes to buying a gemstone, what really matters is ALWAYS looks. And this brings us to the Four C’s.

continue to page 4...  



How To Buy Gemstones - page 9
How To Buy Gemstones - page 8
How To Buy Gemstones - page 3
How To Buy Gemstones - page 4
How To Buy Gemstones - page 5
How To Buy Gemstones - page 7
How To Buy Gemstones - page 6
How To Buy Gemstones - page 2
How To Buy Gemstones - page 10
How To Buy Gemstones - page 1


Find more info in our gemstones articles section.