expert answers to common gemstone questions covering quality, authenticity, certification, pricing, treatments, value, and gemstone care tips.
Precision cutting improves a gemstone by nudging facets into exact mathematical angles, so light gets captured and returned more cleanly, which in turn strengthens the stone’s natural brilliance. It can also fix those strange colour bands or awkward zoning patterns that commercial cutting often leaves alone. In contrast, commercial lapidaries tend to chase maximum weight,…
Minor cedarwood oil treatment is basically a standard practice, and it helps maintain an emerald’s market value, but if someone does moderate or heavy oiling or uses artificially coloured resins, then the price goes down quite a bit. Since nearly all emerald stones have fractures that reach the surface, oiling has been used for a…
Heat treatment can really cut a ruby’s value way down compared with a stone that never got heated, because heating is an everyday, industry-accepted routine that people use to push the colour further and help dissolve inclusions in lower-grade rough. Even though heat treatment is fully stable and normal for jewellery-grade stones, an unheated ruby…
The quality of a gemstone cut really influences its value, mostly because it controls the final brilliance, enhances its colour saturation, and reduces that annoying look of windowing or extinction, those dark patches that can make the stone appear dull. If the proportions are weak, light can escape through the back of the gem, leaving…
Zambian emeralds usually have a cooler, a bit bluish-green tone, with strong clarity and fewer internal inclusions. Meanwhile, Colombian emeralds tend to look warmer and more “pure” in an intensely saturated green, but they are generally more heavily included. How they were formed underground makes these visual differences. Zambian emeralds get their colour from iron…
Real chrysoberyl is most often recognised by its really tough hardness, around 8.5 on the Mohs scale, plus a refractive index somewhere near 1.746–1.755, and also frequently by that bright, silvery chatoyant stripe in the cat’s-eye type; it shows up along the line of movement. Since it is ranked as the third-hardest usual natural gemstone,…
Moonstone jewellery needs a gentle clean, just lukewarm water, a few drops of mild soap, and a soft cloth. Keep away from abrasive brushes, ultrasonic cleaners, and any harsh chemical soaking. Moonstone is a feldspar mineral, and it has a Mohs hardness of around 6 to 6.5. It also shows perfect cleavage, so it can…
Clean aquamarine jewellery by soaking it in mild warm water with a little dish soap for a few minutes. Then, lightly scrub around and behind the stone using a soft-bristled toothbrush, just to lift the built-up grime. Aquamarine has a light, clear tone, so dirt plus skin oils get noticed fast, and the stone starts…
Care for tourmaline jewellery: clean it exclusively with warm soapy water and a soft brush, and keep it strictly away from ultrasonic cleaners, harsh chemicals, and sudden extreme temperature shifts. Even though tourmaline is rather durable, with a Mohs hardness around 7 to 7.5, it can still include tiny liquid-filled inclusions. When you expose the…
Professionals typically grade coloured gemstones by giving subjective yet standardised values to what they see in hue, tone, and saturation, while at the same time measuring clarity, carat weight, and the crispness of how the facets are laid out in a way that is consistent. Unlike diamonds, which follow a single universal grading framework, coloured…