Glittering Stones >> Gems

Gems

A gemstone is the naturally occurring crystalline form of a mineral, which is desirable and praised for its beauty, valuable in its rarity and also durable enough to be enjoyed for generations.

There are more than 35 popular gem varieties and many rarer collector gemstones. Although some gemstone varieties have been treasured since ever before history began and others were only discovered recently, they are also all nature's gifts to us.

In general Gemstone is a mineral, rock (as in lapis lazuli) and petrified material that when cut and also polished is collectible or can be used in jewellery.

A gemstone is prized especially for its great beauty and perfection. Hence, appearance is almost plays the most important attribute of gemstones. Their beauty should also be able to stand the test of time; if a gemstone is scratched and crumbled, it loses its value instantly. Characteristics that make a beautiful stone and desirable are colour, gem jewelry stone optical phenomena within the stones; it is an interesting inclusion such as a fossil, rarity and sometimes the shape of the natural crystal.

As said earlier gemstones actually have their own characteristics. Some stones gem jewelry stone beautiful legends like Koh-I-Noor diamond, Synthetic diamond etc.

Generally speaking, a gemstone is a stone that is extremely beautiful, gem jewelry stone, and durable (resistant to abrasion, fracturing and chemical reactions). Some minerals could be very beautiful, but they may be too soft and would scratch easily

(such as the mineral fluorite). Fluorite is extremely colorful and very pretty but has a hardness of only 3 on the Moh's hardness scale and has four perfect cleavage directions that make it only an oddity as a cut gem. Others are too common and are given a semi-precious status (such as agate). Most gemstones have good hardness (above 6) and a high index of refraction (the higher the index of refraction gem jewelry stone greater the sparkle). All gemstones have some of their own characteristics gem jewelry stone falling gem jewelry stone short of perfection though; even the seemingly perfect Diamond has four directions of cleavage.

Most gems are silicates which could be very stable, hard minerals. A few gems are oxides and only one gem, diamond, is composed due to single element, carbon. There are also a few gemstones that are gem jewelry stone not true minerals (called mineralogist) but are included here: opal and amber.