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Gemstones Value

Gemstones are graded using various systems with diamonds primarily graded using a system developed by GIA in the 1950s grading clarity using 10x magnification, while other gemstones are still graded by the naked eye. The four Cs of color, cut, clarity and carats are used to describe factors in grading diamonds and sometimes other gemstones with different weights given depending on if they are colored gemstones or diamonds. Physical characteristics of color, clarity, cut and unusual optical effects determine the value of colored gemstones.

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98 views1 page

Gemstones Value

Gemstones are graded using various systems with diamonds primarily graded using a system developed by GIA in the 1950s grading clarity using 10x magnification, while other gemstones are still graded by the naked eye. The four Cs of color, cut, clarity and carats are used to describe factors in grading diamonds and sometimes other gemstones with different weights given depending on if they are colored gemstones or diamonds. Physical characteristics of color, clarity, cut and unusual optical effects determine the value of colored gemstones.

Uploaded by

monkey.luffy.ken
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Gemstones have no universally accepted grading system.

Diamonds are graded using a system


developed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in the early 1950s. Historically, all gemstones
were graded using the naked eye. The GIA system included a major innovation: the introduction of 10x
magnification as the standard for grading clarity. Other gemstones are still graded using the naked eye
(assuming 20/20 vision).[21]
A mnemonic device, the "four Cs" (color, cut, clarity, and carats), has been introduced to help describe
the factors used to grade a diamond. With modification, these categories can be useful in
understanding the grading of all gemstones. The four criteria carry different weights depending upon
whether they are applied to colored gemstones or to colorless diamonds. In diamonds, the cut is the
primary determinant of value, followed by clarity and color. An ideally cut diamond will sparkle, to break
down light into its constituent rainbow colors (dispersion), chop it up into bright little pieces
(scintillation), and deliver it to the eye (brilliance). In its rough crystalline form, a diamond will do none of
these things; it requires proper fashioning and this is called "cut". In gemstones that have color,
including colored diamonds, the purity, and beauty of that color is the primary determinant of quality. [22]
Physical characteristics that make a colored stone valuable are color, clarity to a lesser extent
(emeralds will always have a number of inclusions), cut, unusual optical phenomena within the stone
such as color zoning (the uneven distribution of coloring within a gem)[23] and asteria (star effects).
Apart from the more generic and commonly used gemstones such as
from diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, pearls and opal[24] have also been defined as
precious in the jewellery trade. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century,
amethyst was considered a "precious stone" as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last
century certain stones such as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye (cymophane) have been popular and
hence been regarded as precious, thus reinforcing the notion that a mineral's rarity may have been
implicated in its classification as a precious stone and thus contribute to its value.
Today the gemstone trade no longer makes such a distinction.[25] Many gemstones are used in even
the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand-name of the designer, fashion trends, market
supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation
that exceeds those of other gemstones.[26]
Rare or unusual gemstones, generally understood to include those gemstones which occur so
infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs,
include andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite, painite and red beryl.[27]

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