Jewels

Precious and non-precious gems are collectively referred to as jewels. Jewels are an integral part of jewellery making. When a large stone is set in a necklace, it elevates the beauty and value of the necklace multiple times. Jewels are capable of creating a unique aura when it comes to ornaments. Call them gems, fine stone or jewels, no jewellery is sparkling enough without the presence of a colourful gem.

Gemstones can be categorized into precious and semi-precious stones. This characterization is based on rarity, sparkle and hardness of the rock. Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald are the precious stones. All the others fall under the semi-precious group. The hardness of these rocks is marked on the Mohs scale. The harder a rock, the more their durability and they can be used in various forms.

The branch of science that deals with the study of jewels is called gemology. Gemologists are the experts who identify and study gemstones. In the present era, gemologists decide the value of a rock. Most of the gems are priced by taking into consideration the 4Cs, i.e. cut, clarity, colour and carat.

The cut refers to the design in which the rock is shaped.

During the process of carving a rock, there could be dust trapped in between, or other forms of inclusions could simply occur in gemstones during the early stages of formation. These inclusions hamper the clarity of the jewel, causing it to not sparkle enough.

The colour of a gemstone can be classified into three types - hue, saturation and tone. Hue is the specific colour of the stone. The ideal gem has to be in its purest hue and the presence of secondary shade should be minimum. The tone is the amount of integration of black and white colours. If the black colour is prominent, it will overshadow the original shade of the stone. However, the presence of white shade will make it extremely light.

Grey and brown spots are also found commonly in naturally occurring gemstones. These are highly undesirable as they drastically diminish the overall sparkle of gems. However, it has to be remembered that a stone of zero grey presence that stands at 100% saturation level has not been found till date. Colour grading happens from number 1 to 10, where 1 to 4 is the desirable score.

Carat refers to the weight of a gemstone. However, it is not how the eyes may presume. The larger, the heavier concept is not significant in many cases. Some of the gems might look huge but are shallow from inside. These benefit people with tight budgets.

Many grading institutions prevail around the world to determine the value of a stone. The prominent institutions are the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), an institution that grades diamonds, and the International Gemological Institute (IGI), an institution that defines the value of all gemstones.

Jewels add value, colour and character to jewellery.