Buying Gemstones Without Being Ripped-Off

Written by Sam Serio


Buying gemstone jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you’re considering a gift of gemstone jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learnrepparttar terms used inrepparttar 145833 industry. Here’s some information to help you getrepparttar 145834 best quality gemstone jewelry for your money, whether you’re shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.

Gemstones Natural gemstones are found in nature. Laboratory-created stones, asrepparttar 145835 name implies, are made in a laboratory. These stones, which also are referred to as laboratory-grown, {name of manufacturer} - created, or synthetic, have essentiallyrepparttar 145836 same chemical, physical and visual properties as natural gemstones. Laboratory-created stones do not haverepparttar 145837 rarity of naturally colored stones and they are less expensive than naturally mined stones. By contrast, imitation stones look like natural stones in appearance only, and may be glass, plastic, or less costly stones. Laboratory-created and imitation stones should be clearly identified as such.

Gemstones may be measured by weight, size, or both. The basic unit for weighing gemstones isrepparttar 145838 carat, which is equal to one-fifth 91/5th) of a gram. Carats are divided into 100 units, called points. For example, a half-carat gemstone would weigh .50 carats or 50 points. When gemstones are measured by dimensions,repparttar 145839 size is expressed in millimeters (for example, 7x5 millimeters).

Gemstone treatments or enhancements refer torepparttar 145840 way some gems are treated to improve their appearance or durability, or even change their color. Many gemstones are treated in some way. The effects of some treatments may lessen or change over time and some treated stones may require special care. Some enhancements also affectrepparttar 145841 value of a stone, when measured against a comparable untreated stone.

Buying Diamonds Without Being Ripped-Off

Written by Sam Serio


Buying diamond jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you’re considering a gift of diamond jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learnrepparttar terms used inrepparttar 145821 industry. Here’s some information to help you getrepparttar 145822 best quality diamond jewelry for your money, whether you’re shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.

Diamonds A diamond’s value is based on four criteria: color, cut, clarity, and carat. The clarity and color of a diamond usually are graded. However, scales are not uniform: a clarity grade of “slightly included” may represent a different grade on one grading system versus another, depending onrepparttar 145823 terms used inrepparttar 145824 scale. Make sure you know how a particular scale and grade representrepparttar 145825 color or clarity ofrepparttar 145826 diamond you’re considering. A diamond can be described as “flawless” only if it has no visible surface or internal imperfections when viewed under 10-power magnification by a skilled diamond grader.

As with other gems, diamond weight usually is stated in carats. Diamond weight may be described in decimal or fractional parts of a carat. Ifrepparttar 145827 weight is given in decimal parts of a carat,repparttar 145828 figure should be accurate torepparttar 145829 last decimal place. For example, “.30 carat” could represent a diamond that weighs between .295 - .304 carat. Some retailers describe diamond weight in fractions and userepparttar 145830 fraction to represent a range of weights. For example, a diamond described as 1/2 carat could weigh between .47 - .54 carat. If diamond weight is stated as fractional parts of a carat,repparttar 145831 retailer should disclose two things: thatrepparttar 145832 weight is not exact, andrepparttar 145833 reasonable range of weight for each fraction orrepparttar 145834 weight tolerance being used.

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