A Guide to Buying Gemstones

I began my journey into buying and selling gemstones the wrong way; I got caught up in the frenzy of the colors and price and did not think it through. That being said, I am not one bit sorry I plunged into the world of colored gemstones.

The day your first shipment of gems arrives is an exciting one. I was simply floored by the array of color I had in that box, to me at that time 55 carats of faceted, loose gemstones was simply awe inspiring. When I decided after seeing what I had gotten in my first shipment of 55 carats to go yet once more into the unknown I was not disappointed. The second shipment I got was 100 carats, what was called the Treasure Chest Parcel at Jewelry Television.

And let me tell you what I found in both shipments combined:
Many lovely Aquamarines of the African color, a few Prasiolites, a lovely Ametrine, a Burmese Plum-Purple Spinel, many fine Chinese Peridot, and even a couple of my favorite of gemstones; the Spessartite Garnet, Mandarin colored.

Now I have to say right now, I am not a gemologist and have no GIA training. I have spent the last three months glued to the JTV channel on my cable system though, and I have spent countless hours reading and viewing various stones websites on the Internet. I am thankful I have a digital monitor, but even with this new technology in flat-screen computer monitors, the true species of a gemstone is going to come from only one place, a gemologist!

When you hear that you can have a appraisal done on a stone you might wish to buy, that is certainly true but be prepared for a high cost per stone to do so.

With my total carat weight at just above 155 carats that would have cost me over $3,500.00 at $ 25.00 per stone. And that is the low price I was quoted, with the higher end being $55.00 per stone!

Now there are a few stones that are almost certain to be easy to Identify, Emeralds and rubies are such stones, unless you have an uncut ruby like I do.

However, today gemstones come in so many similar colors, that telling the difference between an Aquamarine and a Sky Blue Topaz is very hard for the untrained person , so that Appraisal is very important.

If you are buying gemstones for resale as I did, then the appraisal can mean the difference between a great price and being taken for a ride. One can assume that a red colored gemstone they have is a ruby, when in fact it may really be a Hessonite Garnet. Garnets are a very good case of many colors being possible in a stone genius. Garnets come in many colors, from a deep Red which is called a Pyrope Garnet to a lovely juicy orange called Mandarin, to a light yellow. There are also a few varieties of green, the deepest being Tsavorite, and the lighter almost minty green being the Merilani Garnet. This is just one example of how a stone can look like one type but be a different stone all together.

Another issue with buying gemstones for resale is how to market them. If you visit the various websites that sell gemstones you will find all the stones currently being sold in the US today, but prices are all over the place. Each marketer has his or her own value on the stones and is also trying to outdo each other. Private Resellers with actual store fronts will also do their best to tell you how they can get the particular stone for $4.00 per carat. I actually had a Jeweler tell me that in relation to Sapphires, and while a book can have those prices, you need to be aware of the physical state of the stones you have. This means understanding the " 4 C's- Clarity, Cut, Color and Carat Weight. The Four C's really apply mostly to Diamonds but for a person just starting out in the gemstone journey I feel it's helpful to use it as a basis for deciding on stones to purchase.

Clarity is just the ability to see through the stone, as if they were made of glass and sometimes it's called having a 'crystalline appearance'. Emeralds for example are not known for their crystalline appearance, because they are most often included due to the chemicals that make up Emeralds, the chromium. Chromium also limits the growth of the crystal size therefore you will not see many large size Emeralds (large being 3 plus carats and over). Cut refers to the style in which the gemstone has been cut, such as Princess Cut, Quantum Cut (looks like a star burst inside the stone and is very pretty!) Emerald Cut, Stepped Cut, and the all time favorite cut; the Diamond Cut which always has 57 facets to the stone if cut in this manner.

Color is simply how the color of a stone is presented, if an Aquamarine is blurry ( which they call 'sleepy' in the gem business) looking or has inclusions, it can be said to be of a less desirable color than a stone with better color qualities and having no such deformities. These same properties apply to almost every stone.

One of my favorite gemstones now is the Aquamarine. It was not my favorite until I got a few lovely samples in my purchases. One stone is a 2 + carat Round that actually does look like water when you view into from the table, or top of the stone. The name Aquamarine is Latin for 'Water of the Sea." The more I see Aquamarine the more I am falling in love with the calmness of its color and its internal beauty. Aquamarine is often called an Estate or Heritage gemstone because it was very popular in the early part of the last century with the Gentile Class, and is in fact very closely related to Emeralds, being in the Beryl Family of gems.889

If you are thinking of becoming a gem Collector there are some tools that will provide you with a ton of help along the way. You should have a loop, a scale, a set of tweezers ( not the type from the Grocery store that you use in your personal skin care regimen) a millimeter gauge to size your stones, and at least one good reference book on gemstones. I recommend either Colored gemstones By Antoinette Matlins or The Jewelers Directory of gemstones. These tools will be invaluable to you on your journey into the wonderful world of gemstones.

Buying gemstones, whether for pleasure or for income is a occupation that never fails to teach and leaves you with joy in your heart, just look at what Mother Earth has given to us as a gift. Stones that are beautiful, in all the colors you can imagine. They shine, bring happiness, and are used in so many occasions; nothing else on earth is like gemstones.