Gemstone Kits from Jewelry Television

I have long been interested in gemstones. As a young child, I enjoyed collecting unique rocks. As I got older, I came to appreciate gemstones in jewelry. I had wanted to buy loose gemstones before, but the price always prevented me from being able to do so.

As I bought jewelry from Jewelry Television, I often watched the gemstone shows as well. Even with their great prices on the gemstones, I couldn't really justify purchasing gemstones just to collect them. One day however, they showed a gemstone kit. You get so many carats of mixed faceted gemstones, plus something else (either a book, gem trays, tools, cabochons, etc.). After watching many gemstone kits go by, I finally decided that I should try this out. I bought a kit with 60 carats of mixed faceted gemstones, a 50 gem jars gem tray, and the essential tool kit. This kit only cost me $79.98!

When I got the kit in the mail, it was immediate joy. First I opened up the box to find the gem tray. Next I saw the tool kit. When I opened up the box with the gemstones, I was so excited. I sat there and separated out what gemstones I knew and which gemstones I would need to identify later. I looked at them all with my new 10-power loupe from the essential tool kit. I organized the gemstones by color and stuck them into those neat little gem jars.

My favorite part of the experience was sorting through the gemstones and seeing what I actually got. There is the potential to get an emerald, a sapphire, chrome diopside, tanzanite, or even a champagne diamond. I hoped for an emerald and some chrome diopside. Unfortunately, neither gemstone was found in this kit. However, I did get rutilated quartz, peridot, amethyst, garnet, topaz, possible aquamarine, and even a 6x8mm possible ruby. The majority of what came in my kit was peridot, which was fine with me as this is one of my favorite gemstones. I have not yet finished figuring out what I have, so this kit could provide some more enjoyment for the rest of the summer.

With this many gemstones, I did not expect them all to be perfect. Overall, most were well cut and had excellent clarity. However, there were a few that were not so well cut, and just a couple that were chipped. I was also just a bit disappointed that the gem jars on the gem tray didn't close as well as I would have liked. With larger gemstones pushed into the foam, the foam just pushes back and opens the lid of the jar. On the whole though, I was satisfied with the kit. Otherwise, I could have returned it within 30 days.

The great thing about the gemstone kits from Jewelry Television (aside from how affordable they are) is the variety of kits available. Some come with tools for the first time gemstone kit buyer. Other kits come with books that will help you identify what you bought. Most kits come with gemstone trays, which are great to have for organizing the gemstones, no matter how many of the kits you have bought.

I thought this was a fun experience and I would definitely buy a gemstone kit again. If you are going to be disappointed that you don't get a specific gemstone, it is probably better to just buy that gemstone. If you want to do something fun and have the chance at getting some of the more valuable gemstones as well, then a gemstone kit may be just the thing for you. I would definitely recommend trying one out.