Add color to any ensemble with sparkling gemstones

A Colorful gemstone can add elegance to any outfit. They can make a dress look exquisite and can add flair to everyday wear, just think of the impact of a fiery ruby or deep sapphire against a solid black shirt. Here you'll find not only beautiful gemstone jewelry, but you can also find loose diamonds and gems through some of our merchants.

Here's a guide to some popular gemstones and their properties:

Diamonds are the hardest known substance on earth and are also one of the oldest, if you own one, it is probably 3 billion years in age. They also have the best luster, meaning they are brilliant due to reflective properties and also display dazzling color flashes known as "fire."

Photo: Corundum variety Ruby (Aluminum oxide) Location; Froland, Norway. Photo by Dave Dyet.

Rubies are known and loved for their fiery red color. They are also popular for their hardness, durability, luster, and rarity. Large transparent rubies are even rarer than diamonds and flawless ones exceed all other gems in value except for deeply colored "fancy diamonds." Rubies are actually a red variety of the mineral corundum, the mineral in which sapphires belong, and sapphires encompass all colors of corundum except for red. In essence, rubies are red sapphires, since the ruby and sapphire are identical in all properties except for color. Most rubies sold today are from Thailand, these rubies have a brownish hue but can be heat-treatmed to improve color, it can also increase its transparency by removing tiny internal flaws.

Sapphires are the most precious of blue gemstones and they are also sough after for their color, hardness, durability, and luster. Sapphires come in different colors, but the most valuable color of sapphire is cornflower blue. Star sapphires have tiny, slender, parallel Rutile needles which make a star effect visible, if these are transparent they are especially prized.

Photo: Beryl variety Emerald with quartz and biotite (Beryllium aluminum silicate) Location;Gravelotte,- North Transvaal, South Africa. Photo by Dave Dyet.

Emeralds are also prized for their durability and rarity. They belong in the beryl family along with aquamarine and heliodore. They usually have more flaws than other precious gems and for this reason sometimes a slightly flawed emerald is more valuable thatn a flawless one, for authentification purposes alone.

For more information about gemstones or related products, choose from one of the following links:

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