Someone asked me where the rubies grew,
And nothing I did say;
But with my finger pointed to
The lips of Julia.
~Robert Herrick
Monday afternoon: An emerald cut tanzanite and diamond border ring in white gold, luring with its soft velvety gleam, nestles in the showcase of a store’s window.
Wednesday night: It is embellishing the neck of a beautiful lady. The gem sparkles, as she dines on her anniversary’s candle lit dinner. What a lovely cherishing moment! But how did it happen?
How did her husband manage to find out a dainty and ethereal-looking piece of jewel for her? Even his lady gasped, as she spared a surprised look on the radiant gemstone!
Actually, his knowledge of 5Cs came in handy, while shopping for that glamorous piece, for his love. The 5Cs are color, cut, clarity, carat weight, and cost.
• Color- A vividly vibrant hued gemstone, is the most sought after. As compared to a saturated tone of ruby, a pigeon-blood hued ruby would be more attractive to look and demand more price. Color alone doesn’t decide the gem's desirability. However, it tops the list of factors serving as criteria for that purpose. There are many gemstones which exhibit multi-color zones. For example, a tourmaline displaying two colors like rosy and smoky grey. On the other hand, there are many stones which show different colors in different lights.
• Cut- Cut is essential while enhancing color reflection property of a gemstone. The gem value rests on light reflection from top of the gemstone. Thus, deciding a right price for the precious gemstone jewelry. However, there are cases, that, to retain more weight of stone, the cutter has to sacrifice on light return. Various cuts like round brilliant, marquise, oval, pear, cushion, princess, heart, square, triangle, trillion, straight, and tapered baguette are offered. Depending on hardness and toughness of the rock, respective cut is preferred.
• Clarity- Degree to which a gemstone is free from blemishes and inclusions explains this term. A tourmaline containing inclusions of copper-like inclusions cannot be as priced as a clear piece of it. Now it depends on its size, number of inclusions, and shade of the inclusion. Inclusions can increase or decrease value of gemstone jewelry. It is preferable to analyze the stone with help of your jeweler.
• Carat Weight- Worldwide, metric carat (ct) is the unit of measurement of gemstone’s weight. It is important to understand the meaning of stone price or per-carat price. This way is to determine a gem’s cost. Stone price is the total value and per-carat price is amount for each carat, like the per-pound price of produce in a grocery store.
• Cost- This factor solely depends on above discussed factors, which help in assessing the gemstone’s value. Unlike diamond, the rate at which cost of gemstone is decided varies from one gemstone to another.
Therefore, it is wise to roughly understand these above mentioned nuances. So the next time you suddenly halt in mid-stride and get pulled towards jewelry store, admiring a beautiful gem, you would have a better understanding of it for the purpose of buying it.
