Gem Buying Guide

Buying a gemstone can be a terrifying task for someone without a background in the gemstone industry. There are several intrinsic factors that determine the value of the gemstone, such as weight, color, type (gemstone or semi-gemstone), clarity, cut, purity, brightness, and other factors, such as the market value per carat, the seller's reputation, origin gemstone, faith, the value in the eyes of the buyer is simply because of the overwhelming magnetism of the jewelry wearer. Most inexperienced buyers usually ask for a gemstone laboratory report, which provides important information about the gemstone, listing instructions on weight, color, cut, clarity, heart treatment, and some even indicate size, origin. Whether the gemstone was natural or synthetic or in the case of a stone that was too clean for a gemstone technician to make any judgment, there was no final conclusion.

Sapphire Buying Guide

Sapphires usually appear in different colors, and blue is a widely known color among all other color varieties, including yellow, pink, pink orange (Padparadscha), purple, orange, lavender, green, and fewer colors. Each color has its own category according to color strength and saturation. All sapphires come from the same corundum family (Al2O3). Red corundum is called ruby (Ratna Raj), meaning the king of jewelry, and has long been associated with the royal family because of its strong red color and rarity. The hardness of sapphires makes it scratch-resistant and is the second hardest mineral after diamonds. The value of sapphires depends on qualitative factors such as carat (weight), cut, clarity, and color. In some cases, the mineral contents in the crystals can produce different types of sapphires, called starlight sapphires creating starlight (six-ray star) effects. These qualitative factors may have different values, which may vary your mileage may vary, making the values derived from these assessments subjective. Generally speaking, the value of these sapphires changes every day in different markets. This is because the actual price of sapphires or any gemstone is determined by the price that sellers and buyers willing to pay who are willing to sell at the price. This can change drastically from one person to another or from one market to another. However, the main decisions are gemstone rarity, carat, cut, color and clarity that should be sought before buying any sapphires. It was just a guide, and the actual purchase was not as simple as buying gold or platinum, as it was relatively easy to set standards in these places.

Natural, synthetic and treated stones found

Natural sapphires were extremely rare. The rarity and beauty made them the most valuable minerals on Earth. In places where synthetic materials (artificial gemstones) were commonly seen in the market, there was such a great demand for these sapphires. Sapphires were heat-treated with different technologies to obtain the clarity of Geuda (milk stone) and increase color saturation, thus obtaining a higher price per carat. Therefore, inexperienced buyers should always request for a gemstone appraisal report before purchasing sapphires. Compared to heat-treated gemstones in all countries, untreated sapphires naturally demanded a higher price, without exception. Therefore, buyers should find out if the gemstone had been treated before the transaction was completed.

Color.

Blue sapphire, Padparadscha (pink sunset orange) is the highest priced sapphire color. Since sapphire has a variety of colors, the price varies from market to market and varies according to the individual buyer's color taste. Generally speaking, colored sapphires with saturation are more expensive than "steel" light-colored gems. Saturation can be blue, and it has its own subcategories called royal blue, peacock blue, cornflower blue, velvet blue, indigo, these are the more favored flavors in the sapphire category.

Padparadscha's, hue is more difficult to describe. To think that it appears in a variety of colors, actually appealing your mileage may vary. The ideal color for Papalacha is the combination color of pink sunset orange. Gems that have this color and are native to Sri Lanka can even be worth 30,000 dollars per kra. Some labs offer Padparadscha certification, although pink hue is dominant among gems. Therefore, the buyer needs to know exactly what hue he is looking for in Papalacha. Other colors in the sapphire family are called fancy hue, and because of their rarity and low popularity, their value is not fixed

Clear

Transparency is related to the ability of light to pass through sapphires. Since sapphires belong to the category II, this means that the gemstone will naturally have an inclusion. If the buyer wants to buy sapphires other than Starlight Sapphires. Ideally, he or she should look for gems that are not included. Compared to the inclusion, sapphires with clean eyes and good cuts will have a higher market price. Compared to blue sapphires with dark blue bright luster, gems such as blue sapphires with darker hues are not of high value. Finding good clarity in blue sapphires can be challenging, requiring equipment and light source orientation, and the gemstone and the eye are kept at different distances. The clarity of light-colored gems (such as yellow sapphire, pink, Papalacha, purple) has a significant impact on pricing because their lower color intensity easily reveals the contents, thus making the gems less popular with customers.

Weight

Ruby and sapphire-like ones are also rare. Although Sri Lanka produces the largest sapphire in the world, it is difficult to find high-quality sapphires that do not contain contents. If sapphires meet qualities such as luster, no impurities, bright colors, translucency, and good cutting, the price may rise multiple times. Therefore, as mentioned above, multiple characteristics must be considered before buying sapphires. However, if buyers are to buy starlight sapphires, the starlight effect occurs mainly because the clarity of the gemstone becomes irrelevant in this case.

Ruby Buying Guide

Ruby is known as Ratna Raja (King of Jewels) and is generally considered the most valuable colored gemstone due to its bright red, rarity, and superior quality. It is considered the second most valuable and hardest gemstone in the diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire series. Ruby is a pink to blood-red gemstone from the corundum (Al2O3) mineral family and is similar to sapphire except for the color produced due to chromium. Ruby without inclusions and impurities is rarely found even in high-value gemstones, so rubies with eye cleanliness are usually more expensive compared to other types of gemstones.

Color

Color is the most important factor in determining the price of rubies, not clarity. Dove blood color (bright red) originating from Myanmar is the most expensive among all rubies, and it is so rare that synthetic materials are common in the market, so it becomes essential to obtain certification before buying. Since ancient times, bright red has been associated with strength, energy, love, passion, protection, prosperity, and strength. Well-cut pigeon blood red, unheated rubies are considered to be the best of their kind. Ruby is heat-treated to enhance color more than any other gemstone. In Asian countries, heat-treated rubies are considered less valuable than natural rubies. What Europeans and Americans care about is not heat treatment, but color and clarity. Customers must first solve their tastes within the budget. High-quality, rare gems cost more than larger gems containing inclusions and inferior quality. Nature rarely breeds jewelry of extraordinary quality, so their high prices are justified.

Carat

Clean rubies over 2 carats are rare, and the price of a ruby rocket per carat increases. For every carat the price per carat increases, the price doubles or triples. Unlike the blue sapphires that appear in large-sized rubies, rubies are very valuable. The largest ruby, the Crimson Flames 15-carat pigeon blood ruby, was sold at Christie's back in 2015 for $US $US $US $US $US $US $US $US $US $US $per carat. If the ruby does not contain or contains a small amount of inclusions and weighs more than 10 carats.

Weight

Ruby and sapphire-like ones are also rare. Although Sri Lanka produces the world's largest sapphire, it is difficult to find high-quality sapphires that do not contain contents. If sapphires meet qualities such as luster, no impurities, bright colors, translucency, and good cutting, the price may rise multiple times. Therefore, as mentioned above, multiple characteristics must be considered before buying sapphires. However, if buyers are to buy starlight sapphires, the starlight effect occurs mainly because the clarity of the gemstone becomes irrelevant in this case.

Alexander Converting Stone Buying Guide

The Alexandrite Transformation Stone was the most sought after gemstone of its kind. It was extremely rare, and the color change characteristic made it the most popular stone since 1830. This stone was green under the sun and red under the incident ray, with a yellow to reddish light source. This discoloration phenomenon of the Alexandrite Transformation Stone made it very rare, and even man-made stones were expensive. The price of the Purple Jade was determined by multiple factors, but the intensity of the color change would cause a huge difference in price.

Color

The Alexandria Transformation Stone appears emerald green to peacock blue in sunlight and ruby red in incident ray or amethyst hues. The color changes of these gems are described in percentages, for example, 100% color changes are considered not uncommon if the entire gemstone undergoes color changes under different lighting conditions. The highest quality Purple Jade will show a percentage change of 83% to 94%, meaning that some facets or parts in the stone will not respond to color changes. The color change of high quality Purple Jade is 74% to 85%, when the stone has a darker hue and is more sensitive to color. In most cases, Purple Jade will show a color change of 45% to 65%. However, buyers should be very careful with the light source. A lamp with a temperature of 5000 to 6500 Kelvin would simulate daylight, while a temperature of 3000 to 3300 Kelvin would be similar to a reddish incident ray. The intensity of the light would affect the change of color, and buyers should be cautious. Therefore, the value of the Purple Jade mainly depended on the intensity of the color change.

Clarity.

Alexandrite is not clean in most cases. The color of gems containing inclusions and impurities changes drastically. Buyers need to understand the changes in clarity and color before buying gems.

Cut

Since Alexandrite usually comes with inclusions, and their rarity makes sellers pay more attention to maintaining weight. Most Alexandrite cutters are poor, but the common ones are pad cutters, oval cutters, and circular cutters.

Weight

Alexandrite Stones above 1 carat were rare, which allowed them to fetch a higher price as their weight increased. Gems with higher carat numbers usually exhibited less color change and clarity. Therefore, making oversized diamonds above 8 carats was extremely precious.