Chandigarh,19 Apr:Mr.Soli Sethi Managing Partner of Sethi Sons Jewellers and Mr. Amit Kapoor, Resident Gemology Instructor of GIA gave the useful tips to the Chandigarh residents about the gemstones during a one day seminar on "How To Buy Gemstones" at Government Museum & Art Gallery Auditorium, Sec-10, Chandigarh.Mr.Sethi told that,The formal definition of colored stone is that it’s any gem that isn’t a diamond. But leaving it at that says far too little. A coloured stone transforms nature’s allure into a glinting object of desire.For centuries, artists and poets have used the powerful images of colored stones to express love, passion and power. At the same time, people from all walks of life have adorned themselves with the dramatic, radiant grace of coloured stone jewellery. Even, according to Hindu methodology, wearing a gemstone for a particular planet helps increase the positive aspects of the planet in the horoscope.But again, when it comes to judging the authenticity of a gemstone for a layman, we simply GO BLANK. Either we trust our astrologer or a traditional jeweler for that.
Mr. Amit Kapoor, Resident Gemology Instructor of GIA gave the basic tips to the residents who wants to buy these gems.
Basic Tips for Buying Gems are:
When ever we go buy a diamond, the experts always insist to look for Four C’s ie,
1. Colour
2. Clarity
3. Cutting
4. Carat
Most of the women sitting here are aware of that. But they are not sure how to counter check these 4c’s. but
But when we talk about gems or to be precise coloured gemstones, apart from these 4 c’s, there are two more C’s are added in to it
5. Cost
6. Confidence
So here I will briefly tell u about 6 C’s of gemstone.
1. Colour:
colour plays the most powerful role in gemstone value/ judgment. Before I take out a Blue Sapphire to show it to you, you will points out the stone’s rich peacock neck blue colour.But when it comes to selection of the colour, we always get confuse(change the word) lighter is better or the darker is good.
In our further discussion, we will only talk about BLUE SAPPHIRE, so that the base would remain the same for the whole topic.
We find various tones of blue- white blue, sky blue, intense blue, dark blue, violet blue blackish blue.
So what is a perfect Blue?
The based colour has to be peacock neck blue colour reminds you of a crystal-clear mountain lake.It should be the perfect combination of light and dark. Well it should not be light blue, and not even too dark like Australian Sapphires. It should be the intense, rich, full blue colour. As once observer have said, "covering everything but hiding nothing".
CLARITY
Second only to colour, clarity in gemstones is always an important consideration. Colour stones are almost never as clean as diamonds. So whenever you have to buy a blue sapphire, just make sure that the stone is eye clean. It is not desired to look for a magnifying glass, because as I said gemstones are never as clean as diamonds.
Very few coloured gemstones are totally free of inclusions. Because of the way gem crystals form, inclusions are almost inevitable. The majority of colour stones will show inclusions under the microscopes, and these inclusions are natural part of crystal growth, so they can often help prove that a gem is natural. While buying colored stones, just make sure you buy a less included or an eye clean piece.
Cut
The cut is what gives a gemstone its beauty and brilliance. Even a good cut can sometimes enhance the colour in gemstone.
There are certain factors to take into mind:
1. what ever the style of cutting, you just have to make sure that the shape should be uniform
2. the stone should not be broken.
CARAT
You might expect that the more a gem weighs, the rarer it is and the more expensive it’s likely to be per carat. While this is true for diamonds, it’s not always the case with colored stones. When we talk about precious stones, the higher the carat weight, higher it’s price.
COST
Like any other commodity, supply and demand determine the prices of a gemstones.
There are many factors apart from 4 C’s we have discussed so far. When we talk about costing, rarity factor strike the mind, meaning some gems are more rarer than others. A few are so rare that they are rare that they are considered collector’s items. Such as, Kashmir Sapphire, Basra Pearl, Burmese Ruby. So the cost depends upon rarity as well.
CONFIDENCE
The last C of the lot is Confidence. To gain confidence, a good reliable source of gems is one thing, but you should also trust your supplier. Before you trust your jeweler or appraiser, there are certain criteria to full fill to qualify as an gem appraiser. Some of them are: is your supplier is a professional gemologist? Does he had done professional course in gemology? Do they have a good selection? Do they understand gemstones? Do they provide Certified gemstones? For buying purposes, do they use microscope, refractometer, UV rays, etc. ?