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Gem refers to minerals and stones that are cut, polished and used to make jewelry or collectibles. Minerals used as gemstones usually have bright and soft colors, beautiful luster and patterns, uniform structure, strong refractive index, high hardness, and stable chemical composition. Human beings have processed gemstones as ornaments since ancient times. The most important and precious thing about gemstones is their perfect appearance, so they may lose their value if they are scratched.
Among the more than 3,000 kinds of minerals in the world, more than 230 kinds can be used as gemstones, but generally only 20-30 kinds are most widely used. The world's gem resources are mainly distributed in southern Asia, southern Africa, America, Australia and Russia.
Gemstones can be divided into precious gemstones and semi-precious gemstones (sub-precious gemstones). There are only five precious gemstones, including: diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald and alexandrite. Common semi-precious stones include: agate, amethyst, tourmaline, tanzanite, garnet, peridot, turquoise, etc.
Ruby is a type of corundum whose main component is aluminum oxide. Natural rubies are very rare and precious.
Most natural rubies come from Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Africa and Australia, and some are also produced in Montana and South Carolina in the United States.
Most of the best-quality rubies come from Myanmar. Among the rubies in Myanmar, there is one with a blood pigeon red color. It is the narrowest, best-fired and most precious variety of rubies.
How to determine the price of ruby? It depends on the color, quality and cut. The color, hue, vividness and uniformity of the color of the ruby, the nature, size, number and location of gemstone flaws (internal debris), as well as the cutting ratio, symmetry and polish of the gemstone, etc., are all the basis for determining the price. .
Sapphire is also a type of corundum, and its main component is high-purity alumina. Sapphire comes in many colors, including dark blue, light blue, transparent, pink, yellow, green, white, etc., and even the same stone has multiple colors. Color is an important factor affecting the value of sapphire.
The most valuable sapphire colors range from blue to indigo. Sapphires of other colors are not very valuable. The only non-blue and valuable sapphire is a pink-orange sapphire called Padparacha.
Sapphires are produced in Thailand, Myanmar, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Madagascar, Kashmir, Laos, and Cambodia in Africa. Among them, the rarest sapphires belong to the Kashmir region. Some gem experts also pointed out that there are only three places in the world that produce high-quality sapphires: Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar. Blue sapphires from Myanmar are considered treasures by collectors because their color is reminiscent of the sky and ocean.
The main origin of emeralds is Colombia. The quality of emeralds produced there is recognized as the best. If the origin of an emerald is determined to be Colombia, its price will be higher than ordinary emeralds. Mines in other places have the largest output in Brazil and Zambia in Africa.
Emeralds are hard to find flawless gemstones. In fact, there must be some cracks and inclusions in emeralds, and there are many types of crack inclusions to review. Therefore, an emerald that is clean to the naked eye, even if it has flaws, is very narrow and the price is very high.
Since the output of emerald is not large, it has always been a hot commodity among collectors. However, in addition to its collection value, its beautiful green color is still unmatched by other gemstones.
Tourmaline is a semi-precious stone and comes in a variety of colors.
Tourmaline is produced in many places, including Brazil, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Malawi.
Tourmaline comes in many colors: tourmaline containing iron is usually black to dark brown; tourmaline containing magnesium ranges in color from brown to yellow; tourmaline containing lithium has variable colors, such as blue, green, red, and yellow , pink, etc., and even rarer colorless ones.
Crystals with two to multiple colors are also common. Tourmalines with pink or green ends are called watermelon tourmalines.
Since tourmaline is a semi-precious stone, its price is somewhat different from that of precious gemstones such as rubies. Therefore, red tourmalines are often used to replace rubies in inlaid jewelry. Their colors are similar but the cost is quite different.
