Answers To Your Questions About Precious Stones

admin answers:

Tourmalines, aquamarines, some low-quality peridots, low-quality emeralds...

admin answers:

Greetings...

I would be interested in your Tsavorite. My questions are this:

- Calibrated or Free Size?
- Aprox Carat weights of stones
- How "green"? Light or dark
- Clean Stones?
- What shapes?

Also...most important...Price per carat???

admin answers:

Gold is not a precious stone. You need to do a lot more reading.

admin answers:

HOW TO IDENTIFY RAW GEMSTONES

TOOLS:

A GEOLOGIST'S HAMMER OR A PICK, A STURDY BRUSH,
To determine cleavage and fracture, you'll need a rock hammer and a safe place to use it on minerals. Carefully break the mineral and observe the shapes and angles of the pieces. It may break in sheets (one cleavage), splinters or prisms (two cleavages), cubes or rhombs (three cleavages) or something else. Cleavage is the way a mineral breaks. Many minerals break along flat planes, or cleavages—some in only one direction (like mica), others in two directions (like feldspar), and some in three directions (like calcite) or more (like fluorite). Some minerals, like quartz, have no cleavage.

MAGNIFYING LOUPE
Examine the stone’s crystalline structure – shape and the size of the crystals in the stone. A raw gemstone will naturally have some impurities like – foreign minerals, trapped bubbles of air or liquid, cracks, which form due to the immense pressure exerted on the stones. These impurities are called as ‘inclusions’ by jewelers. Often, real gemstones are identified by their inclusions. For example tourmaline stones have elongated bubbles of liquid trapped inside. Similarly, ruby and sapphire, which are corundum stones, have tiny needle like inclusions that may intersect at 60 or 120 degrees inside the stone.

Luster is the way a mineral reflects light and the first key step in mineral identification. Look for luster on a fresh surface. The three major types of luster are metallic, glassy (vitreous) and dull. A luster between metallic and glassy is called adamantine, and a luster between glassy and dull is called resinous or waxy.

COIN, KNIFE. GLASS, ETC.
There are a few handy objects that also fit in the Mohs scale. A fingernail is 2½, a penny (actually, any current U.S. Coin) is just under 3, a knife blade is 5½, glass is 5½, and a good steel file is 6½. Common sandpaper uses artificial corundum and is hardness 9; garnet paper is 7½.

STREAK PLATE
Streak is the color of the finely crushed mineral. Streak is somewhat more reliable than color and is essential for a few minerals. You'll need a streak plate or something like it. A broken kitchen tile or even a handy sidewalk can do. Scratch your mineral across the streak plate with a scribbling motion.

HYDROSTATIC MACHINE
The specific gravity of gemstones is measured using a hydrostatic machine. You will have to measure the specific gravity of the stone. A ratio of the weight of the gemstone in the air against the weight of the stone in water is noted. Values for some of the gemstones are – diamond – 3.52, sapphire and rubies – 4, jadeite – 3.33. There will be inconsistencies while measuring the specific gravity of raw gems as several types of minerals will be sticking to them. A specific gravity table of gemstones also known as heft values; can be used to help in identification.

MAGNET
Magnetism is a distinctive property in a few minerals. Magnetite is the prime example, but a few other minerals may be weakly attracted by a magnet, notably chromite (a black oxide) and pyrrhotite (a bronze sulfide). Use a strong magnet.

Http://www.gemstonesloose.net/2011/04/how-to-identify-raw-gemstones/
http://geology.about.com/od/mineral_ident/ss/beginminident_5.htm

admin answers:

As the saying goes, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"!! I was even lucky enough to be born in April, so my birthstone is diamond or white sapphire!! Blue sapphires are my second favorite. Do you want my address so I will be sure to get them before Christmas?? (I HAVE BEEN A VERY GOOD GIRL!!!) LOL Merry Christmas!