Types of Gemstones
Gemstones are regarded as bringing peace, prosperity and happiness in one’s life who ever wears them. There are many types of gemstones available in the surface of the earth that are classified on the basis of their clarity and uniqueness of optical nature, crystal structure, chemical composition, specific gravity and durability. Gemstones are beautiful and elegant as the beauty lies in color or lack of color. Mostly Gemstones are differentiated in two distinct groups of :
Precious stones
Semi-precious stones
Organic Stones
Types of Precious Gemstones:
Gemstones that are highly prized used in jewellery like diamonds, Emeralds, ruby, and sapphires. These precious stones are used for different purposes.
Diamond is the most precious and costly Gemstone. The Diamonds are available in red rosy, yellow, white blue, pink colours. This is a gem for Venus.
Emerald is a ‘Green Stone’ comes from Greek ‘Smaragdos’ is the most attractive and beautiful green colored gemstones. Emeralds are beautiful combined with durability and are found very rare. So they are the most valuable gemstones. The bottle green color of Emerald Gem stone has a significant role in many cultures and religions.
Emerald is a gem for Mercury.
Ruby is the hardest minerals on Earth. It is the red variety of costly precious Gemstone. Ruby is found in the mineral corundum form of alumina which crystallizes in the hexagonal system. The red color of ruby results from a small admixture of chromic oxide. Only red corundum is entitled to be called ruby. Ruby is the gem for Sun.
Sapphire gemstonerepresents all the colors except red and is also a verity of the mineral Corundum with virtual similar properties of Ruby in its physical and chemical properties. Basically Sapphires are mainly blue in color, but are also found in colors like green, orange, pink, gray, colorless, black, brown, and purple. The Sapphire gemstone symbolizes harmony, friendship and loyalty. Value of this gemstone depends on its size, color and transparency.
Types of Semi-Precious Gemstones:
Gemstones available in vast are semiprecious stones such as include amethyst, opal, garnet, jade, turquoise, aquamarine, lapis lazuli, agate, onyx and malachite.
Corundum gemstones are made of aluminum oxide and a variety of trace minerals. These Corundum comes under the category of Rubies and Sapphires. The corundum is very tough nature used as abrasive element. Corundum is known as the second hardest gemstone in the world.
Quartz is one of the world’s most common types of mineral gemstones comes in different colors. These Quartz gemstones include citrine, carnelian, onyx, and amethyst. Quartz gemstone is available abundantly but it is still recognized as a valuable gemstone due to its hard to find perfect to use in jewelry and other decorative items.
Beryl gemstones include emeralds and aquamarines and are related to quartz. These Beryl gemstones are is made of berylium and aluminum with other elements mixed. Beryl gemstones are in its transparent form or be colored green, light blue, or even red or yellow.
Chrysoberyl includes both cat’s eyes and alexandrite gemstones which are yellowish or blackish in colour like that of cat eye used in jewellery. Chrysoberly is the third hardest gemstone made with lots of berylium mixed with the base element of aluminum oxide. Chrystoberyls typically have a green to yellow shade with the tendency of changing colors in different kinds of light.
Jade are made of calcium and magnesium elements. Jade gemstone is different from beryl as it falls under the category of chemical analysis.
Feldspar gemstone is commonly found in earthquake faults and volcanic chains. Due to heat and pressure, the tectonic elements of a feldspar come together to form a red gemstone called feldspar.
Aquamarine is an attractive gemstone is a mineral Beryl found in colors like sky blue, deep sea blue. The value of the Aquamarine gemstone depends on the strong the color of it. Aquamarine is hard gemstone that protects to a large extent from scratches.
Onyx is a beautiful gemstone and is a variety of quartz gemstone. Onyx comes in white, black or black with white bands and it is generally dyed black to improve its color. The bands that are found on Onyx run parallel and are consistent. Onyx gemstone that are available in a red, brown or reddish brown color is known as Sardonyx.
These Onyx are very popular from ancient Greeks and Romans.
Organic Gemstones:
The Organic Gemstones occur in organic sources rather than mineral sources. There are various kinds of organic gemstones available that are being used in different kinds of jewelry and other decorative items.
The Organic gemstones are Jet, coral, amber, pearl. Some organic gemstones are rich in colors such as pearls and amber are two well known examples of organic gemstones which do not occur in mineral source, but have an organic source as they forms from tree sap that has been fossilized. Pearls are formed from oysters.
Pearls are organic gems, produced when certain mollusks, primarily oysters cover a foreign object with beautiful layers of nacre. A good sized Pearl takes 5 to 8 years to form, which is usually the entire life of the oyster or mollusk. There are two types of Pearls available as Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls. Pearls are white, creamy or pinkish in colour available in different shapes as round and semi-round.
Corals are in red and light red colours. But white Corals are also available. It invites power of Mars.