How To Value Gemstones
January 16, 2009
Most women somehow manage to learn about the 4Cs of buying gemstones, however not many of them know how to equate the cost with each of these Cs, when buying gemstones. All these four parameters, that we use to evaluate a gem stone, have a direct correlation with the cost of that gemstone. Let’s have a look at how the cost varies with the four Cs that is the cut, the clarity, the colored and the caret weight.
The cut of the stone
Gem stones are available in several different types of cuts, such as pear, teardrop, marquise, heart, oval, elliptical, briolette, square, cushion, and rectangular. While round and square shapes are common, for all other shapes you would be paying more because it requires expert craftsmanship to give the stone the desired shape and also because there is a lot of wastage involved in cutting and shaping.
Cutting is done to boost the natural beauty of the gemstone, by giving it small cut surfaces on which light can reflect well to produce a good sparkle. And obviously the finer the cutting, the more the price is going to be.
Stone clarity
Stone clarity is basically about the amount of flaws and foreign particles present in the gemstone. And obviously the more the number of flaws, the cheaper the stone will be. Any stone that is absolutely clear will be extremely expensive, because most gemstones pick up some impurities while they are formed in nature. While some stones like topaz and aquamarine are mostly clear, other stones like emeralds usually have a lot of visible impurities.
Stone Color
Except for diamonds, for most other gemstones the rule is simple that darker hues are expensive and the price goes on decreasing as the tone gets lighter.
Caret weight
All gemstones are weighed in caret, and the caret weight of the same size of one gemstone may be different from the weight of another gemstone. That means an emerald and a sapphire may vary in weight even though their size may be the same, because every gemstone has its own unique density.
The price does not increase arithmetically with increase in weight of a single gemstone, rather it increases geometrically. For instance if a one carat ruby costs $20.00, a two caret ruby will not cost 40 dollars rather it may be 50 or even higher.
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