{"id":7053,"date":"2019-02-06T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=7053"},"modified":"2019-02-06T16:49:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T21:49:09","slug":"precious-semi-precious-gemstones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/precious-semi-precious-gemstones\/","title":{"rendered":"PRECIOUS & SEMI-PRECIOUS GEMSTONES"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Precious<\/div>\n

Why do they call some gemstones “precious<\/strong>” and others they call “semi-precious<\/strong>“? <\/p>\n

\nIs there really a reason? <\/p>\n

Aren’t all gemstones precious?<\/h2>\n

\nOnly three gemstones have the title of “precious<\/strong>” attached to them. They are: <\/p>\n

Sapphire, ruby and emerald.<\/h2>\n

\nThese 3 gems are named precious for a couple of reasons:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why precious?<\/h2>\n

\n<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They are valuable<\/li>\n
  2. It’s rare to find decent quality, like color or clarity<\/li>\n
  3. To separate them from the regular gemstones<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \nThese other regular (more common<\/strong>) gemstones are: citrine, garnet, aquamarine, topaz, tourmaline, peridot, opal, pearl, amethyst and zircon (plus all the other gems). <\/p>\n

    \nThese stones were given the name “semi-precious<\/strong>“. Which is the silliest name<\/strong> to put on a gemstone. Semi?<\/strong> It’s only half precious?<\/strong> Couldn’t they think of a better name like “Not so precious<\/strong>…” “Almost precious<\/strong>…” or “Less than precious<\/strong>“??? Isn’t that what semi-precious sounds like?<\/p>\n

    \nI have yet to ever hear a customer (in over 20 years) walk into a jewelry store and say “I’d like to look at your collection of semi-precious gemstones.<\/strong>” <\/p>\n

    I would laugh.<\/h2>\n

    \nCustomers ask for gemstones by their name “amethyst<\/strong>” or “birthstones<\/strong>” and some just say “gemstones<\/strong>” but never “precious<\/strong>” or “semi-precious<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

    The names never caught on…<\/h2>\n

    \nThe names precious and semi never caught on like they wanted them to. No one really ever used them except for the jewelers<\/strong>. Only now and then do you actually see gems listed as semi-precious or precious in the sales fliers<\/strong> (that’s more rare than precious stones are). Most won’t even go there<\/strong>. Jewelers just call the stones what they are “sapphire<\/strong>” “ruby<\/strong>” “aquamarine<\/strong>” “topaz<\/strong>“…<\/p>\n

    Created precious gemstones:<\/h2>\n

    \nHere’s the funny thing about these 3 precious gems… You want to know why you never see them called “precious<\/strong>” in the ads? Because they’re not real. They’re created.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \nJust about every jeweler in the mall and department stores (the ones who distribute sales fliers) don’t carry the genuine stuff anymore<\/strong>. Their precious gemstones are actually all “lab created<\/strong>“. Check out the advertisements, see for yourself. “Created sapphire.<\/strong>” “Created ruby.<\/strong>” “Created emerald.<\/strong>” They’re all made in a laboratory<\/strong>. Test-tube gemstones (but at least they’re cheaper<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

    \nMaybe that’s why jewelers dropped the title “precious<\/strong>“? Probably so. I mean, it would be silly and wrong to call them “lab-created precious gems.<\/strong>” You can’t call it precious if it’s created in a lab. It’s funny to even think about.<\/p>\n

    Precious is slowly slipping away.<\/h2>\n

    \nSlipping away for good reason.<\/strong> If customers saw what genuine precious stones really looked like (most are pale and highly included<\/strong>), then they probably wouldn’t buy them. Good quality gems, (emeralds, rubies and sapphires<\/strong>) really are that hard to locate in any good size, color and clarity.<\/p>\n

    \nThe main jewelry stores that still sell these real gemstones<\/strong> are the independent jewelers<\/strong> (and that’s even getting scarce). They tend not to carry much of the “created<\/strong>” gems. Most independents just want to carry the real thing (just so you know<\/strong>). But quality would still be an issue. You will find real ones, but you will have to look hard to find the real good ones.<\/p>\n

    \nHere’s my last take on precious VS semi-precious gemstones… It doesn’t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    They aren’t more precious.<\/h2>\n

    \nCalling a sapphire “precious<\/strong>” makes it sound like it’s better than a high quality tourmaline<\/strong>. It makes it sound like it would be more expensive <\/strong>than one. But the fact is, it may not be.<\/strong> There are plenty of “semi-precious<\/strong>” gems that will sell for more than a sapphire or ruby or emerald would depending on the size, clarity and color. The name precious just means nothing anymore.<\/p>\n

    Alexandrites:<\/h2>\n

    \nTake alexandrites <\/strong>for example. They’re not called “precious<\/strong>“, but these genuine stones are almost impossible to locate in any jewelry store anywhere in the country (chain or independent<\/strong>). (You can find created alexandrite gems<\/a> everywhere). But no… They still don’t get that supreme title.<\/strong> Maybe we should start calling them “more precious than precious and definitely more precious than semi-precious.” What do you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \nDoes the title mean anything to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Would it help you to buy a gemstone?<\/h2>\n

    \nDoes it even matter? Or does it just make it all that more confusing<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

    \nI think they just gave these 3 main gemstones the title of “precious<\/strong>” so they could sell more of them<\/strong> (or charge more). Who knows? Why are they so great?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \nFact is, no stone is any more precious than another. Good quality is always a rare find<\/strong>. When we buy gemstones, we buy them because we like the color<\/strong>. We like the cut<\/strong>. We like the way the jewelry was designed… Not because of the title.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \nTo us, any gem can become “precious<\/strong>“. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tiny, little blue topaz… It’s “precious<\/strong>” to us.<\/p>\n

    \nWe are more like Smigel <\/strong>from the Lord of the Rings than we know… <\/p>\n

    \nAll of us look down at our rings and gems, smile and say “My Preciousssss!<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

    \nCheers! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why do they call some gemstones “precious” and others they call “semi-precious“? Is there really a reason? Aren’t all gemstones precious? Only three gemstones have the title of “precious” attached to them. They are: Sapphire, [Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gemstones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}