How to select the perfect gemstone for you?

Today I wanted to answer a frequently asked question about gemstones, how to select the perfect gemstone for you?; essential in the composition of many jewelry pieces, gemstones usually platy a major role on the aesthetic of a piece, its price, value and wear and it's important to know all this facts in selecting the gemstone that will finish your jewelry piece.

this questions are just superficial, and many more can appear in the process of getting a custom style.

Three main questions for selecting a gemstone are:


1. How I want my gemstone to look like?

This one is essential to the goldsmith or jewelry designer to get to know exactly what you want. Do you want a green stone, maybe blue? Do I want it shiny or opaque?, color and aspect important to define the kind of gemstone you want, as most of them are different and defining exactly what you like on its visual aspect will determine the type, color and cut of your gemstone.

Questions you have to ask yourself on this are:

• What Color do I want it?
• Translucent or Opaque Stone?
• Which Shape should it have?
• Where is my stone going to be Placed?
• Do I want it partially covered or uncovered?

Here we leave a very helpful image that will help us select our ideal gemstone's shape.
 
Image: https://www.rocksandco.com/gemstone-information/gemstone-cuts/ 


2. How much do I want to pay for it?

Everyone's lest favorite topic when it comes to purchase, our budget determines the kind of stone we can get, the classification of the stone can affect it's price, Precious gemstones being usually the most expensive; the purity (presence or absence of inclusions inside the stone) can also influence in it's price. The color intensity of the stone, the cut, the rarity of the mineral and the mining region also influence in gemstone prices.

Questions you have to ask to define what the price are:

• How much is my budget?
• Do I want inclusions inside my gemstone?
• Do I want a natural gemstone or a laboratory one?
• What kind of stone is it (Precious, Semi-precious, Organic)?

3.  How long and where I'm going to wear it?

 Our final determinant we have to ask ourselves where the stone is going to be and for how long I'm going to wear it. Stones wore in wedding rings or everyday jewelry need to be hard and resistant, as they will be exposed to the risks of everyday activities like friction, hits, scrapes, chemical products and sweat; on the other side, stones dangling from earring will be mostly protected from the wear risks and can be as delicate as Emeralds.

Gemstones are classified in different hardness coefficients, and those help us determine if the stone is up to the task of our regular jewelry wear.

Questions that will help define the kind of stone for the task are:

• For what activity I'm going to wear my piece?
• How frequent I'm going to wear my piece?
• Is it in constant contact with other pieces/objects?
• Where is the stone located in the piece?
• Which part of my body I'm going to wear the piece?

All this questions will help you and your goldsmith to find the perfect gemstone for your jewelry piece, and determine factors and characteristics of that gemstone. The best way to answer this questions is to visit a jewelry studio and work along an experienced goldsmith to help you create the piece of your dreams!

I hope you had an entertaining read and that it motivated you to get that jewelry piece you always wanted!


Mauricio F.