Gemology Glossary

Surely you have jewelry in your home but you don’t know its quality or components and its terminology sounds Chinese to you. To help you clear up doubts and clarify concepts, at 4Dreams we have developed a Gemology glossary that covers the main terms.

What are Gemstones?

Gemstones are precious stones that when cut and polished, can be used to make jewelry products. How is this done? Through the different types of cuts that exist, which are faceted cuts, such as the brilliant cut of diamond, and cabochons. Defining them further, they are natural substances with qualities such as beauty, durability, and rarity.

How many types of gems are there?

There are two types in which they can be included: precious gems (diamond, sapphire, ruby and emerald) and semi-precious gems (amethyst, topaz, pearl, jade, turquoise, lapis lazuli, malachite or quartz).

Among the most important precious metals are the following: gold, platinum, palladium or silver. There are precious and semi-precious metals, in addition. On the list of the latter are copper, tungsten, iron or zinc, among others.

Precious gems

The precious gems are the most valuable and there are four: diamond, sapphire, ruby and emerald.

Semi-precious gems

There are more semi-precious gems and among them are: amethyst, topaz, pearl, jade, turquoise, lapis lazuli, malachite or quartz.

ROCKS AND MINERALS

What are rocks and minerals?

Within the universe of study of gemology we can focus on two types of materials: rocks and minerals. Both are two types of gemological materials of natural origin, with their own characteristics. Of course, although they may be similar, we are not talking about the same thing. So let’s answer two basic questions.

What is the difference between rocks and minerals?

Rocks and minerals differ in the following. Minerals are solid and inorganic aggregates. Most gems are found in this group. While rocks are aggregates of minerals.

Where are rocks and minerals formed?

Both rocks and minerals are formed in nature without human intervention. Even if human beings later modify them, for example, for the manufacture of jewelry.

SYNTHETIC STONES

Synthetic stones

What are synthetic stones or synthetic gemstones? They are stones manufactured by humans in laboratories by reproducing the conditions of nature. With this in mind, we can differentiate two other terms to avoid confusion about synthetic stones.

Artificial stones

First of all, an artificial stone is a human product that has no corresponding material in nature. This group is formed, for example, by zirconia. Which means that we cannot talk about synthetic zircons because zirconia does not exist in nature.

Imitation artificial stones

On the other hand, what are faux artificial stones or faux gemstones? In gemology, they are natural, synthetic or artificial gems whose objective is the imitation of another gem, which usually has more value.

What is the name of the stone that looks like diamond?

To finish on synthetic stones, we answer a question you can ask yourself: what is the name of the stone that looks like diamond? You are probably referring to the natural and synthetic colorless sapphire, which is used as an imitation of diamond.