FAQ
Inorganic natural substances are defined as gems which are used in jewelery and present the qualities of beauty, durability and rarity.
Formerly the term "precious stone" was used only for the four most important gems: diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald. The other gems were called "semi precious", currently ended in disuse. In modern gemology the terms “gema” and “precious stone” are used synonyms.
Because currently there is a great variety of gems that do not come into the group of traditional precious stones but that may equal or exceed their value, and this term disqualifies them.
Synthetic stones have the same chemical composition and crystal structure as their natural analogs, but they are obtained in a laboratory.
Yes, their physical and optical properties are the same as natural stones, so they have a very similar appearance.
No, because they may have the same beauty and durability but they do not have the rarity of natural stones.
No, zirconite is an artificial product.
The term "diamond" is broader. It is the name of the mineral, it is used for both the rough diamond as for the industrial diamond and the carved diamond. A “brilliant” is a gem quality diamond and brilliant carved. It is the most typical size for diamond, but other sizes are also used.
It is a frequently asked but totally incorrect and impossible to answer. The price of diamonds, like other gems, is influenced by many quality characteristics - color, purity, cut, weight and presence of treatments.