Specialists in fine minerals from the Cantabric Mountain Range since 1985.
Specialists in fine minerals from the Cantabric Mountain Range since 1985.
An extract of Van Nostrand´s Standard Catalog of Gems. By John Sinkankas.
Rarity and Size of gemstones
It is human nature to treasure the rare, sometimes for rarity´s sake alone. Among gems, for example, synthetic ruby has never been as highly esteemed as natural ruby because it is made in relatively enormous quantities and is therefore much too common. On the other hand, synthetic star ruby, carefully controlled from manufacture to final retail sale in cut form, is able to command a good price because it is both beautiful and considerably rarer than ordinary transparent synthetic material. While synthetic gems can be fully as handsome as their natural counterparts, natural gems of equal quality or even of much lesser quality find a ready market and sell for much higher prices. The preference for the natural is a highly important human factor.
Diamond (0.67 carat yellow-green octahedral crystal), Orapa Mine, Botswana.
Synthetic Diamond
Paradoxically, rarity, as will be shown, can be a handicap if it goes too far. It is well known among dealers in art objects, antiques, and jewels that before any person can appreciate the worth of a masterpiece, he must have pointed out to him all the factors which make such an item desirable. In the case of well-known gems such as diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald, nearly every prospective buyer has heard and read about them from chidhood. By the time he becomes an adult, he has firmly fixed in his mind that these gems are precious, beautiful, and desirable. He has even accepted one gem, the diamond, as an indispensable part of the engagement ring. The average jeweler does not have to convince the bridegroom-to-be that he should buy his fiancée a diamond engagement ring; this has already been done for him, and the sale negotiations merely need to settle such mundane details as quantity, size, and price. This happy situation for the jeweler does not apply in the case of other gems, particularly if they are not well known. Thus, the trasparent andalusite from Brazil, a handsome and durable gem, is readily salable only to connoisseurs or collectors of the unusual because it is so rare and its supplies so uncertain that no one in the trade wishes to risk a promotional campaign to acquaint the public with its virtues in the hope that profitable sales will result. Because of the problems briefly touched upon above, the vast majority of retailers in gems and gem-set jewelry avoid handling rare or unusual gemstones and stick to the "safe" standard gems which need no educational campaign to insure a supply of informed customers.
The use of the expression "bigger and better" summarizes this human factor. Increasing size in gems is symbolic of greater wealth and higher position, with some exceptions of course. Frankly, few persons can look upon a ten-carat diamond worn in an engagement ring without being impressed, especially if the engagement rings of their friends carry diamonds of only one carat or thereabouts. Naturally, prices asked for such large gems are usually much more per carat than for much smaller gems. However, size is also esteemed for other reasons besides prestige. For example, in gemstones which occur in paler colors, such as aquamarine, very small gems, say about one or two carats, ar so "washed out" in color that they simply are not as beautiful as those which are ten carats or more in weight. For this reason, the preferred size range for aquamarines is between ten and fifteen carats, and perhaps somewhat more. Such gems are sufficiently intense in color to be beautiful, yet are not so large that they become awkward to wear in rings. Conversely, some natural gemstones are so intense in color that excessively large cut specimens merely appear black, specially under evening light, and therefore the price demanded for oversized examples may actually be less per carat than for smaller sizes. A good example of a gem of this sort is dark green tourmaline.
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Photos, text and desing: Juan Fernández Buelga.Spanish Minerals ©
