Various gems are in constant use, but of these, nine are claimed to be superior while eighteen of them are of lesser relevance.
This is a gem of various shades of red corundum.
Some stones are pink, some blackish and some pale coloured.
It is a hot stone, and one of the most valued among precious stones.
It generally occurs in crystals of six-sided prisms.
All are translucent and suitable due to their wide range of colour, and hardness.
A flawless ruby is smooth, having a luster, brilliance and radiance, and a rich, a red colour.
Rubies are very costly because of their scarcity.
A large ruby is more rare and more expensive than a large diamond.
The best ruby is the one which, when immersed in milk, emits red rays in the, milk, or the one whose rays are red in the early morning sun, or it glows in darkness.
The rarest and most expensive shade is described as being the colour of pigeon's blood - a rich, velvety, deep red, but without fire or sparkle.
Because rubies are more opaque than diamonds and lack sparkle and brilliance, they are cut differently.
The stone is polished and cut into a convex form, but is not faceted. This is most commonly used for rubies because it accentuates the colour of the gem.
A blemished ruby has a depression, or a pale tinge of colour, or else has sprinklings of white, black or honey-coloured dots.
The deepening colour of ruby with time is an indication of grave danger and great personal misfortune.
This is a mineral, one of the two crystalline forms of the element carbon - the drab-sounding dark substance behind the world's most dazzling jewel, and the hardest known substance used as a gem.
It is a hot gem of white, yellow, red, pink, blue, green or black colour.
Unlike other gems, diamonds are prized for their absence of colour. The clearer the stone, the more valuable the diamond.
A coloured stone is called a "fancy diamond".
Clarity refers to imperfections in the stone. A diamond free of any imperfections visible under a ten-power microscope is considered flawless.
A diamond is blemished if it has dots or has the impression of a drop or has the impression of a drop of water.
Its specific gravity is remarkably constant, the refractive index is the highest among all gemstones, and the dispersion is very strong.
A hexagonal or octagonal diamond, if reflected on water, displays the seven colours of the rainbow.
As for carats, a two-carat diamond can easily cost more than twice as much as a one-carat diamond.
The cut of a diamond is the "C" that carries the most clout because cutting determines the diamond's beauty and brilliance. Cutting is the spark that ignites the fire of the stone, by luring light into the gem that's then reflected back out as sparkling brilliance.
The size of the diamond is not nearly as important as the cut; a big stone is less valuable than a masterfully cut smaller one.
Diamonds may be cut into round, oval, pear or emerald shapes.
Round, the most popular cut, is called "brilliant" because it creates the most light.
The oval, pear-shaped or emerald-shaped cuts can actually make diamonds appear larger than they are.
Pearl is obtained from certain shelled molasses, chiefly the oyster freshwater mussel.
Although organic, the pearl is composed mainly of mineral matter.
Cuttured pearls are coveted for jewelry and are created by interfering with the natural process.
To the untrained eye, it is impossible to tell the difference between a cultured pearl and a natural one.
Natural pearls can be ten times more expensive than their cultured counterparts.
Pearls, like most gems, are judged on colour, and form three basic groups - white with creamy and pink being the most desirable; black and various shades of grey, and coloured pearls, which are almost always of fresh water origin.
The best variety is the pink one which is lustrous, clear and heavy , and is the most precious among pearls.
The pure pearl is lustrous and round, though the long and the flat ones also have certain curative powers.
A blemished pearl is broken, or has spots or cracks, and is dull in colour.
This gem is a rich variety of beryls, and the colour is due to the presence of chromium oxide.
It is a hot stone, and is one of the most expensive gemstones.
Its colours range from a deep velvet green to a bright grass green.
A flawless emerald is smooth and transparent, and has radiance and brilliance, spraying bright rays.
A blemished stone has a depression or cracks, is lustrous but brittle, or has black or yellow spots with a rough surface.
They are softer than diamonds, rubies or sapphires.
They lack much brilliance and have virtually no fire, Because colour rather than brilliance, makes emeralds valuable the convex cut is how an important emerald is usually crafted.
A coral is the hard, calcareous, red, white or black skeleton of any of the various marine invertebrate animals. These skeletons collectively form reefs or islands.
Its colour varies from shades of red to white and yellow.
A good and flewless coral will be perfectly round or oval, of an opaque red colour, emitting a sheen, and having a smooth surface.
It is smooth, and devoid of any hole or perforation.
The blemished coral has black or white spots, a depression, a crack, a bend or a twist on the surface and is sometimes multihued.
The coral is worn for life and blood force.
This is a transparent mineral gem, being a silicate and fluoride of aluminum, and generally found in granite rocks.
It is a cold gem, occurring naturally in a prismatic form with a pyramidal termination.
Its colour is yellow, but it also occurs in pink and blue shades.
The blemished stone has cracks, or red dots, or a depression.
The blue sapphire is believed to bestow purity of purpose and beed.
This is a valuable blue variety of corundum.
Sapphires and rubies are actually different colours of the same mineral, corundum. But while rubies are always red, sapphires come in a variety of colours - pink, orange, violet, green, yellow, and of course, blue.
It is a cold gem, with the same hardness, specific gravity and refracting indices as those of ruby.
The best blue sapphire does not change its colour when held in front of an electric light, while others show a navy blue tinge.
It is smooth and transparent, soft to the touch, and it sends out rays from inside.
The star sapphire is the "stone of destiny", in which three center of the stone, symbolizing faith, destiny and hope.
Sapphires are believed to ward off fraud and terror, protecting one from dangers and envy.
A blemished stone may have white lines on it, or a depression, it may be dull and opaque, or else is double-coloured or milky.
This is a common tetragonal mineral, occurring in small, opaque or transparent prismatic crystals.
Resembling a diamond, it is a cold stone.
It is naturally colourless, reddish-orange, brownish-red, grey, violet-grey, or green.
When heated, it turns bluish-white, and the translucent specimen is used as a gem.
A good stone reflects a golden colour when seen from a distance, is transparent and homogeneous, soft to the touch, lustrous and radiant.
A blemished stone shows a light blackish hue from a distance, is dull, flat-bodied, full of layers, or resembles a yellow piece of glass.
This is a hard, semitransparent variety of quartz, much valued as a gem.
This very hot stone is opalescent, and is of various shades ranging from a cloudy yellow to a brownish-green colour.
Due to its opalescent radiation of colours that resemble a cat's eye, it is called so.
The pure variety has a yellowish radiance and a white, brilliant straight band.
The blemished one has a depression, or spots, webbed lines, or a dull sheen.
1. Opal - A mineral consisting of hydrous silica, occurring in numerous varieties and colours, neither as hard nor as dense as quartz, the finest characterized by an iridescent reflection of light. The use of opal lifts ordinary consciousness to cosmic awareness.
2. Peridot - A precious stone of yellowish-green colour.
3. Tourmaline - A complex soft silicate mineral of boron and aluminum, occurring in black, red, green, brown and white colours, the clear varieties being used as gems.
4. Amethyst - The violet variety of quartz is used as a precious stone, containing traces of manganese, titanium and iron.
5. Rock Crystal - A transparent quartz of a colourless or a shining white colour.
6. Moonstone - A translucent variety of feldspar with a pearly lustre, and having a glistening band inside which rolls with the turn of the stone.
7. Garnet - A hard, vitreous silicate mineral occurring in a number of varieties; the common deep red transparent variety are used as gems.
8. Aquamarine - The finest beryl, and so called because of its bluish, sea-green, bluish-green tint and it is transparent.
9. Bloodstone - A greenish kind of quartz with small blood-like spots of red jasper scattered through it.
10. Lapis-lazuli - A soft, semiprecious stone of a rich blue colour, consisting of lazurite and other minerals.
11. Agate - A semiprecious pellucid mineral, consisting of bands or layers of various colours blended together.
12. Turquoise - A sky-blue or greenish-blue mineral. It is worn for protection and is believed to purify the atmosphere of the world.
13. Jade - A hard gemstone, either nephritic or jadeite, often green in colour, either translucent or opaque, and sometimes veined.
14. Gypsum - A mineral, a hydrous sulphate of calcium occurring both in crystalline and massive forms.
15. Smoky quartz - A variety of crystallized quartz quartz, ranging in colour from light yellow to deep brown.
16. Onyx - A semi-pellucid, dark green stone with variously coloured reins.
17. Canelian - A variety of chalcedony, of a deep red, flesh-red, or pale reddish colour.
18. Jasper - An opaque, dark red quartz, which takes on an elegant polish.