The Value of Jewelry Part I – Am I Getting Ripped Off?

Gems are an easier to see part of what affects jewelry pricing. There are a number of ways value can change with stones. Many people will often ask “are they real?” Tricky question to answer – a real what? A better question is to find out if it’s natural, synthetic or imitation.

Natural generally means it’s a stone that came from the ground, or in the case of pearls, came from an oyster. These are naturally occurring stones that come from mining the earth. But be aware, natural doesn’t mean untreated; many stones are heat-treated to enhance the color, or sometimes coated to give an iridescent look. This may or may not bother you, but its good to know the difference. An untreated, high-clarity, highly saturated coloured stone is generally far more valuable than a treated, clouded, weakly-pigmented stone. (However, If talking diamonds, standards are a bit different, as the traditional stone is pure white and clear)

Synthetic stones are created in a lab. These are molecularly identical to natural stones, except they didn’t come from the ground. Synthetic stones have gained great favour among makers and buyers in recent years for their greater clarity (no inclusions), far lower environmental impact, great color, and lower price tag. Note, synthetic stones are not fake or imitation stones! A lot of research and knowledge has gone into creating the stones we see today.

Imitation stones are anything made to look like something else. They can be made from resin, glass, plastic, etc. These are the lowest prices of all.  Much costume jewelry use glass or plastic in place of stones, which leads to a much lower price point. These materials are usually much less durable, with less (if any) sparkle. They are usually set in base metal or plastic/resin coated with metallic colouring. This does not mean no environmental impact however, as mass manufacturing usually takes its toll on land and water.

Please note I have not covered how to determine quality or grading of gemstones. There are entire courses dedicated to that! But if you are interested, do check out the Gemological Institute of America’s website and gem encyclopaedia – volumes of free and useful information! That wraps up this post – please continue with us on post II to read about differences in metals and production.