Jewelry: The gemstone guide

They are the charming asset of many jewels and are closely linked to the history of jewelry. Gemstones have dreamy names: diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire. Discover their origins, particularities and singularities.

Diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, the guide.

Gemstones are translucent minerals found in the rock from which they are extracted. The purest is diamond, which we already mentioned in this article. Colored gemstones derive their pigmentation from the metals and other impurities they contain. Ruby gets its color from the chromium oxide in its composition, sapphire from aluminum oxide, and emerald from chromium, vanadium and sometimes iron.

Ruby, a red gem, is the most precious stone after diamond. Its hardness is 9 on the Mohs scale, and its name comes from the Latin "ruber", the color of blood and life. It also symbolizes courage, passionate love and glory, and was the stone of princes, sultans and maharajas. All rubies have inclusions, so the purer they are, the more valuable they become.

Sapphire, the blue gemstone, takes its name from several origins, from the Greek sappheiros "blue-colored stone", or perhaps from the Hebrew sappir meaning "the most beautiful thing". Sapphire is associated with fidelity, unconditional love and purity. A special feature of this gem is that it can also be pink, mauve, green or yellow, depending on the metal content of its composition. Like ruby, it has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale. A symbol of wisdom and serenity, sapphire is the most worn gemstone after diamond.

Emerald, a green gemstone, takes its name from the Latin smaragdus, a distortion of the Persian word zamarat, meaning "heart of stone". This precious stone was venerated by the most powerful, such as Queen Cleopatra. In the Christian religion, it is the symbol of hope. It also embodies hope, springtime renewal and clairvoyance. It has been the stone of the Shahs of Iran, the Magi and the Tsarina, and remains a highly prized gem to this day.  Its hardness is 7.5-8 on the Mohs scale.

Precious stones, unchanging.

In 1913, George Frederick Kunz wrote: "The brilliance and color of gemstones are identical to what they were thousands of years ago and to what they will be thousands of years from now. In a world in perpetual transformation, this is a constancy that possesses an undeniable charm, appreciated since time immemorial.". In 2018, this quote is as relevant as ever. In a world that moves at high speed, we like the immutability of our stones, and we like to keep them all our lives, so we can pass them on to the next generation.