Gems

Written by Yvonne Raley

Garnets and the other Garnets

Jan 19, 2011

Written by Yvonne Raley

January is garnet month, or so the Jeweler’s Association says, at any rate. And if you are thinking red or pink garnet, then this would be a very short blog entry. It would end right here.

Luckily, garnet is a lot more interesting than that once you get away from the reds. While there are, supposedly, a lot of distinctions to be made with regard to red garnet - pyrope, almandine, rhodolite - in...

Written by Yvonne Raley

December Birthstones: Is Tanzanite a Good Buy?

Dec 01, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

As most of you who read my blog know, I don’t think much of birthstones. My own birthstone is pearl, with alternates of moonstone and alexandrite, but my favorite gems are emerald, sapphire and tsavorite. All of these go well with my skin tone and with the colors I like to wear, which should really be more important.

While the association between zodiac signs and specific gems goes way back, the...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Rubies for the Masses – Glass Filled!

Nov 14, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

You might have heard about glass filled ruby scams on the news, they were a big story last year. Or you read about them in my etsy listings. Anyway, when glass filled rubies first became big in 2004 and 2005, they also fooled a lot of dealers on 47th Street. Just the other day, an older man approached my gemstone dealer to sell a large faceted ruby. D. refused to buy. The old man wanted a...

Written by Yvonne Raley

Dime a Dozen or Hard to Find?

Oct 25, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

It really took me a while to get the hang of determining which gemstones are rare and which aren’t. This shouldn’t have been so hard, but because markups in colored stones are often high, it really isn’t in the jewelry industry’s best interest to make that information easy to obtain. And gemstone dealers always want to tell you that their offerings are rare.

So I’ve tried to come up with my own...

Written by Yvonne Raley

I like this color – what’s my gem?

Sep 20, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

I know a lot of us women (and some men, even) strive to be color coordinated. And this puts certain demands on jewelry. It had better match! For this reason, and because we all have our favorite colors, I’ve been asked to supply a list of available gemstones by color. So here’s my shortlist, together with some brief observations about each stone:

Red

1. Garnet: deep red to pinkish red to pink,...

Written by Yvonne Raley

A word about natural gemstones

Sep 13, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

So I practically got yelled at. This was by a gemstone dealer at a jewelry show last spring, in response to my question about his tourmalines. “All stones are natural. Heated is not the same as treated.”

I had asked if the stones were heated, and that is a legitimate question to ask about tourmalines. Some tourmalines are heated and some aren’t, which affects the price.

Why, then, did my question... Continue reading

Written by Yvonne Raley

From Kashmir to Tanzania: How to Pick a Sapphire

Sep 06, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

September is sapphire month, and although I personally think that birthstone jewelry is just a sales trick, I will start my September blog entries by sharing what I know about this blue gem.

Sapphires come from all over the world, but some countries of origin are much more highly prized than others. The most valuable is a Kashmir. I’ve never seen one myself, nor has anyone I know. That’s how rare... Continue reading

Written by Yvonne Raley

The story of my emeralds, and how it actually started with a strand of rubies

Aug 30, 2010

Written by Yvonne Raley

I thought I’d begin this blog by going back a bit – back to my first emeralds and how I went from obsessing about beads to obsessing about cut stones.

Last October, I bought a strand of rubies at the Whole Bead Show in New York. But rubies are tricky business. This strand was particularly glowing and beautiful, as well as particularly well priced, so after I recovered from my initial purchasing... Continue reading

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Products

Posts & Pages

Gems

Garnets and the other Garnets

December Birthstones: Is Tanzanite a Good Buy?

Rubies for the Masses – Glass Filled!

Dime a Dozen or Hard to Find?

I like this color – what’s my gem?

A word about natural gemstones

From Kashmir to Tanzania: How to Pick a Sapphire

The story of my emeralds, and how it actually started with a strand of rubies