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What girl doesn't like pretty pebbles? Especially if they have such a pleasant quality as beauty and high price. But does everyone know how to understand these very precious stones? Let's see what you need to know about them in order to at least be able to say: "Yes, I know something about precious stones."
Diamond
Price per carat: from $ 6 thousand to $ 20 thousand
The most valuable: from 1 carat; round with a classic cut (57 faces); perfect cleanliness (without impurities); colorless or slightly bluish; mined in Yakutia, Israel or South Africa.
Emerald
Price per carat: from $ 500 to $ 6 thousand
The most valuable: evenly distributed, saturated dark green; transparent, with a small number of defects (cracks and veins) - absolutely pure natural emeralds do not exist; mined in Colombia.
Ruby
Price per carat: from $ 190 to $ 7 thousand
The most valuable: deep pink; clean or with minor defects in the form of rare stripes, dots, inclusions; mined in Myanmar.
Sapphire
Price per carat: from $ 150 to $ 5 thousand
The most valuable: deep cornflower blue (there are also orange, yellow, green and pink sapphires); round cut; from Kashmir.
Alexandrite
Price per carat: from $ 100 to $ 6 thousand
The most valuable: changing color from blue-green or grassy-green in daylight to pink-crimson or red-violet in the evening or artificial (alexandrite effect); mined in Russia.
Amethyst
Price per carat: $ 40 to $ 200
The most valuable: intense, bright, pure red-violet color, not fading under artificial light (pink and dark purple stones are much cheaper); mined in the Urals.
Aquamarine
Price per carat: $ 80 to $ 300
The most valuable: a special bluish-green shade (to learn how to determine it, you will have to read additional literature or consult a specialist gemologist); large size - from 10 carats.
Topaz
Price per carat: $ 30 to $ 150
The most valuable: pure bright blue, as well as polychrome, that is, with areas painted in different colors (topaz are also pure pink, yellow and blue, but they are usually cheaper).
Tourmaline
Price per carat: $ 65 to $ 500
The most valuable: pink or green, as well as a special turquoise color "paraiba" (named after the Brazilian state where they were first discovered); clean with a minimum number of defects; in size from 2 carats.
