What is a precious stone
?
All precious stones have
one thing in common: They are exceptional and very beautyful. In former
times, only a few stones were called precious stones, but today the
number of precious stones is immense, and even new ones are discovered.
Most of them are minerals or also mineral aggegates (rock). Some precious
stones are of organic origin (e.g. amber, pearls, corals) , also fossils
are used for jewellery. Precious stones with a higher degree of hardness
are more often used for jewellery, because they don´t show signs
of wear that fast.
The term "Semi-precious
stone" was abolished due to the fact that
there is no strict border between precious stones and semi-precious stones.
This term only confused customers, because they didn´t know that
there is no difference and they asked which stones would be more
expensive, more pricious or more beautiful and which stones were precious
stones and which not.
Coloured stones
Coloured stones is a
customary name for all precious stones, with the exception of diamonds,
in the trade.
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What is a mineral?
A mineral is a chemical
and physical homogenous, structural exactly defined, naturally grown, compact
component of the earth´s or moon´s crust.
What is a crystal
?
A crystal is a materially
homogenous substance with a strictly geometrycal internal structure
(crystal grating). The different structure of gratings leads to different
physical properties of crystals, minerals and precious stones.
What is rock ?
Rock is a mixture (aggregate)
of naturally grown minerals with a larger propagation. Also Sand and gravel
rank among rock.
What is a gem ?
Every piece of jewellery
is a gem. The basic idea is a piece of jewellery that is made of precious
metal with setted precious stones. From time to time also precious stones
without a setting are called gems. |
