A buyer's guide to Gemstones and Jewellery

There are many misconceptions about the value of different gemstones, and many ways of artificially enhancing them, or even faking them. Sometimes they are misleadingly named, and always there are several factors affecting their value

• Colour- some shades are more rare or more sought after than others

• Depth of colour - generally the deeper the better, but there are exceptions, e.g. sapphire & tourmaline

• Clarity- cloudiness always detracts from the value

• Flawlessness adds to value (except sometimes for emeralds) but beware flawless synthetics

• Size- the bigger the more valuable

• Cut- cabochon (rounded) is cheaper than facetted

The distinction made between precious and semi-precious stones is also misleading - diamond is generally accepted to be more valuable than a garnet - but a really poor quality diamond can be worth less than a fine quality garnet.

So if you are interested in gem-set jewellery and would like to know a little more, without being too technical, follow the links on the left