About Gemstone Jewelry
Did you know the first known forms of personal adornment, or jewelry, were actually organic beads composed of Nassarius shells dating back around 100,000 years ago. Since then, jewelry today can be found available in all forms, including bracelets, rings, necklaces, pins, brooches and more. Typically, when designing and creating jewelry pieces, a gemstone, coin or some other sort of precious item is set into one of the many available types of precious metal, such as gold, silver, or platinum. However, nowadays, many jewelry designs will use alternative materials for setting gems, such as rubber, leather, ceramic or even wood.
Gemstone jewelry is one of the most popular types of jewelry today. Not only do precious gems provide numerous, unique and colorful design possibilities for today's consumer, but they also give way for years of rooted culture, history and generations to shine on. It's no wonder that gemstone jewelry has been around over 100,000 years, since each and every gemstone has a fantastic story to tell.
But shopping for gemstone jewelry can be such a daunting task, and with so many options, where am I to begin?
Precious stones include diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald. These gems traditionally command a higher premium price in the market, compared to other varieties of gems, due to their extraordinary color, brilliance and extreme rarity. All other types of gemstones are considered to be semi-precious gems, but generally, this gem classification is considered to be unscientific and as a result, often misleading.
These days, there are quite a few rare 'semi-precious' gems, such as alexandrite, demantoid garnet, tsavorite garnet and tanzanite, that can be just as expensive as ruby and sapphire, if not more. Many say that we have now reached the point where the distinction between the terms and classifications of 'precious' and 'semi-precious' gemstones has become meaningless. Regardless, when buying gemstone jewelry, it is still important to acknowledge the fact that 'precious' and 'semi-precious' titles, may affect the price of gemstones and gemstone jewelry.
Alternative Gemstone / Crystal Healing
Many consumers purchase gemstones and gemstone jewelry based upon special meanings such as birthstones or other forms of astrology. Growing in popularity is the concept of buying gemstone jewelry to benefit from therapeutic healing effects. Gemstones have the energy and ability to aid in alternative healing methods. They act as a medicine and each gemstone has its own unique properties that help focus the body and mind to induce specific healing.
Alternative healing gemstones focus on a range of ailments from emotional to mental complaints, and even chronic physical illnesses. There have been countless reports of people that have benefited from gemstone energy and their usage in alternative healing dates back to ancient civilizations. Although many people may have their doubts regarding crystal healing, the legitimacy is very difficult to argue since so many people have already been healed by gemstone energies.