Precious Stones

1. What is a precious stone?

Precious Stones are natural rocks, minerals and crystals that attract people with their incredible beauty.

In nature, below earth crust and deep mantle, they are formed under various chemical and physical conditions along with extremely high pressure and temperature levels

Their hardness values (Mohs) are above 6.

They are formed by naturally common elements such as carbon, aluminum, silicon, calcium, magnesium, and their oxides and silicates.

2. Classification of Precious Stones

Precious Stones are classified under three groups.

2.1. Natural Precious Stones
     2.1.1. Organic Precious Stones
             i. Coral
             ii. Pearl
             iii. Amber
             iv. Mother of Pearl
             v. Shungite, Jet, Gagat

     2.1.2. Inorganic Precious Stones

More than 200 variants of inorganic precious stones exist. Diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, amethyst, citrine, opal, peridot, garnet, crystal quartz, carnelian, jade, tourmaline, aquamarine, lapislazuli, turquoise, chalcedony, diaspore and agate are some of the most well known inorganic precious stones.

2.2. Synthetic Precious Stones

Precious stones can also be produced synthetically. In the recent years, due to the inability to meet the demand for natural stones with natural resources, synthetic production of precious stones has increased in special laboratories that can replicate the intense conditions found in nature. In particular, the production of expensive precious stones like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds are carried out in laboratories. Chemical and mineralogical properties of synthetic gemstones are the same as natural ones.

2.3. Imitation Precious Stones

Products that are completely different from natural and synthetic precious stones in terms of chemical, crystallographic and mineralogical properties, but are similar in appearance, are called imitations. They are manufactured by glass, plastic or synthetic resins.