Before the last 4 girlfriends, and the ex-wife, I had a girlfriend in NH who I helped become a Certified Gemologist and goldsmith. I learned about the quality of gems. I got to see some incredible, and some NOT so incredible, differences between precious stones, diamonds and other colored gemstones.
For the guys buying things other than stereo equipment this Christmas, possibly for sensitive ears that do NOT appreciate the joy of electronics, I would strongly recommend looking at the stone you are considering purchasing under a microscope, NOT just a loop. Good quality goldsmiths, or even jewelry shops with repair benches, will have microscopes to view stones under 10x, or better yet 30X, magnification.
The little 3-10X hand-held loop is insufficient to see the true quality difference of one precious stone rating grade versus another. It can NOT easily show you the difference between “vs1†or “vs2â€Â, “vvs1†or “vvs2.†The microscope can. Like graphing the frequency response of a speaker in your own home, you can clearly see the difference in the quality of the stone you are buying with a microscope. (Flawless grades really are pretty.)
The other piece of advice I would suggest for stone shoppers this Christmas is to get a certificate authenticating the Gemologist quality of the stone when you purchase it. This something that Certified Gemologists have no problems doing, but low end jewelry shops will (although some jewelry chain stores do have their own certificates for just such requests). The certificate authenticates the cut, clarity and color of the stone you are purchasing.
For the guys buying things other than stereo equipment this Christmas, possibly for sensitive ears that do NOT appreciate the joy of electronics, I would strongly recommend looking at the stone you are considering purchasing under a microscope, NOT just a loop. Good quality goldsmiths, or even jewelry shops with repair benches, will have microscopes to view stones under 10x, or better yet 30X, magnification.
The little 3-10X hand-held loop is insufficient to see the true quality difference of one precious stone rating grade versus another. It can NOT easily show you the difference between “vs1†or “vs2â€Â, “vvs1†or “vvs2.†The microscope can. Like graphing the frequency response of a speaker in your own home, you can clearly see the difference in the quality of the stone you are buying with a microscope. (Flawless grades really are pretty.)
The other piece of advice I would suggest for stone shoppers this Christmas is to get a certificate authenticating the Gemologist quality of the stone when you purchase it. This something that Certified Gemologists have no problems doing, but low end jewelry shops will (although some jewelry chain stores do have their own certificates for just such requests). The certificate authenticates the cut, clarity and color of the stone you are purchasing.
