Both precious and semi-precious gemstones are valuable investments and thus, it gets important to buy from a trusted source. Buying gemstones requires extensive care unless you have professional knowledge about gemstone quality, gemstone pricing and industry trends.
Though a country of traditions, India witnesses a lot of gem scams just like any other place. It is your duty to not get fooled by false dealers or fake or low-quality gemstones at lower prices.
The Basics of Gemstones
First things first, when you plan to buy a gemstone the first thing you need to do is to learn about the basics – the four Cs (colour, cut, clarity and carat). In most cases, the highest quality gemstones have the most pure colours and saturation, minimum small to moderate inclusions and a good cut.
Lab Reports
Several gemstone dealers sell gemstones with proper lab reports listing their respective colour, cut, clarity and carat. These quality reports may also mention the gemstone’s origin and treatment processes. You should always trust a GIA report by the Gemological Institute of America, known for their unbiased reports. The better the quality of a gemstone, the greater its value!
Beware of Treatments
The most common practice followed to fool the customer is treatments to the gemstones or substituting synthetic gems for the mined ones.
Treating the stones makes them appear of much greater quality than they actually are. You must stay cautious of treated gems, especially while buying rubies that are enhanced by lead-glass filling.
Fake Gemstones
There are plentiful of fake gemstones in the market. You can easily spot them by looking at the gems under magnifying glass. Does it appear to be fibrous or have unusual colour concentration? It might be fake!
Some of the most popularly purchased gemstones include rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, garnets, amethysts, pearls, tourmalines and turquoises.
