Color verses Brilliance in Colored Gemstones

Colored gemstones are first judged for their color and unlike diamonds not their brilliance or cut. This is even more true for emeralds, rubies, and sapphires since they are rarely cut with American style meet point faceting techniques. This technique uses diagrams where the facets meet at a point and produce the best light return for a particular species of gemstone based on the refractive index.  Almost all rubies, emeralds, and sapphires are cut commercially less concern for light return but rather maximize the yield of the expensive rough stones. Generally commercial cut stones are polished to 14K diamond grit or less. Most custom cut stones will be polished to a minimum of 50000 diamond grit. Newer aluminum or cerium oxides used by custom faceters come closer to a 100000 grit polish.

Although gemstones with meet point faceting clearly have a better cut over commercial stones there is a mistake I often see when people are shopping for gemstones. Never forget the color! Color is the number one criterion for judging colored gemstones. Our eyes naturally gravitate to the brilliant stone on the counter but brilliance will make light colored stones appear better than reality. Flip that stone over or look at it from another angle to get a better gauge of the actual body color of the gemstone without the cut affecting your opionion. Brilliance or “fire” is important but should not trump color. Color is always the highest percent of cost in any gemstone. Once you’ve found a few gemstones with the best color then go and judge them for clarity, cut, and brilliance. You don’t need to give up brilliance or clarity but it should not be the first aspect to look at.

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