Blogging for jewelers and metalsmiths made easy! (and for those interested in jewelry and gemstones)

I’ve just had a question on one of the social media sites asking why a ruby costs so much more than a garnet. Since they are both “red,” the writer pointed out, why were consumers willing to pay so much more for ruby? He wondered if it was because of the particular shade of color, or the stone’s “shine” that resulted in such consumer preference. Since he’s been in the emerald field for many years, it occurred to me that the fuller answer to this question may not be “self-evident” and should be addressed briefly.

It’s fairly complex, but essentially, price relates to “RARITY” which is largely connected to QUALITY and CACHET. Fine quality gems are rarer than low-quality, and adding to that we have the “cachet” — the mystique/myth/history/associations to royalty and so on–that contributes to demand for some gems being much greater than for other gems. The well-known gems — diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald — are very rare in natural, beautiful quality stones, and the larger the size, the rarer! Demand is also strong. So supply doesn’t keep up with demand, and prices keep getting stronger. As prices go up and the supply of naturally fine quality stones decreases, treatments are introduced in order to meet demand for a “real” ruby, sapphire, emerald, etc, but at prices consumers can afford to pay. There are also various types of treatments — some more extreme than others — and rarity/price then reflects the specific type and degree of treatment present in a specific stone.

Let’s look at ruby as an example. A genuine ruby that is untreated — and beautiful — is one of the rarest of all gems, and as the size increases, it becomes even rarer and rarer and costlier and costlier. As more and more people found they were unable to afford a beautiful natural ruby, treatments were introduced–initially this meant the use only of heating which melted some of the inclusions to improve brightness with a resulting improvement in color as well–and then sold at a more affordable price. Here everyone was happy because the buyer still had a “real ruby,” at a price they could afford. And treaters agreed that they were only  extending “nature’s” heating process to accomplish this, with nothing artificial being added. But after some decades, supply of material that could be sufficiently improved by heating alone also became too scarce to meet demand, so new types of treatments entered the market to make even lower quality “corundum” (the mineral that is called ruby when red, sapphire when blue, and ‘fancy’ color sapphire when it occurs in other colors) look beautiful; this meant they could meet increased demand–even greater demand if the upward trend continued–at much lower prices. And so it has gone.

Now many more colored gemstones are treated in some way, some minimally and others extensively; when properly represented, you can see the significant differences in pricing that reflect the type–and degree–of treatment.

In terms of the original question about garnet, the supply of nice quality red garnet is still very common, and outpaces demand, so it is also very affordable. Interestingly, however, it is one of only a very few gemstones today that are truly natural; virtually all  ruby, sapphire and emerald have been treated in some manner, to varying degrees. Some of the lesser known gemstones, however, still offer rare, natural options that are beautiful and more costly–and also increasing in price. These include emerald-green garnet (called tsavorite) and intense orange garnet (called mandarin) and red, pink, blue and violet spinels. Here again, it’s rarity, quality, size, and DEMAND that drive the prices. Other gems that have not historically been “routinely” treated include not only the garnet and spinel families, but also alexandrite, chrysoberyl, peridot, chrome tourmaline, moonstone, and iolite, to name a few. Sadly, this is now changing as well; while natural gems can still be found among them, we’re already seeing heated spinel and fillers in fractures in garnets, peridot, chrysoberyl, and so on. This is why most buyers today who spend a lot of money on a gem want documentation from a respected gem-testing laboratory.

I hope that this helps answer your question. And aren’t you glad I didn’t give a the “long” explanation on this topic! But that’s why I’ve had to write books…in order to explain such things more carefully and thoroughly…..

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