Colored Loose Gemstones

Precious and semi-precious gemstones are the part of most of the beautiful and charming jewelry. When you plan to buy a jewelry piece for your beloved for coming occasion of anniversary, you start researching for the best piece of jewelry and best gemstones to be studded in it. As most of these gemstones are expensive and require good investment, you should research properly before buying one.

There are several online stores which offer wide selection of loose gemstones. In fact online stores have larger variety in comparison of real store dealers as they need not worry about the stocking and display of the loose stones. While selecting a stone, you will have to consider the right shape, cut, color and carat of the loose stones. At an online store, you can find thousand types of loose gemstones which dramatically increase your choice. Moreover, you can take the help of gemstone experts to choose the right quality according to the jewelry you want to buy and within your budget range. When purchasing any gemstone from an online store, the superior customer service is required to great extent as you cannot see the stones in person.

Buying loose gemstones from an online store saves lots of your money and time. You can contact any wholesale gemstone dealer to get gemstones at discounted prices. As there are number of gemstone stores, they offer the most competitive prices. In addition, they buy in bulk and get great discounts. These stores pass this discount to the buyers. However, buy only certified gemstones to ensure the reliability of authenticity.

It is always easy to inspect a loose gemstone than inspecting a gemstone which is already mounted in a piece of jewelry. You can inspect every angle of a loose gemstone with the help of tool called loupe which jewelers use. The loupe is a kind of magnifying tool used by the jewelry graders to check all side and angles of the gemstone. Though you should buy only certified stones, but if you happen to like a non-certified gemstone, look for the various impurities which might be there such as any small inclusions, cracks or any other flaw. It helps you ensure that you are getting the best value for money.

Certified loose gemstones are sold with proper paperwork to prove authenticity. Grader can easily compare his/her readings with the certified report. It is observed that loose gemstones are of better quality and hold their life for longer than the gemstones already mounted in the jewelry.

About the Author:-
Devika Rajpali is a well known author and has written articles on designer jewellery, estate jewellery, gemstone jewellery, and many other subjects.

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What is the current state of the art professional digital microphotography setup available to image gemstones?

I photograph gemstones and want to know what is the most advanced digital microphotography system available to photograph these most challenging subjects for highest quality. I’m currently using a Nikon Coolpix camera attached to one of the oculars of a Leica microscope. Major drawbacks include great difficulty in critical focusing of tiny blemishes/nicks on stones because focusing is done on 1.5 inch grainy LCD screen on camera. Another drawback is unidirectional lighting coming from bolt on light source on microscope stage-I think I need 360 degree diffused lighting as otherwise some portions of stone are dark with current light setup. I have experimented with other light sources, like pipe type illuminators, but they are too strong and create hotspots in the stones. What is ideal light source–I think it must be diffused and 360 degree surrounding the stone. I’m looking for a dedicated system ideally where camera, scope and light system are made by same manufacturer.

Answer
I have had great success with using an inexpensive digital camera and a printers loupe.
It is really just a matter of the optics.

For a light source, I would suggest a light diffuser and 360 degree lighting. With a diffuser, you can vary the intensity of the light without losing the lighting angle.

BTW, I was shooting coins, not gemstones but I did manage to get coins to fill the entire viewable area of a 4MP shot with just the camera and a 10X loupe. it picked out flaws in the coin that were not seen with the naked eye.

For the right price, you could have an all in one system built for you. It would be quite interesting to build one.