Magical Gemstones

Gemstones are real fascinating elements. These magical stones are minerals which are cut and polished properly to give some kind of an attractive look. There are different types of gemstones available in the market and each has a separate folklore, myth and legend associated with it. But these hard mineral stones are specially known for their aesthetic value and healing properties.

Aquamarines, Diamonds, Opals, Pearl, Ruby, Emeralds, Sapphires, Spinals, and Topaz are forms of gemstones that are commonly found. Gemstone therapies help to energize a person, heal illness, break bad habits, heal dog bites, and at times change a person’s life. It acts as an energy medicine. Different gemstones have different therapeutic properties which depend on their shape, size, exact composition, and also on the wielder’s skill. Natural gemstones are the best ones and avoid a metal wrapping (e.g., a silver wrap.) These gemstones add sparkle to our lives and rejuvenate our soul with the earth’s natural beauty and spirit.

The loose gemstones are mostly purchased for ornamental jewelry purposes, having known for their fascinating attributes. The most common loose gemstone shapes include round, square, oval, marquise pears, and octagon. More or less all the gemstones are available in their loose forms. Examples of few such loose stones are given below for convenience.

Loose Emeralds comes in green color and it has the highest price. It can be used in any form, a fingering, earring, and pendant or simply for collection. Generally no two emeralds are same.

Loose Ruby is found in Burma and Thailand and is considered to bring good luck.

A gemstone can be classified as a precious or semi- precious stone. Each of them has different physical properties, hardness, chemical composition, and hence requires different care. Precious gemstones are ruby, emerald, sapphire and diamond, while all the others are semi precious. Now days, Opal is also considered to be a precious one. These stones are of various colors and they have a power attached to them. Generally such stones are believed to bring good fortune, health, wealth and long life in a person’s life. Such stones tend to bring in some kind of spiritual positivity in our life and help to reduce negativity. Some stones are available in the market like Aventurine which balances male and female energies and are hence gender-specific. Lapis Lazuli is another famous kind of semi-precious stone available which helps in complete development of mind and body.

The spread of these various kinds of gemstones in the market are mostly possible because of a strong belief in the superstitions which still continue to persist in our regular lives. The world of astrology has almost created a kind of industry even in this modern world and the moment we open a magazine, switch on a television or click on an internet site, advertisements for such gemstones are visible. The future is almost under our arms. It is believed since the past ages that we can control our lives completely by means of such colorful stone. No scientific proof has been available to us till date.

GemAndGemstone.com offers precious gemstones, loose gemstones and semi precious gemstones etc.
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Has anyone ever gone mining for gemstones or precious stones in NC or anywhere in the US?

I have seen several shows on the Travel Channel about mining for gemstones or finding fossils and some of it looks like fun. Just curious if anyone has tried it. Might like to try it on vacation.

Answer
We have “mined” for gemstones several places in the country, and NC is one of the best. The western part of the state has a lot of old mines, and places you can go to tour or mine.

Franklin NC, in the Cowee valley, is a great place to start. There are a variety of “mines”, ranging from the very tourist oriented (great if you have kids) to the more “natural” settings, where the ore is not salted. The latter places usually use tailings from the original mines, and you can purchase buckets of this material to search through in the onsite troughs, using the flowing water to separate out the interesting rocks.

There are also a lot of places to see relating to the mines, including a nice museum, and many lapidary places that you can pay to polish anything you may find, or even set the material into jewelry. If you enjoy rock hunting, the Franklin area is a really fun place to visit!

I must say that it’s just for fun. The odds of finding anything truly valuable is rather remote, regardless of what the treasure-hunting shows tell you on TV. This is not to disparage the concept, it’s still very fun. We have gone back several times.

One other place I would mention is in Arkansas, interesting because it’s the only real diamond mine in the US, a very rare geological oddity in Murfreesboro. This is where the Crater of Diamonds state park is located. It used to be a real diamond mine, producing some nice gemstones. It was purchased by Arkansas and turned into a state park, where you can go and look for diamonds yourself. Anything you find is yours to keep, and every year quite a few nice diamonds are found. This is another fun place to visit.