We have all heard the term,'Precious Gems', before but what, exactly, does it mean?
What makes one thing a precious gem stone and another a semi-precious gem stone or just a rock? The answer to what makes a gem a precious stone is mostly historic and largely arbitrary.
What makes one thing a precious gem stone and another a semi-precious gem stone or just a rock? The answer to what makes a gem a precious stone is mostly historic and largely arbitrary.
It was determined by three key factors:
Beauty or appearance: The precious gems historically included only the brilliant faceted gems like the diamond. Other gems, such as jade, ivory and turquoise, though beautiful in their own right, were not considered precious gem stones.
Usage: The fact that the gem had a special religious or ceremonial significance allowed it to be classed as a precious stone.
Rarity: The law of supply and demand is as old as it is universal. For a gem to be considered a precious stone, it must be historically difficult to come by. This factor has changed over the years as new sources of precious gems are discovered and new mining techniques are developed.
