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Precious stones and semi-precious stones

Precious stones and semi-precious stones are words you hear when choosing accessories, but what is the difference?
In fact, there are various classifications depending on the country, and the current situation is that there is no exact index. Here we introduce typical precious stones and semi-precious stones. The secret to fashion is to enjoy wearing beautiful natural stones that are suitable for jewelry.

What is Precious Stone?

A precious stone is a "jewel" with high hardness, beautiful appearance, and high rarity value.
The following five are commonly referred to as the “five great jewels”. It is a precious gem with a small amount of production.

  • diamond

  • Ruby

  • sapphire

  • emerald

  • alexandrite

In addition to these five major gemstones, gemstones with a hardness of 7 or higher on the Mohs hardness scale are called precious stones.

  • topaz

  • Aquamarine

  • garnet

  • Peridot

  • zircon

  • Tourmaline

  • Cats eye

Opal and jade are also treated as precious stones because of their beauty, although their hardness is not 7 or higher.

■CicadaWhat is Precious Stone?

Semi-precious stones are gemstones with a hardness of less than 7 on the Mohs scale. There are so many kinds of them, and it is no exaggeration to say that most of the beautiful stones other than precious stones are semi-precious stones. All natural stones are beautiful crystals created by the earth over a long period of time.
Typical examples are as follows.

  • crystal

  • Agate

  • Amethyst

  • Citrine

  • Spinel

  • Lapis lazuli

  • Tanzanite

  • Kunzite

  • Iolite

  • Turquoise

  • moonstone

  • hematite

  • Tiger's eye

  • Malachite

  • Obsidian

  • sodalite

  • Float light (fluorite firefly stone)

  • Rhodochrosite <Inca Rose> (Rhodochrosite)

Such

■ Mohs hardnessWhat is

A measurement standard for comparing the hardness of gemstones devised by German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs. Most widely used around the world. Morse listed 10 well-known minerals in order of their ability to scratch. Barrels with a hardness of 1 are the softest and will scratch when rubbed against all harder (higher hardness) stones. Our fingernails are 2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, and window glass is 5.5. A diamond with a hardness of 10 is the hardest and scratches all other stones when rubbed together. In terms of pure hardness, diamond has a hardness of 8000, while corundum with a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale has a hardness of 2000, and quartz has a hardness of about 800. You can see how hard a diamond is.

モース硬度表.jpg

Precious stones are not the only gems that make women shine beautifully. There are many colorful, lovely and beautiful natural stones. At Monsteraleaf, we want to fully deliver that charm. Please pick up the colorful natural stones that are fashionable!

Written by Monsteraleaf 

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