Tanzanite, rubelite etc ... what are they?

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Am idly watching some shopping channel and these gemstones keep coming up. Are they rare? Are they crap? Have they always been around but people have just started buying them? Also, does anyone seriously buy jewellery from the TV?

There is a definite pattern to their names I notice. Why do so many end in "ite?" Does it refer to some sort of geological pattern?

Fluorite sounds as if it might double as a toothpaste.

Or do I mean geological structure?

to be honest I don't know - I think it is just because they are all 'new-ish' discoveriers so they take some attribute or place name etc and add 'ite' on the end - Kunzite is Kunz, Morganite is JP Morgan, Tanzanite is Tanzania, Fluorite is Fluorescent etc

The 'ite' comes from language. It's just the makeup of the word. 'ite' means it's from rock.

A lot of the naming of gems is similar to stars, chemicals etc and they do end up named after people and places... with ite at the end to explain that it's from rock/earth.

A good one that comes solely from language would be pyrite (fools gold.) Which has the 'ite' suffix because it's from rock and 'pyr' because it sparks when struck with steel. 'pyr' means fire.... see what I mean?

There's our etymology lesson for the day!

I Love your posts, Mrs C. It's great to hear expertise. Did your gem business begin as an interest and become a business? Or did you learn by working?
You really know your stuff. Do you have to take courses and qualificaitions? You mentined earlier about studying gemology

It's another world to me and I'm really enjoying learning about it. I never imagined my query about tanzanite would turn out so interesting.

I'm no expert by a long shot but I'd like to get there one day.
My family are all jewellers (proper jewellers in overalls with dirty hands rather than glam folk behind a shop counter!), so I grew up in the workshop while they pushed their business through the recession in the 80's.
I've been in and out the shop all my life, working behind the counter when I could barely see over it! I realised when I was about 19 (and working in finance- but doing a roaring trade in repairing my colleague's jewellery and watches) that I had learned so much by proxy. It's literally just in my brain and it was completely useless.
As you can imagine, I had a pretty varied and large jewellery collection by this point as I'd had an eye for it ever since I got my first wage. So I started selling the vintage and designer stuff that I no longer wore at vintage fairs....and then it steamrolled from there.

I'd like to study gemology properly and get my certificate, but it's unfathomably difficult. It took my dad till he was 48 to pass it (3rd go!) So I'm hoping I'll be slightly luckier! I have no qualifications in silver/goldsmithing, neither does any of my family although we often give talks and practical lectures in one of the silversmithing classes at a local college (and trained the lecturer!)

Sorry for v. long reply lol.

I'm not an expert and just know what I like to look at!!

Have been talking to DP about the type of engagement ring I want, he wanted to get me a solitaire from a jewellers but I really want a tanzanite stone.

I found this amazing jewellers www.hkjewellery.co.uk/ so will be having something made

I'm not to worried about the future value, I want it to mean something to me and be unique so I can pass it to my daughter.

There is quite a bit about stones on there.

Does anyone know anything about Palladiam? I'm considering it instead of platinum as its cheaper!!

Palladium I'd slowly becoming more popular. It's from the same family of metals as platinum and looks The same to an untrained eye.

It is, as you said, also cheaper than platinum. Which is great. I love it.

Also iron mans core was part made of palladium for any geeks out there.....

oooh my son would like that!!!

Go for the Palladuim - like Mrs C said - none of your friends will be able to tell the difference. And yay for the Tanzanite engagement ring - that's at least 3 of us veering away from the boring, though beautiful, diamond solitaire. Are you the lady that is only 5 miles away from HK?

I've been looking at the green tsavorite and demantiod garnet that I can see on basic web sites and they all look a bit yellowish. If Mrs C or Mrs M have seen them in real life, which has the deeeep green hue?
I started of with malachite as a teenager,still like the colour. The only emeralds I've got are so tiny but a good dark colour.
Are darker emeralds the cheapest.....

It does amaze me that nobody wants anything other than the standard diamond solitaire anymore.

I live about 50 miles from HK, only found it one day when shopping in cambridge - they were lovely in the shop so when we have finally saved the money I will be going in there.

The more saturated the hue the dearer the emerald would be.... so the deeper the green it is the better. Also you're looking for a clarity through the stone, no inclusions, good cut, good size etc.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money there is good synthetic emerald on the market that is an amazing colour.

I come across more demantiod garnet than tsavorite. If they look yellowish it could be down to the photography editing or it could be because they're rubbish. This is the problem with buying online- you literally have no idea what you're getting.

They're both deep green and come in varying hues. V difficult to tell the difference between the two although some demantiod from Russia has beautiful inclusions known as 'horsetail'. Which is one of the only times I know of inclusions pushing a price on a stone up!!

My opinion is that you can't go wrong with either. Just choose something that you'll get wear out of.

harbinger - if you want deep green then why not go for Chrome Diopside? It is a beautiful bottle-green rich colour and the colour is more consistant.
Tsavorite garnet is definately the deeper colour of the two - demantoid has that yellow-green colour. You could also go for a green tourmaline (though I think it might be more expensive than the others.

Emeralds are all about falling in love with the stone - there are so many different tones and levels of clarity - it just depends on what you prefer. I personally would choose a brighter, richer colour with more inclusions (called the jardin) over an eye clean paler stone, but it is down to the individual to decide what they like and also what they can afford.

Henwelly - You've got to remember, it's generally men who pick and choose the ring and men love to be told what is expected of them when it comes to shopping!! So, De Beers lanch an ad campaign, everyone else jumps on the bandwaggon, and soon every woman in western Europe gets proposed to with a solitaire (but they don't mind because they are pretty and they want to marry the guy). Those of us who decide that they don't want the norm are in the minority, but a growing one (esp with Princess Kate getting Di's ring). I have heard good things about HK - suggested them to another MN a couple of days ago so I think they should consider doing a MN discount!! :o

also, don't forget that demantoid garnet is more expensive than tsavorite. My demantoid earrings cost me 3 times what I've seen similar ct weights of tsavorite for.

Off to look at chrome diopside,another one that's new!(to me)
Once a stone is set (ie in a ring etc) do the faults/inclusions make a lot of difference to the 'sparkle'. Especially if it's not sitting proud,as such.

It depends on the gem - with diamonds it is of a massive detriment, with rutile quartz or astraeolite it is the reason the gem is special. With emeralds the inclusions are expected and are referred to as 'jardin' (as in the french for garden) in an affectionate way (I have a columbian emerald pendant and some zambian emerald earrings and they are very different - the columbian is brighter, less included and does bounce the light back out in a way the zambian ones don't). Generally inclusions create dark areas in the gem so I would have thought that it would have an effect on sparkle - but that doesn't mean the gem won't be beautiful. I always try to go for an open gallery in my jewellery to let the maximum amount of light through-but it is also a style choice as I hate bezel settings and love filigree work & hidden gems.

I think you will really love chrome diopside - I'm suprised you haven't come across it (esp as you started off with malachite-something I only really associate with the science lab, though I knew it was used in Jewellery). It is usually lovely and clear too, so no inclusion worries :o

Really interesting thread! Browsing gems.tv on my iPhone and getting v annoyed at the site though, it's crap! Won't let me add to my basket, and if I make a selection eg 'rings' when I go to the next page, it defaults to 'all jewellery' again. Grr. Will try later on computer.

Liking cocktail rings in rose quartz and lemon quartz if only it would let me buy them.

Muslin - I've said it further up the thread but if you decide you want to buy directly off their website, email them first with the product code and ask if they can give you the best price - they almost always do it cheaper. Then when it arrives, don't remove the sticker around the ring/the earrings from the plastic bag etc, until you are happy with them as you can't return them once they have been removed.

Thanks mrsm

I have a Pandora bracelet (not popular on here!) and was eyeing up the Pandora rings - they use a lot of more unusual gems. There's a gorgeous green amethyst one, and there's an almost identical one for less than 20% of the price on the gems.tv website high st jewellers and chains really do have a massive mark-up, don't they?!

My engagement ring is a savvy one though - my DH bought an old-fashioned solitaire diamond ring at Bonhams and had the diamond reset in a beautiful more modern ring. I think it's romantic that he went to all that effort to get me a beautiful ring with a whopping diamond in it but really I know it's cos he's a tightwad who researches everything before buying and didn't want to pay high st prices for a ring!

The prices on the gems.tv website are pretty bogus - that's why I say email them first. I've seen rings on their website advertised at £750 and then be sold in their auctions for £299. If there is a particular gem you are interested in or you have a budget, maybe watch a couple of their shows (online or on sky) - I generally have it open in another window on my computer and just flick to it while I'm working on my laptop. You get the cheapest prices when they feature the items on their channels. They aren't the best value all of the time but if you educate yourself abit and put in the effort to watch the shows then you can pick up some great deals.

I live in Middlesbrough and Pandora is an institution here but to be honest it isn't my kind of thing. The mark-up is just the same as most things on the high street - I have worked for some really big names and you wouldn't believe the difference between cost price and retail price!

Who cares if your hunny was being abit savvy - you have a great ring with a great story - thats all anyone needs to know!

Hubby - not hunny - I'm not that much of a luvvie!!! :)

muslin did you mean that the gems.tv were cheaper than the pandora? I just had a look out of interest and the only green amethyst I could see was £100 and there wasn't anything similar for more money - there's a plain handmade silver ring with what looks like a cushion cut gem for £22 - most of the silver ones are around that mark (alot of them are silver with gold overlay).

Pandora are poised to go under. I'd steer clear- they'll sell it off cheap to get rid of it