Tips On Picking Out Quality Loose Gemstones
Loose gems can be vital assets to a number of different artistic crafts, an addition to a themed rock collection, or used for their spiritual and metaphysical properties. Children and adults alike can use loose gemstones for making energy grids, unique jewelry, or just carrying them around for a type of meditation or mood enhancement. One of the easiest places to find gems for sale is on eBay.
What types of loose gemstones are there?There are three main types of loose gemstones on ebay that both professional jewelers and metaphysical enthusiasts use to for their work:
- Rough gems: Gemstones of gem grade that are not cut, tumbled or polished are called 'rough'. These are naturally formed and often excavated from the ground or in mines.
- Tumbled gems: These are rough stones that are placed into a machine called a rock tumbler with a chemical that turns the gems into rounded and brightly polished pieces.
- Faceted gems: A faceted gem is cut so that the stone has a flat top and polished surfaces called facets. Gemologists typically take transparent gemstones and turn them into faceted stones to increase their appeal.
There are three important points that you should consider when looking at gemstones for sale:
- Natural or man-made: Some tumbled and faceted gems are made in a lab, treated with heat, or mixed with some other mineral to enhance its color. Rough stones are typically not tampered with at all.
- Suggested usage: Some loose gems are made into beads with a pre-drilled hole for customers to make jewelry with. The intended use is usually in the product description.
- Bulk or individual pieces: Stones can be purchased in bulk for a discounted price. You can get them in a variety of different types of gems, purchase a bulk order of the same, or get an individual piece. Gems sold individually typically come at a higher price.
The range of eBay gem vendors range widely from lapidaries and gemologists to resellers of manufactured gems to artisans who drill holes in individual gems for hobbyists to make pieces of jewelry. Rough gems typically come from mines and other dig sites. Tumbled and faceted gems may be made in a laboratory, so be sure to check the vendor's description if you are trying to get a gem that is not man-made. Picking an ideal one for you comes down to simply choosing the vendor that has the gems to suit your individual purpose.