Valuing Colored Stone Jewelry
How do you value a colored stone? Through color, clarity, cut, unusual optical phenomena, and asteria or star effects. These are just some of a gemstone’s characteristics that give it its value. In ancient Greece, asteria was greatly valued in gemstones and, in effect, in colored stone jewelry. It was believed that asteria made gemstones powerful love charms, although it is not known if such charms were made as centerpieces in jewelry. A factor in determining the value of a gemstone is called water. Water is an archaic term that refers to the combination of color and transparency in gemstones; used hierarchically: first water (gem of the finest water), second water, third water, byewater. Historically, gemstones were classified into precious stones and semi-precious stones but because such a definition can change over time and vary with culture, it has always been a difficult matter to determine what constitutes precious stones.