The Long And Short of Colored Jewelry

The good news about colored jewelry is the wide range of colors available – thus presenting very colorful alternatives to the classic snobbishness of diamonds.

At online jewelry stores like http://www.discountjewels.net you can find many pieces of colored jewelry and from rings, necklaces and bracelets and from platinum, silver, white gold and yellow gold. These can be mixed and matched with colorful gemstones in green, blue, orange, indigo, violet, yellow or red.

People ancient times actually believed that colored stones were channels of the energy coming from the planets; that the stones of each Zodiac sign gave superpowers to the individuals who wear them. Today, probably the only power that color stones can transmit to humans is the power of self-confidence and high fashion. Then there is also the power of meanings – depending on who is giving, color stone rings can mean friendship, love or commitment.

But then again, if you don’t fancy mixing and matching yourself, you can always buy ready-to-wear jewelry pieces. In general, mixed and matched jewelry tend to cost less than the set pieces.

What Is Color?

The colors that you see in gemstones can be pared down to this formula – spectral colors are combined with earth colors – brown, black, gray and white.

So what makes a desirable piece of colored jewelry? A desirable gem piece has a purer spectral color, with lesser degrees of earth colors. When they talk about colors, gemologists refer to the four aspects of intensity, hue, tone, and distribution.

Intensity refers to the overall brightness of a stone’s color. Hue refers to a stone’s spectral color - blue, violet, orange, green, indigo, yellow or red. On the other hand, tone refers to the level of black, gray, brown or white present in the stone. Distribution refers to how evenly or unevenly a color is distributed in a stone. The intensity and tone of a color can be greatly affected by how the stone is cut.

The most popular gemstones that are being used in colored jewelry pieces include Alexandrite, Amethyst, Cultured Pearl, Emerald Garnet, Opal, Pink Peridot, Rhodolite, Ruby, Sapphire, and Topaz. These stones are birthstones and were once known for their powers.

Nowadays, the use of these stones has less to do with their alleged property to induce psychic powers – now it has everything to do with their colors and their versatility to fit into everyday wardrobe when they are already set as colored jewelry.

A stone’s color is what set its price in the market – the purer the spectral color (green, blue, orange, violet, indigo, yellow or red), the more valuable it is. To verify the purity of a spectral color, value conscious buyers have their colored jewelry evaluated by independent gemological institutes like the Gemological Institute of America and the American Gemological Laboratories. Both organizations have special equipment to accurately assess a gemstone’s purity of color.

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