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Clueless in Mississippi
  • createsscreatess
    Posts: 5
    I recently was given a small bag full of gemstones by a friend. I know what some of them are, but some of them I have no clue what they are. And some look like they could be one gemstone, but most likely another. I can't really make heads nor tails of some of them. I know the names of basic gemstones and what they look like (mostly birthstones), but I'm not a gemologist, so I'm kinda stuck. lol
    I've taken pictures of the gems that I'm not sure of (which is quite a few, unfortunately lol). So I'm posting links to the pictures below, and see if anyone would be willing to take the time and help me figure out what stones are what.

    Here are the links:

    Red stones: Are these Rubies, Garnets, or what?
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/fd39f5a5.jpg

    Purple stones: I recently found out that the stones on the 3rd row are Ametrine. I'm thinking that the rest of them are Amethyst, but I'm not positive.
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/4608f860.jpg

    Various stones 1:
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/3eb43c3c.jpg

    Various stones 2:
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/3dea256d.jpg

    Clear stones: I'm pretty sure these aren't Diamonds, but I just wanted to be sure. I know one of them is a Rose Quartz.
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/c9272319.jpg

    Blue stones: I believe these are Aquamarine, but they also kinda look like they could be Blue Topaz. I'm really hoping the dark blue ones are a dark Aquamarine, because I read somewhere that they are valuable.
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/1d7758cb.jpg

    I make handmade jewelry (usually costume jewelry), and am wanting to find out about these stones, so I can get an idea about what to charge when I make jewelry with them.


    I appreciate any help I can get. :)
  • createsscreatess
    Posts: 5
    Btw, please forgive the quality of the pictures, I didn't have the greatest lighting at the time.
  • sarah
    Posts: 228
    Hi there! Those are nice stones! I was not expecting them from your story. Now, of course no one can ID them for you over the internet, they need to be tested. But here is what I think they look like:
    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/fd39f5a5.jpg - GARNETS

    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/4608f860.jpg - Top are amethysts, middle is ametrine, bottom looks like iolite or tanzanite

    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/3eb43c3c.jpg
    Top left looks like smoky quartz, the purples could be amethysts, spinels or synthetic corundum. Most of the middle looks like citrine, the pale green at the bottom looks like peridot, and the bright green rectangle at the bottom looks like a nice emerald!!

    http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t294/celticpath/Createss Designs/3dea256d.jpg
    Smoky quartz, citrine, prasiolite?, red one could be spessartite garnet or fire opal or something else. The bottom left could be dyed quartz or nice rhodocrosite or something else - the color is not clear to me. The bottom right could be a rhodolite garnet or maybe a rubelite tourmaline.

    The clear stones could be colorless quartz, or topaz (or a lot of other things as well)

    Those blues look like topaz - top is London blue, middle is swiss and bottom is sky blue.

    Hope that sheds some light!! At least this will give you some hypothesis to test.



  • createsscreatess
    Posts: 5
    Thank you! Yeah, I'm very happy to have them. Thank you for your time and help. :)
  • createsscreatess
    Posts: 5
    I'm hoping that there will be some sort of "Gem Show", or something of that nature, come to my area some time in the near future. That way, I can have a gemologist look at them and give me a ballpark figure of their value. :)
  • sarah
    Posts: 228
    Yes, good idea. A good one is intergem.

    Some things to keep in mind: not everyone who sells stones knows what they are doing. You would not believe! the lies I hear these chumps telling their customers. Also most jewelers know nothing - but they all like to sound like they are the only expert you should listen to.

    Look for a sign that says graduate gemologist, then stop at that booth. The more pompous the guy is, the less likely he is telling the truth. Trust the ones that are careful and inquisitive.

    You have a good pile of rocks!
  • createsscreatess
    Posts: 5
    I looked up Intergem, but unfortunately they don't have any shows coming up anywhere near me this year.
    Thanks for the heads up! :)
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