HOW TO CHOOSE JEWELRY

Diamonds and pearls are two of the most popular gems in the world. However, because their qualities vary widely, it becomes rather confusing to make the best choices when buying them. Before making your first pick, it is best to learn a little bit more about the gems' characteristics.

PEARLS
Practically speaking, a pearl is a product of an accident in nature. Mussels and oysters naturally produce a crystalline substance called nacre to coat their inside shells. When a foreign particle finds its way inside the shell, it gets coated with the nacreous substance. Over time, this inadvertent event brings forth a radiant pearl.

Nowadays, however, nearly all pearls that are sold are cultured; i.e., each one is produced by deliberately inserting the "foreign object" into the shell.

Cultured pearls should have specific qualities to determine their value. It is important to look out for the following:

1.  Size

This is the foremost factor that determines the price of a pearl. This is a direct consequence of the size of the implanted nucleus in the shell and the thickness of the nacre that coats it. It is important to note, though, that nacre thickness is extremely important because a pearl that is big but lacks nacre will easily crack and discolor.

2. Shape

Most cultured pearls are round but only about 1% are perfect spheres, making them extremely rare. So, the closer they are to this ideal, the more valuable they become.

3. Luster

Pearls have a shimmer that gives them their radiant beauty. A pearl that efficiently reflects light is said to be high in luster.

4. Orient

This refers to the myriad of colors that appear to move over the surface of a pearl. Because only a few pearls display such a characteristic, its presence increases the gem's value.

5. Color

Pearls come in shades of white, cream, silver, pink, gold, and black. Superior ones will exhibit a secondary color or "overtone" of green, blue, or rose. Pearls that are pinkish-white and pinkish-silver are known to be highly prized.

6. Surface

A quality cultured pearl is free of spots and blemishes.

DIAMONDS
A diamond is a pure or nearly pure brilliant crystalline carbon. It is the hardest transparent mineral known to man. With its distinct innate ability to reflect light, it can display amazing fire and brilliance.

Like pearls, diamonds have a number of qualities that vary widely. Again, choosing that perfect gem can become a bit disconcerting if one doesn't know what to look out for.

Diamond quality is characterized by the 4Cs: Cut, Color, Carat, and Clarity. One has to consider a perfect balance among these four to arrive at a high-quality diamond.

1. Cut

This is the most important characteristic among the four. In order to maximize fire and brilliance, a diamond must be cut with all of its facets and angles in exact geometric relation to each other.

2. Color

Because the purest and rarest of diamonds are practically colorless, its value increases dramatically the more colorless it is. And although many of them appear this way to the untrained eye, they may contain traces of brown, gray, or yellow.

3. Carat

This is the gemologist's standard measure of a diamond's weight. Generally, a diamond's value increases with its carat for the mere reason that large stones are much rarer than small ones. However, it is possible for a large diamond to have little value if it lacks the other qualities that make it brilliant, pure, and colorless.

4. Clarity

Like any product of nature, it is possible to find imperfections in diamonds like tiny feathers and clouds that affect its value. Clarity ranges from imperfect to flawless, the latter being extremely rare ones.