Colored Gems-"Beautiful, Intricate and flawed"
Beauty of a colored gem is as strange as the perplexity behind midnight moon. Even after being cursed with blemished facet its panorama is deep sinking and beautiful. On one hand where inclusions and blemishes are negative aspects effecting price and clarity of a gemstone, they are also the proof of their natural occurrence at the same time. Therefore judging clarity and transparency of a colored gem is not as easy as pointing a crack in mirror.
Clarity and transparency of a gemstone are primarily affected by blemishes and inclusions. Inclusions are internal flaws that are formed during the process of natural occurrence while blemishes are external marks or abrasions that have got to do with handling and hardness of a gem. One cannot scale all the gems equally in terms of above factors as these depend upon individual characteristics of gem or family. For instance Rubies have more inclusion than sapphires even though they belong to same family of mineral. In addition to this, some gemstones could be judged with naked eyes while others need aided scrutiny to evaluate their class.
Firstly one should be aware about terminology used to describe various levels of transparency and clarity. Clarity of colored gems ranges from transparent, semi- transparent, translucent to semi translucent and opaque. Transparency on the other hand is graded in the terms of crystal, milky, cloudy, and sleepy. These terms are mostly used to describe the basic nature of a gem. While some gems are naturally opaque like opal and others are highly transparent and reflecting like diamonds. Most of gem's clarity and transparency depends on its basic nature and properties. Once you are able to classify a gem on above grounds, it would be much simpler to make a judgment.
One should be well acquainted with the fact that while some stones are good in terms of transparency, others are prone to certain types of inclusions and blemishes as these relate to their physical properties and occurrence. In addition to this not all inclusions are considered negative; some of them may even enhance beauty of a gem. For example corundum's usually come included with mineral crystal and silk like inclusions. While crystals degrade their eye appeal, silk like fibers of rutile appreciate their beauty. Apart from affecting eye appeal of a gem some inclusions also affect durability hence one should be careful in detecting these out. False cleavage and fracture are among inclusions that are a risk to durability of stone.
External flaws of a gem include scratches, pits, abrasions and nicks. These are usually found on either facet or griddle of a gem. External flaws are outside defects that are mainly caused due mishandling of stones. Some stones like emeralds are fragile in nature therefore they should be handled with care.
