Gemstones and their perfect imperfections

You know that our Caroline Hjerpe team adore imperfections like grey hair, freckles, wrinkles and scars. It's the subtle imperfections that also make us love our gemstones, when mother nature creates these little treasures they can never turn out 100% identical.

Natural gemstones are minerals that form in rocks, and the environment and elements that they appear in will affect if they have inclusions or not. Inclusions are foreign materials trapped inside the mineral such as for example other minerals, fractures, air bubbles or liquids. There are a vast variety of inclusions just as there are freckles and such in us humans and sometimes an inclusion can tell valid information about the gemstones identity, like where and how it was formed. Depending on the type and where the inclusion appears in the stone it can either increase or decrease the value of the gem. 

Some gemstones are for example more popular because of the interesting look an inclusion can create. They can give more character to a stone, and in this post we will mention some different types of inclusions and why they're not always seen as flaws. One beloved example is the salt and pepper diamonds with their many small specks of black and white inclusions, which create a magical salt and pepper look-alike effect - as seen on the lovely diamond on the picture down. 

There are so many facts about inclusions, if you are looking to buy a gemstone and would like to find one with some cool zoning or if you want to make sure you are getting a stone without any inclusions you can always ask for our advice. We love both a flawless gemstone with no inclusions and one with lots of interesting details that the imperfections can create. Here are some examples:  

Zoning 

- When a gemstone has color zoning it means that the stone has an uneven color. This can be positive or negative. The cutter decides if the zoning should be hidden by cutting the gemstone so that the coloring will be evenly dispersed or if the zoning should be visible and highlighted to make the main feature of the stone. An example of when we think it’s positive is with bi-color gemstones, which usually are more valuable due to the interesting multi colored look. One popular example is watermelon tourmalines, they are for example often more valuable than some non color zoning tourmalines. The sapphire seen on the photo below has a clear bi-colored look with hints of blue, green and yellow! 

Asterism

- When a gem has tiny needle-like inclusions of rutile, they will reflect light. When cut correctly and with much planning from the cutter it will look like a glittering star. Also called star stone or star sapphire!

Emeralds

Emeralds are one of the most valuable and included gems on the market. Most emeralds comes with some kind of inclusions and the French word for inclusions in an emerald is ¨jardin¨ which means garden. That’s a lovely way to look at inclusions in general, a stone filled with many different types of plants which in this metaphor equals to inclusions. Some emeralds also have something called fissures which are natural inclusions filled with oil. 

Tourmalines

Some tourmalines can have horizontal inclusions called tritches, they are very discreet and hair thin, sometime almost impossible to spot with the human eye and sometimes more visible. 

A little bit of glossary 

Sugar cotton - tiny white dots in the stone that looks like a cloud. 

Pinpoint - a very small crystal that looks like a tiny white, black or grey dot.

Needle - a crystal that looks like a tiny bit of thin hair.

Fingerprint - as the name tells it looks just like a small fingerprint, most common in sapphires.

Hope you enjoyed reading this brief summary of inclusions, with this text we wanted to enlighten the fact that inclusions doesn't have to be a flaw, it can sometime make the gemstone more valuable, unique and personal - just like with our flaws! Whether you're looking for a flawless diamond or an imperfect included gemstone we are here to help you fint the perfect fit for your piece of jewelry. 

Much love from the perfect imperfection loving Caroline Hjerpe team!