Family Concerns

When it comes to jewelry design there a huge number of variations using the almost inexhaustible supply of gems, stones and precious and semi precious metals. Many of the jewelry design experts will work long painstaking hours to create their masterpiece but in my opinion the main factor that makes the difference between an average piece of jewelry and a truly beautiful piece is the quality and look of the gemstone itself.

I am not a jewelry connoisseur by any means but like most of us I do know what I like. While I do love the more mainstream gems like diamonds, rubies and particularly sapphires, I do like to find something a bit more unusual and unique. The beauty of this is the piece is often cheaper than those including diamonds etc. For instance not long ago I was browsing through a favorite jewelry store when I cane across a piece which really captured my attention. It was an antique ring where the center gemstone was Ametrine. The fascinating thing about this ring was they had a complete history for it. The ring had been commissioned 100 years ago so I knew it was an original piece and had found it’s way into the store through an estate sale.

The Ametrine gemstone was exquisite with different coloring, yellow at one end and purple at the other and the truly amazing thing was where the two colors met there was a perfect line separating them. Apparently this is the way the stone is mined but it is difficult to believe something so perfect and exact is found as a naturally occurring phenomenon. This gem was truly beautiful, smooth and clear, presented with an emerald cut.