Chapter 1 Notes - suitable for use in jewellery is its...

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Chapter 1 Notes The Essential Qualities of Gem Material The first and most obvious quality that makes gems suitable for jewellery is beauty A gem’s beauty cannot easily be quantified as it depends on subjective factors to do with its appearance Rarity is another quality which must be present in some degree in all gemstones worthy of the name Unlike beauty, rarity can be affected by factors such as supply and demand, and by both fashion and scarcity of the source material The third essential quality which must be present in a gem before it can be considered
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Unformatted text preview: suitable for use in jewellery is its durability This is a more practical than either beauty or rarity, but without it a gemstone would not be able to survive either the day-to-day wear and tear experienced by a piece of jewellery, or the chemical attack from pollutants in the atmosphere, and would soon lose its surface polish Durability, which includes the property of hardness and toughness, is therefore a most important quality in a gemstone from the wearer’s point of view...
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