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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 399837, member: 5833&quot;]There are 2 realms of terminology: words as used by mineralogists; words as used &#039;in the trade&#039;.&nbsp; You can imagine the latter are more freewheeling.</p><p><br /></p><p>As long as the stone is molecularly one that is regarded as precious or semiprecious, they will be called gemstones.&nbsp; There are many ways of changing/&#039;enhancing&#039; color through dye, heat &amp; irradiation, as well as ways of growing crystals in labs that are genuinely the stated mineral, just not made by natural processes.&nbsp; Some of these are so routine, members of the trade do not feel obliged to mention them.&nbsp; If you would value a stone as truly a gemstone only if it is &#039;natural&#039;, mined &amp; untreated, you really have to look for these qualifiers when a stone is described &amp; trust the source of the description.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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