Precious or semi-precious stone quartz

Quartz is the most common class of minerals, which includes many different forms. Some of the varieties of quartz are a semi-precious group of gems, others are ornamental jewelry.

To which group does

The term "precious" has not only a legal and regulatory meaning, but also everyday life. So, according to the law of the Russian Federation, only 7 stones are considered precious: diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, alexandrite, pearl and amber. But in the jewelry field, this list is expanding greatly.

According to the gemological classification, the first group of jewelry (precious) stones of the IV order includes:

• amethyst;
• chrysoprase;
• citrine.

The varieties that are classified in the second group (jewelry and ornamental stones) of the XNUMXst order include:

• smoky quartz;
• rhinestone;
• aventurine.

To the same classification, but II order belong:

• agate;
• onyx.

The third group includes jasper and aventurine quartzite.

The remaining varieties can be attributed to ornamental jewelry stones:

• prase;
• prasiolite;
• rose quartz;
• hairy quartz;
• cornelian;
• chalcedony;
• morion.

In order to clarify, it should be noted that the class of ornamental stones does not mean at all that you have a fake in front of you. This is just a conventional term that combines all minerals and rocks that can be used as an insert in jewelry. But the classification to a certain type depends on many indicators of gems:

• purity;
• the size;
• the rarity of formation in nature;
• transparency;
• shine;
• the presence of various inclusions.

In addition, some varieties can be both semi-precious and ornamental at the same time.