Gemstones are minerals found in the crust of the earth. These crystals are cut and polished to get converted into well-known gemstones. Each gemstone is found with a different ability. Identifying a gemstone and processing it with specified postprocessing treatment makes the gemstone converted into the best quality mineral crystal.
Jewel vs Gem
The main difference between Jewel and Gem is that Jewel is a refined gemstone commonly used as an ornament On the other hand, Gem is a valuable rarely occurring unprocessed gemstone found from the earth’s crust.
Jewels are precious gemstones having the characteristics of being presentable with proper shape and color. They are mainly used as ornaments for women. Jewels are converted gemstones by refining processes that convert minerals into presentable jewels of proper shape and size.
Gems are naturally occurring precious stones collected from the earth’s crust. They come with the characteristics of being rare, valuable, and durable. Gems come in any shape and size in their mineral form. However, they are found with natural beauty thus making them be counted amongst the most precious gemstones.
Comparison Table Between Jewel and Gem
| Parameters Of Comparison | Jewel | Gem |
| Definition | Jewels are refined precious stones, mainly converted from gemstones. | Gems are unprocessed and unrefined naturally occurring precious gemstones. |
| Qualities | Jewels have the quality of being beautiful and durable. | Gems need to have the quality of being rare, durable, and beautiful. |
| Availability | Jewel is a highly valued refined gemstone. Hence they are available in the market in more numbers | Gems are naturally occurring stones with no alteration done. They are mined from the earth, they have less availability. |
| Value | Jewel has its value fixed upon its refining process. Jewels are high valued possessions. | Gems are rare natural stones. They have more value than jewels. |
| Characteristics | Jewel has proper shape and color with proper identification. | Gems do not have any particular shape or color due to their raw form. |
What is Jewel?
Jewel is a term used for the collective identification of refined gemstones mainly used as ornaments. Jewel is another name for jewelry.
Jewels are refined precious or semi-precious stones with flat or smooth surfaces formed by polishing to make them look wearable. Jewels can be pieces of a single stone or they can be made from a group of precious minerals.
Jewels are made of gemstones that are not much rare to find but have the ability of beautifying. Jewels have defined margins and surfaces. The best example of Jewel is Diamond.
Diamond is also found in the form of raw minerals mixed with other mining components. This is then transferred to the industry for separation. A raw diamond is then passed on to many different processes for its separation from other raw materials.
Once done with the separation, it is then concentrated and polished for better visibility. All this process is done with predefined guidelines. However, the cutting and polishing of diamonds is the main process that makes it different from Gems.
What is Gem?
Gem is an unprocessed mineral. Gems are the most precious and one of the rare minerals found from the earth’s crust. Gems are the raw form of jewels. Gems need to get polished and cutter for changing them into jewels.
Gems are very rare to find as minerals. They have their value considered more than the value of the jewel. Gems are precious types of stones.
For any stone to be counted as a Gem, they need to possess the quality of being rare, beautiful, durable, unbreakable, etc. All these qualities make a stone be count as a gem.
The most precious gemstone has only four names under its category. The four precious gems are emeralds, rubies, sapphire, and diamonds.
These four are the rarest and most precious gems found across the globe. They are then refined and polished to be used as a jewel.
Gems are nothing different when we talk about their presence, they are a piece of minerals. The qualities-making gems are an essential part. One of the rarest gems found is named Painite.
Main Differences Between Jewel and Gem
- Gemstones can be of many types, the most common types of gemstones include precious and semi-precious gemstones. Precious gemstones or gems are the raw forms of gemstones. Whereas semiprecious gemstones are also given the term of Jewel, a refined product.
- Jewels are less precious than gems and have their value decided mainly on the refining process applied to them. Gems already have the tag of being rare minerals, their value is independent of any refining process or any other processes. They are one of the major precious minerals found across the globe.
- Jewels are given the shape and good margins by the cutting and polishing process. They are hard and have good shape. However, gems do not have any predefined shape as they are just a piece of minerals.
- Jewels can be used as ornaments and Gems can be used to make Jewels.
- Jewels can be found easily with few searches. Gems are hard to find.
Conclusion
Gemstones have many subcategories under their classification for better identification of minerals. One such classification is a precious and semi-precious gemstone.
Precious gemstone stands for the naturally occurring stones given the tag of gems. Whereas semiprecious gemstone stands for the refined product identified with the name of jewel. The difference between the two is not just limited to their occurring phase. They both are different in terms of their availability, value, shape, qualities, etc.
Apart from the differences, they are part of each other as Gems are used for making Jewels. In other terms, Gem and jewels are also used as synonyms. The value of gems entirely depends upon their naturally occurring form, however when we talk about the value of jewels, it entirely depends upon the refining process and the minerals used for their formation.
Both of them have very little difference between them and need better understanding to identify the border.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0375674294000165
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5582093/