Gems and their carat weight

Gems. What definition or characterization can be given under these words, fascinating feelings and emotions of all mankind?

Their brilliance and beauty, the play of light and delightful colors, their magical influence on a person make them perform feats and madness for their sake, and cutters to hone their skills in cutting stones. In the hands of the master, the stone turns into a jewel, because when cutting, the choice is made in favor of the play of color, but to the detriment of the weight of the stone. And then he plays with many multi-colored rays, delights with his brilliance and beauty.

The quality of any gem is determined by several indicators, but the main ones are four, which in England are called "4C" indicators. They are Carat, Color, Clarity, Cut, which means carat weight, color, clarity and cut.

Now let's dwell on determining the mass of a stone in carats. Carat is a constant measure of the mass of a gemstone. One carat corresponds to 0.2 grams. Why is that? This is an ancient unit of measurement derived from the mass of the seed of ceratonia (carob) - Greek. kerattion, which over time, one might say, does not change its mass. In ancient times, people noticed this unique property, and, of course, used it to measure the weight of precious stones. There is another suggestion that this unit of measurement originated from the word Kuara - from the seed of the African coral tree.

In international trade, carat, gram, grain and momme are used to measure the weight of stones, but mainly the first two units.

Carat - in Russian abbreviation - kar, in international - ct, used in jewelry trade. Nevertheless, the carat in different trade regions had different values ​​- from 188 to 213 mg. Since 1907, both in Europe and in America, the metric carat (mct), equal to 200 mg or 0.2 g, was gradually introduced. The mass of precious stones is measured not only in units of carat, but also in its fractions, written in the form of simple (1 / 10 ct) or decimal fractions with two decimal places (1.25 ct). The price of a gem is calculated in carats.

For gold there is also a concept - carat, but here it is no longer about weight, but about metal sample.

Gram It is also used, but when it comes to less valuable precious and ornamental stones in the jewelry trade, this is especially true of raw materials.

Gran - a unit of measure for the mass of pearls, which is 0.05 g or 1/4 ct. Now this unit of measurement is increasingly being replaced by carats.

Momme is the Japanese unit for measuring the mass of pearls., which corresponds to 3.75 g or 18.75 ct. It is almost never found in the European pearl trade.

Precious stones are found in the form of amazingly beautiful crystals already in nature, with a strong luster and natural play of light. But man has learned to improve this beauty with his skill. The dignity of precious stones, their solemn architecture, their brilliance and radiance are clearly manifested "... after the fusion of stone with skill ...".