3 Top Tips From a Gemmologist to Consider When Purchasing Labradorite
I’m Marie Chalmers, an Award-Winning Gemmologist with over 20 years of experience in the Gemstone and Diamond industry. As a qualified Gemmologist and Fine Goldsmith, I have worked across continents such as India, Africa and China. I have travelled the world building strong relationships and a fantastic supply chain, enabling Chalmers Gems to bring you the highest quality products at the best possible price. Less about me and onto my tips for buying Labradorite…
Tip 1
The first thing to consider is the colour.
Labradorite has a grey body colour, but it demonstrates an optical phenomenon called Labradorescence. This is the bright flash of colour you see across the piece and is crucial to consider when purchasing this Gemstone.
Now Labradorscence isn’t a display of colours – it is an interaction with light. When light enters the Stone it strikes the twinning surface. The flash of colour/colours you see is the light interacting with the twinning surface. Different surfaces will give different colours.
The colours come in everything from a golden yellow right through to greens, oranges, blues, and the most valuable is purple. That colour flash will affect the value of the piece of Labradorite you are going to buy.
Tip 2
Number two is the consistency of the flash, so when you purchase your Labradorite, you’ll notice that not all Labradorite shows Labradorescence all the way around.
That is due to the structure of the Labradorite itself. However, you can get pieces that show a consistent flash on one plain of the ornamental piece.
This piece, for example, you can see has a grey body colour and has beautiful flashes as we rotate it, and that means as the light changes throughout the day, it will catch the light and give a bit of a different appearance.
So again, this is going to impact the value of your Labradorite. If you want one clean flash going straight across the piece, then that will give a different price point to one that has a flash that can be seen only in specific orientations.
Tip 3
Number three, this is my most important point about purchasing Labradorite! And that is if you are purchasing it for ornamental use or for jewellery-making purposes, it is really important that you consider the cut of the Labradorite.
The Gemstone itself won’t exhibit its Labradorescences in every orientation, and it needs to have an expert cutter cut it. Make sure when you display your piece of Labradorite; it will show the flash in that orientation.
You will see that on some pieces, there is a beautiful flash in one orientation but not so much in another orientation. When you are looking to purchase your Labradorite, try to make sure you can see which way up it will display the flash.
This is equally as important when buying this Gem for jewellery-making purposes because if you are making pendants or rings, you need your Labradorite to show its flash of colour to the customer in the orientation that they will wear it, and if you buy really lovely quality Labradorite which has been cut by a very skilled Labradorite expert you will get the best from your Labradorite with the most perfect flash making your Jewellery extremely valuable and extremely eye-catching.
What other Gemstones would you like us to talk about? Just let us know in the comments.
Our website is stocked full of Labradorite Cabochons, Beads, Strands and Collectables. Why not take a look and shop our full range of Labradorite HERE.
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