It is true that most fine gemstone jewelry pieces, such as diamond rings, do cost thousands of dollars, yet many potential buyers are surprised to discover that it is possible to buy fine gemstones of reasonable size for under five hundred dollars. You just need to know where to look and what to look for.
The cost of gemstone jewelry, like the prices for many other marketed products, will shift with supply and demand. With heavy demand and limited supplies, prices will be high, as they are with birthstones such as blue sapphires, tanzanites, garnets and Burmese rubies.
There are many gems that are consistently in good supply, several of which are reasonably priced. They include birthstone gems such as amethyst, citrine, ametrine, blue topaz and many of the common red garnets that are typically used in gemstone earrings and gemstone necklaces. Good quality pieces can sell for as little as ten dollars a carat.
However, amethyst or citrine may bring to mind birth stones or birth stone jewelry, instead of fine gemstones, yet they are still of good quality and are very beautiful. Another strategy for finding affordable gems is to opt for certain varieties of gems, which are rare, but not expensive. These are gems, which have not been heavily promoted in the market due to their scarcity; such as spinel, peridot, zircon, beryl, toumaline and spessartite garnet. They all have good clarity, hardness and brilliance. It all depends on size and color of course, but quality specimens can be found at prices from twenty five to one hundred and fifty dollars a carat. You also need to consider the place where gems will be purchased, as it can affect the price. The same one and a half carat September birthstone sapphire from Madagascar may cost anywhere from four hundred to fifteen hundred dollars, depending on where you buy it. The distribution chain for gemstones can consist of many middlemen, and each additional supplier in the chain can increase the selling price by fifty percent. Try to buy as close to the source as possible for the best prices and you can save yourself hundreds of dollars.
It is still possible to buy good quality jewelry birthstones such as sapphires, tanzanites, tsavorite garnets and even Burmese rubies at prices under five hundred dollars if you find the right source. Of course, you will not get the finest quality of those gemstone earrings at under five hundred dollars; as they really do cost in the thousands! Nevertheless, you can find high quality stones with good color and clarity in the one to one and a half carat sizes at that price range. Just remember that you can also pay much, much more for the very same gems, if your supplier is many steps removed from the origin of the stones.