Knowing Your Gemstones and Cabochons is Important When Selecting and Purchasing Native American Jewelry
At Palms Trading Company of Albuquerque, we understand stones. Whether the jewelry contains semi-precious or precious, faceted or cabochon gemstones, we know what we are looking for when selecting Native American jewelry. Types of Gemstones and Cabochons Here are some of the more common gemstones associated with Native American Jewelry : Coral — the hardened secretion of tiny sea creatures. Coral ranges in color from white and pale pink to deep reds and oranges. Coral is an organic material and like other organic gemstones, it is not an especially hard or durable gemstone. It has a hardness rating of 3 to 4 on the Mohs scale, which can easily help distinguish and identify coral from similar colored gemstones such as carnelian, rhodonite or spessartite garnet.White and red coral with a calcium carbonate composition has a specific gravity or density of 2.60-2.70 and a refractive index of 1.486-1.658. These specific gemological properties, combined with coral’s translucent to opaq...