Fine and ornamental stone, what are the differences?

Between natural stones, semi-precious stones, fine stones, precious stones, ornamental stones, it is difficult to find your way around. Both different and similar, today we will focus on the difference between fine stones and ornamental stones.

Fine or ornamental, a question of transparency

Formerly, THE diamond, THE sapphire, THE ruby and theemerald were called precious stones, other fine stones were called semi-precious. This term disappeared in the world of jewelry following a decree in 2002, to avoid confusion. They then all became so-called fine stones. Other stones are called ornamental stones. What are their differences ?

Old ring silver, Aquamarine and Diamonds

Fine stones

The characteristic of fine stones is that they have the ability to let in light thanks to their more or less perfect transparency. These are colored stones most of the time. You certainly know a large number of them thanks to our jewelry: 

L’aquamarine, amethyst, ametrine, apatite, aventurine, azurite, beryl, citrine, diamond, garnet, tourmaline, opal, peridot, heliodor, or even topaz, and many more.

Ornamental stones

Let's move on to the ornamental stone. Very similar to fine stones thanks to their very varied color palettes, its only big difference is that they are opaque stones. Here are some examples: azurite, chalcedony, charoite, epidote, jade, jasper, lapis lazuli, malachite, tiger's eye, onyx, iron pyrite, rhodonite, sodalite, turquoise, and many others. They are called ornamental because many of them are also used in furniture marquetry or decoration. 

Some stones can also be declined or have several shades such as jasper or jade. Some cameos, for example, play on the white part and the other colored part of the agate. Here's why you'll hear about gemstones or ornamental stones on 58 Facettes, you now know how to differentiate them!

Find all our jewelry on 58 facettes and especially the cameos.