GEMSTONES

In SETTE’s workshop, craftspeople work hand in hand closely with the goldsmith and gemstone setter to ensure that the chosen gemstone goes perfectly with the piece and generate maximum effect. Our gemstone buyers identify stones and assess their quality and value. The value of a colored gemstone is defined essentially by its rarity, durability and its beauty. Our gemologists and gemstone buyers inspect every stone for the quality criteria of Color, Cut & Form, Weight, Hardness and Transparency.

AGATE

Agate is a fine grained quartz and one of the first gemstone known. Roman artisans carved seals from it. 19 Century Victorians used it to create beautiful Cameos. They believed that it provided the wearer with a bold heart and pleasant dreams. The characteristic boasts dramatic curved or angular stripes or bands of color. The extraordinary patterns in some agates look like moss, ferns, and tree. and tree.
AMETHYST

Amethyst is the purple variety of the quartz mineral species. It was believed to prevent intoxication—amethystos means “not drunk” in ancient Greek. Today, as the most valued quartz variety, amethyst is in demand for designer pieces and mass-market jewelry alike, and its purple to pastel hues retain wide consumer appeal. Amethyst is the birthstone for February and the gem for the 6th and 17th wedding anniversaries.
AQUAMARINE

Its name comes from the Latin for seawater and it was said to calm waves and keep sailors safe at sea. March’s birthstone and the gem of the 19th wedding anniversary was also thought to enhance the happiness of marriages. Its color is usually a light pastel greenish blue.
CITRINE

Citrine is rare in nature. In the days before modern gemology, its tawny color caused it to be confused with topaz. Today, its attractive color, plus the durability and affordability it shares with most other quartzes, makes it the top-selling yellow-to-orange gem. The finest citrine color is a saturated yellow to reddish orange free of brownish tints. Along with topaz, citrine is a birthstone for November. It’s also recognized as the gem that commemorates the thirteenth anniversary.
CHALCEDONY

Chalcedony is one of the world’s oldest popular gems. Many cultures throughout history have used it for a variety of purposes. Chalcedony comes in an incredibly wide range of colors and patterns.
CHRYSOPRASE

Its name come from Greek words meaning “golden apple” and is the best-known variety of the mineral quartz.
EMERALD

Emerald is the green to greenish blue variety of beryl, a mineral species that also includes aquamarine as well as beryls in other colors. As the gem of spring, Emerald is the perfect choice as the birthstone for the month of May. It’s also the gem of the twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries.
GARNET, RED GARNETS

Garnet, Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems. But not all garnets are as abundant as the red ones. A green garnet, tsavorite, is rarer and needs rarer rock chemistries and conditions to form. Garnet is the birthstone for January and the gem for the second anniversary.
KUNZITE

Kunzite is the best-known variety of the mineral spodumene. It’s named after famed gemologist George Frederick Kunz, who was the first to identify it as a unique variety of spodumene. Kunzite gets its delicate color to emphasize its pink to violet color Some consider Kunzite to be an alternate birthstone for February.
LAPIS LAZULI

Lapis Lazuli is a rock, which means it’s an aggregate of several minerals. This ancient gem contains three minerals in varying amounts: lazurite, calcite, and pyrite. Sometimes, it also contains one or more of the following: diopside, amphibole, feldspar, and mica. Although many people associate lapis with dark blue, it’s also found in other shades of blue, and even other hues. Its color can range from deep violet blue and royal blue to light blue to turquoise blue to a greenish blue. The combination of different minerals in the aggregate determines the color.
MOONSTONE

Moonstone is a variety of the feldspar-group mineral orthoclase. During formation, orthoclase and albite separate into alternating layers. When light falls between these thin layers it is scattered producing the phenomenon called adularescence. Adularescence is the light that appears to billow across a gem. The finest Moonstone is a gem of glassy purity with a mobile, electric blue shimmer. Bodycolor should be nearly colorless and free of any yellowish, brownish, or unattractive green tints. Adularescence should, ideally, be blue. The sheen should be centered on the top of a cabochon, and it should be easily seen from a wide range of viewing angles. If a moonstone’s adularescence is only visible within a restricted viewing range, its value drops. Moonstone is a birthstone for June, along with pearl and alexandrite.
MORGANITE

Morganite is the pink to orange-pink variety of beryl, a mineral that includes emerald and aquamarine. Strong pink is rare, and gems usually have to be large to achieve the finest color
PINK OPAL

Pink Opal is a lovely opal variety that typically ranges in color from very light to medium dark pink. It might be faceted, while cabochon cuts are popular for stones.
QUARTZ

Quartz is one of the most well-known Gemstones. It occurs all different forms and colors. There are many different varieties of quartz such as Amethyst, Citrine, Chalcedony and Agate.
ONYX

Onyx is the black variety of chalcedony characterized by straight, black and white parallel bands. Onyx has provided gem carvers with ideal materials for cameos and intaglios. The color banding allows the creation of carved designs that contrast dramatically with their backgrounds.
PREHNITE

Prehnite are usually light green in color, with a whitish hue or yellowish tinge. Deep green gemstones are not common. Prehnite gemstones often appear cloudy or velvety, and rarely fully transparent. They may also contain colors zones of lighter and darker green.
PEARL

Pearl Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, natural and cultured—occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar are white and cream, but the palette of colors extends to every hue. Natural pearls form around a microscopic irritant in the bodies of certain mollusks. Cultured pearls are the result of the deliberate insertion of a bead or piece of tissue that the mollusk coats with nacre.
There are four major types of cultured whole pearls:

AKOYA—This type is most familiar to many jewelry customers. Japan and China both produce saltwater akoya cultured pearls.

SOUTH SEA—Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are leading sources of these saltwater cultured pearls.

TAHITIAN—Cultivated primarily around the islands of French Polynesia (the most familiar of these is Tahiti), these saltwater cultured pearls usually range from white to black.

FRESHWATER—These are usually cultured in freshwater lakes and ponds. They’re produced in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and colors. China and the US are the leading sources.

Pearl is the birthstone for June and the gem of the third and thirtieth anniversaries.
ROSE QUARTZ

Its color ranges from very light pink to medium-dark pink. The most appealing color typically occurs in larger sizes. Small specimens generally display lighter shades of pink. Rose quartz has been popular with gem carvers for producing figurines and other small decorative objects. Rose quartz has been recognized as the gem that commemorates the fifth wedding anniversary.
PERIDOT

The Egyptians called it the “gem of the sun.” The color range for Peridot is narrow, from a brown-green color to yellowish green to pure green. Yellowish green is the most common Peridot color seen in jewelry. Peridot is the birthstone for August and the 15th anniversary gemstone.
RUBY

It can command the highest per-carat price of any colored stone. This makes ruby one of the most important gems in the colored stone market. In its purest form, the mineral corundum is colorless. Trace elements that become part of the mineral’s crystal structure cause variations in its color. Chromium is the trace element that causes ruby’s red color which ranges from an orangy red to a purplish red. Ruby is the birthstone for July and the gem for the 15th and 40th anniversaries.
SAPPHIRE

The name “sapphire” can also apply to any corundum that’s not ruby red, another corundum variety. Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes so-called “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, black, or brown. Corundum can show a phenomenon called asterism, or the star effect. This phenomenon usually appears as a six-ray star pattern across a cabochon-cut stone’s curved surface. The star effect can be seen in ruby or any color of sapphire, and it arises from white light reflecting from numerous tiny, oriented needle-like inclusions. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 5th and 45th anniversaries.
TOPAZ

Topaz actually has an exceptionally wide color range that, besides brown, includes various tones and saturations of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple. Colorless topaz is plentiful, and is often treated to give it a blue color. Precious Topaz is a birthstone for November and blue topaz is a birthstone for December. Blue topaz is the gem of the 4th anniversary and Imperial topaz is the gem of the 23rd anniversary.
TOURMALINES

Tourmalines have a wide variety of exciting colors with one of the widest color ranges of any gem.Many tourmaline color varieties have inspired their own trade names:

RUBELLITE is a name for pink, red, purplish red, orangy red, or brownish red tourmaline, although some in the trade argue that the term shouldn’t apply to pink tourmaline.

INDICOLITE is dark violetish blue, blue, or greenish blue tourmaline.

PARAÍBA is an intense violetish blue, greenish blue, or blue tourmaline from the state of Paraíba, Brazil.

CHROME TOURMALINE is intense green. In spite of its name, it’s colored mostly by vanadium, the same element that colors many Brazilian and African emeralds.

PARTI-COLORED TOURMALINE displays more than one color. One of the most common combinations is green and pink, but many others are possible.

WATERMELON TOURMALINE is pink in the center and green around the outside. Crystals of this material are typically cut in slices to display this special arrangement.

TOURMALINE is a birthstone for October, along with opal. Tourmaline is also the gem of the eighth anniversary.
TURQUOISE

Turquoise is found in only a few places on earth: dry and barren regions where acidic, copper-rich groundwater seeps downward and reacts with minerals that contain phosphorus and aluminum. The result of this sedimentary process is a porous, semitranslucent to opaque compound of hydrated copper and aluminum phosphate. Turquoise is the traditional birthstone for the month of December and the gem of the 11th anniversary.