Frequently Asked Questions

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Our mission at Floridagemsandjewels.com is to provide high-quality gems and dichroic glass jewelry at very affordable prices.

• Diamonds
• Rubies
• Sapphires
• Spinels
• Emeralds
• Australian Opals
• Ethiopian Opals
• Tsavorites
• Tourmalines
• Amethysts
• Ametrines
• Zircons
• Turquoises
• Onyx
• Iolites
• Cats Eyes
• Smokey Quartzes
• And many, many more.

If you have a particular gem you are looking for, just ask and I will see if I can track it down with one of my traders.

Simply, I have almost no overhead.  I sell from this online store and at the Longwood Farmers Market in Longwood, Florida on Saturdays.  If you come to the Orlando, Florida area, please come see me.

Jewelry is most often an emotional purchase.  Many jewelers play on those emotions by jacking up their prices.   Buying the gem and the jewelry setting separately will save you a great deal of money, sometimes hundreds.  I don't sell gold or silver jewelry.  You can go to any jeweler you wish or I can recommend one I've dealt with for several decades.  They are very fair and their quality is excellent.  Either way you just go to the jeweler of your choice and ask to see the settings catalog.  They will add a stone setting charge to your purchase which in most cases is fairly nominal.  As a result you will have good value for your money.

REVOLUTION.  Yes, revolution!  Lab-created diamonds and reclaimed diamonds are flooding the market.  DeBeers no longer controls worldwide prices.  Consequently there is considerable downward pressure on earth-mined diamonds.  

The majority of diamond cutting is not done in Antwerp, but in India.  The Indians have invested billions into diamond-making machines and cutting facilities.  As of today, 70% of all diamonds sold in the United States for engagement rings are lab diamonds.  You can take advantage of this revolution by making an informed and thoughtful purchase.

Yes.  They are chemically and characteristically identical.  Lab diamonds with top color grade and clarity, more often than not, are available at a fraction of the price for an equivalent  earth-mined diamond.  You can get better quality for less money.

Many earth-mined diamonds are brown or gray.  Gem quality earth-mined diamonds are much rarer to find.  New processes have been created to recover the darker stones.  You will see the abbreviation, HTPT (Heat Treated, Pressure Treated) in reference to these treated stones.

There is a story around this man-made glass.  NASA needed a glass that would block out the sun's radiation from the astronauts' eyes.  Dichroic glass is a metallically coated and fused glass.  It was developed especially for that purpose for NASA.  If you look at the astronauts' helmets you will see a golden/bronze visor.  The visor is made out of dichroic glass.

Like so many products developed for the government, other uses for it have been developed.  Dichroic glass comes in a rainbow of colors, textures and designs.  It is ideal for jewelry making.  Sometimes when it is in bright light it will dazzle you with sparks of color and the color may even change depending on the angle of lighting.

I have an excellent inventory of pendants, pins, earrings, cuff links, and money clips.  Photos of my jewelry may not show all of the scintillating characteristics.  I encourage you to have a personal experience with it.