Learn to Detect Gemstone Impostors

Your friend just bought a "top notch" Broghton emerald pendant and is excited about the "deal" she made for it. The pendant is gorgeous, but you hope she did get it for a steal because you're about to tell her that a Broghton emerald is made from green glass. A huge number of gemstones that are advertised with descriptive terms before their names are actually gemstone impostors. Like Herkimer diamonds -- I have some loose stones and they're very pretty, but they're not diamonds at all. And Cape rubies -- they're garnets in disguise. Brazilian sapphires are really blue tourmaline, and a Gilson emerald is a lab-created version of the gem. There are hundreds more -- use my list to become familiar with some of the most common impostors.