Gemstone Trade Names
 |
| Red Beryl Crystals |
The gemstone trade is a business, so it's not surprising to encounter some creative marketing from time to time. One popular marketing strategy is the introduction of trade names for gemstones, with the goal of making the gems more enticing or romantic. Some of the attempts to introduce trade names have been successful; many have failed, usually with good reason.
Every gemstone species needs to have a name. Since many gemstones have been known from antiquity, their names are historical. The name "topaz," for example, is thought to derive from the name of an island in the Red Sea known once known as Topazos. When new gem species are discovered, they are given proper mineralogical names (usually ending in "ite"), and are typically named after a location or a discoverer or a unique property of the material. Thus Labradorite was named after the Labrador region in Canada, and Rhodochrosite after its distinctive rose color.
 |
| Tsavorite Garnet |
Creative marketing usually begins not with the names of gem species -- which are rarely up for grabs -- but with the names of gem varieties. Varieties belonging to the same gem species share a crystal system and chemical composition, but vary with respect to color or optical phenomenon or distinctive inclusions. Many gem varieties do not receive special names. While red corundum is known as "ruby," all the other corundum colors are known as "sapphire," and there is no special name for yellow sapphire or pink sapphire.
Tanzanite Gemstone |
When a new gem variety -- or its commercial potential -- is first recognized, gem marketers may try to introduce a trade name to create some excitement for the new stone. It happened with a chrome green grossularite garnet first discovered in Tanzania in 1967. Tiffany & Co. marketed the new variety under the name tsavorite, with considerable success. Another gem discovered in the same year in Tanzania was a brown zoisite that turned a striking violet blue when heated. The name "heated brown zoisite" was not very exciting, so Tiffany introduced the name tanzanite, and the new gem has had a huge market success, despite being softer than ordinary quartz.
Other successful examples of trade names include kunzite for pink spodumene, and morganite for pink beryl. The former was named in honor of the gemologist George F. Kunz and the latter in honor of the financier and gem collector, J.P. Morgan.
Kunzite Gemstone |
But some other marketing names have not been successful. There has been an attempt to market green quartz or prasiolite under the name green amethyst. Since amethyst, by definition, is the violet or purple color of quartz, a green amethyst is a contradiction, even if the green color is produced by heating amethyst. Similarly, the attempt to brand the rare red beryl (sometimes known as bixbite) as red emerald should be destined for failure.
|
.gif){kind=small}