Gemstone Trade Names

Red Beryl Crystals

The gemstone industry operates as a business, leading to occasional encounters with creative marketing tactics. One common approach involves assigning trade names to gemstones in order to enhance their appeal or evoke a sense of romance. While some of these efforts have proven successful, many others have failed for valid reasons.

Every gemstone type needs to have a name. Since many gemstones have been known throughout the ages, their names are historical. The name "topaz", for example, is thought to be derived from the name of an island in the Red Sea, once known as Topazos. When new gem types are discovered, they are given proper mineralogical names (usually ending in "ite"), and are typically named after a location, discoverer or a unique property of the material. Thus labradorite was named after the Labrador region in Canada, and rhodochrosite was named in reference to its distinctive rose color.

Tsavorite Garnet

Creative marketing typically starts by naming gem varieties rather than gem species, as the latter are generally fixed. Gem varieties within the same species share similar crystal systems and chemical compositions but differ in terms of color, optical effects, or unique inclusions. Not all gem varieties are given distinct names; for example, while red corundum is called "ruby," other colors of corundum are simply referred to as "sapphire," without specific names for yellow or pink variations.

Enlarge Photo Tanzanite Gemstone

When a new gem variety - or its commercial potential - is first recognized, gem marketers may try to introduce a trade name to generate some excitement about the new stone. It happened with a chrome green grossularite garnet that was first discovered in Tanzania in 1967. Tiffany & Co. marketed the new variety under the name tsavorite, with considerable success. Another gem discovered during the same year in Tanzania was introduced by Tiffany & Co. as 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.

Enlarge Photo Kunzite Gemstone

Some marketing names have not been so successful. There has been an attempt to market green quartz (prasiolite) under the name green amethyst. Since amethyst, by definition, is violet or purple quartz, green amethyst is a contradiction, even if the green color is produced by heating amethyst. Similarly, the attempt to brand rare red beryl (sometimes known as bixbite) as red emerald should be destined for failure.