ASK THE AVERAGE man or woman in the street to name their favorite colored gemstone and the list tends to get a bit thin after the big three and the occasional reference to aquamarine or morganite. Jewelers, of course, live this stuff. It’s not just the rich colors but all the other special properties that gemstones can have from their brilliance to their unique inclusions to the “joy” they provide when working on them at the bench that will trigger a fondness for one gemstone over another.
In the 2020 INSTORE Big Survey, we asked jewelers to name their “favorite gemstone that no non-jewelry person has heard of”. The question attracted more than 300 responses with tsavorite coming out the clear winner, scoring almost twice as many votes as the second-place getter, spinel. Here are the top 15 “insider’s gemstones”:
1. Tsavorite (34)
2. Spinel (18)
3. Alexandrite (12) TIE
Sphene (12) TIE
5. Andalusite (8) TIE
Benitoite (8) TIE
Padparadsha Sapphire (8) TIE
Paraiba Tourmaline (8) TIE
9. Kunzite (6) TIE
Kyanite (6) TIE
11. Apatite (5) TIE
Demantoid garnet (5) TIE
Indicolite (5) TIE
Blue Zircon (5) TIE
15. Cat’s Eye Chrysoberyl (4)
Tanzanite (4)