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How do YOU think of the term, luster?

Adamantium has nothing to do with this guy then?:
FB-Adam-Ant-no-copy-smaller-1532022609.png

It sounds like the name of a disorder for people who don't drink... or smoke. "Joe suffers from adamantium. He's not much fun at parties."
 
I think of luster as reflection of light, like big flashes you'd get off of metals and pearls. It doesn't necessarily mean refraction or rainbow scintillation, which are more inherently the properties of the light source and the gem RI.

Luster to me has more to do with the type and quality of the cut/polish, than the gem variety.
 
People at parties probably say things like: " you don't drink, you don't smoke...what do you do?!" and I'm thinking, then subtle innuendo follows...
 
Also many gems don’t retain their luster, as they’re softer and can be prone to losing their polish. Diamonds are best at retaining their luster due to hardness.

Very true.
 
I don’t follow - I’m not saying avoid “luster”? Or at least that’s not what I’m trying to say... The term “luster” is used to describe all the effects outlined in that article and more. But it’s used very inconsistently - different people use it to mean different subsets of all of those effects… But different people also value different subsets of those effects more highly, and currently there’s no common language for buyer and seller to explicate which properties of “luster” are desired/present…

I'm saying, no one would buy Pearls if they did not have luster. Not saying you meant, "avoid luster.”

Luster is what makes Pearls attractive and coveted. If they did not have luster, no one would buy them. Same goes for cut gemstones. You would not have the dispersion & brilliance of a stone that was not polished to show off the luster. One is interlinked with the other but at the same time separate.

The word and meaning of luster are used a lot in the trade. In the trade we know what it means, but it has somehow got discombobulated trickling down to the consumer. This is the trades’ fault, not the consumer. But the consumer can look luster up and know the definition.
 
Luster by definition is higher on harder stuff. Take wood for example - a soft pine wood does not take as high a polish and have as good a potential luster as a hard wood.
So in terms of gems stones the same applies. The harder the material the better the potential polish.
There are other factors too though - diamond can only be polished by diamond and there are some crystal plane orientations, especially on fancy shape pavilions, that make top polish impossible. But since we don't usually see pavilions it does not affect 'luster'.
Vitrious luster applies to gems around 5 to I think about 8 on the Mohs hardness scale.
Adamantine luster applies to diamond and I guess moissanite. The word is latin for diamond.
 
I'm saying, no one would buy Pearls if they did not have luster. Not saying you meant, "avoid luster.”

Luster is what makes Pearls attractive and coveted. If they did not have luster, no one would buy them. Same goes for cut gemstones. You would not have the dispersion & brilliance of a stone that was not polished to show off the luster. One is interlinked with the other but at the same time separate.

The word and meaning of luster are used a lot in the trade. In the trade we know what it means, but it has somehow got discombobulated trickling down to the consumer. This is the trades’ fault, not the consumer. But the consumer can look luster up and know the definition.

Did you happen to read the article I linked?
That was written by tradepeople, not consumers - there isn’t universal trade agreement on the definition of the word by any means.
 
...

The word and meaning of luster are used a lot in the trade. In the trade we know what it means, but it has somehow got discombobulated trickling down to the consumer. This is the trades’ fault, not the consumer. But the consumer can look luster up and know the definition.

I'd love to see the definition of luster used by the trade; please cite a source to look up the term.
TIA.
 
Did you happen to read the article I linked?
That was written by tradepeople, not consumers - there isn’t universal trade agreement on the definition of the word by any means.

One article does not make for good communication between dealers and buyers when buying gemstones.

I was siding with the consumer on this one.
 
Here are some luster articles on gemstones.




There are more for those interested.
 
Pearl lustre is a totally different thing to do with light bouncing off layers of arragonite.

Yes, apples and oranges, or should I say pearls and gemstones. Though there are gems with pearly luster they are different animals.
 
It is quite
I'd love to see the definition of luster used by the trade; please cite a source to look up the term.
TIA.

Simple on the basic level. Light reflected off a surface, then it gets more complicated categorizing the different types of lusters. But when you have seen enough stones, you know.

My main point here is that there needs to be better communication between dealers and buyers on the subject.

Also, with the advent of the internet, there has been/is a huge blossoming of source dealers wanting in on the money made selling gems. Most of these are poor people wanting to make a living, and good for them, but many are gemologically ignorant in the educated sense. Does not mean they do not know what and which stones they have, but it is in layman terms. These people don't have the luxury of time and money to take full gemological courses. Hence, you will get different explanations on the word luster and what it means to them. But at the same time, it may be that the consumer is the one who is confused by all this and many of these source dealers know exactly what luster is.

Pick one, both, or neither, if you like.

My customers when I was dealing, never asked about luster. Whether they were ignorant of luster or just did not care, who can say. But they did ask questions which luster is one of the components of the answer.

In the end, we could go on all day with this. Either people are content in their knowledge of luster or just don’t care as long as the stone is shiny, bright, brilliant, and beautiful.
 
We had been buying aquamarine and morganite from Brazilian and Jaipur cutters, but have shifted to Germans / Idaroberstine simply because of the polish, i.e. better lustre for 30% more money.
 
We had been buying aquamarine and morganite from Brazilian and Jaipur cutters, but have shifted to Germans / Idaroberstine simply because of the polish, i.e. better lustre for 30% more money.

Yes, great cutting over in Idar Oberstein. Cutting is getting better overseas, especially Pakistan & Sri Lanka, but there is still a lot of rudimentary cutting and polishing out there.
 
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