BMJ Blog

Gem Hardness

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Mary Hood | 0 Comments

If you’ve ever watched a minute of TV in your life, you’re probably familiar with the famous “A Diamond Is Forever” campaign. It isn’t just clever marketing—there’s some truth behind that catchy phrase. Combined with their beauty, the hardness of diamonds makes them a natural choice for investment and everyday jewelry.

All minerals vary in hardness and are measured on Moh’s scale. Hardness refers to the mineral’s resistance to being scratched. The softest mineral, talc (think eye shadow and baby powder), is one moh. At 10 mohs, a diamond is the hardest mineral and can only be scratched by another diamond. Apatite—the stunning blue-green stone pictured below—is 5 mohs. It could be scratched by harder minerals like diamond and quartz (7 mohs), but softer minerals like talc won’t scratch it.

What This Means for Selecting a Gem - Despite its hardness, a diamond isn’t always a girl’s best friend. We’d miss out on so many beautiful gems if we only wore diamonds. Nonetheless, it’s important to keep hardness in mind when selecting which gems to set in which types of jewelry. Apatite, for example, would fare best in lightly used items like earrings or pedants—as opposed to jewelry that takes more abuse like rings and bracelets. Just think about how much a bracelet bumps your desk while you clack away at the keyboard!  Not ideal for maintaining the beauty of softer stones.

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Posted in Diamonds, gem durability, gem hardness, Informational, jewelry care, mohs hardness, Mohs scale