Your number one source for loose colored gemstones

High quality gemstones for individual jewellry and as an attractive investment option

Welcome to carat-online.at, a family-owned business and Europe's leading direct provider of hand-cut quality gemstones. Due to best international contacts, we import our gemstones directly from the main markets and can therefore offer top-quality gems at really competitive prices to our customers. Our long term cooperation with renowned gemstone cutters retains excellent quality and meets the highest requirements. Every single gemstone is checked gemmologically and assessed according to commercial criteria before they are released for sale.

We offer our wide range of attractive single stones, pairs, sets & lots to the general public, goldsmiths and jewellry designers. Our online-prices are usually 20% below the usual retail prices, the special offers even 50% below the price that is demanded in qualified specialist retailers, at trade fairs or at the jeweller. Before ordering it is possible to save a copy of the gemstone´s details (in-house gemstone report) as PDF for later reference.

As a free service, for each gemstone starting at a purchase price of € 1,500,- we proudly provide a certificate issued by the Gemmological Laboratory Austria (GLA), Austrias leading licensed gemological laboratory. The certificate identifies and declares the quality of the gemstone as well as its commercial price (retail value) and gives our customers absolute certainty when buying online as well as legal evidence for insurance issues or notarial matters. If you have any questions about the offered gemstones or are interested in a personal consultation, please feel free to contact us directly via our contact form, by email or by phone.

We would be delighted to welcome you as our next satisfied customer!

Buying of loose gemstones

The price of a gemstone is mainly determinated by its colour, cut, clarity and weight.

In the international diamond-market the 4 Cs (carat, colour, clarity and cut) are relevant for the price – they can also be used in a similar way when buying colored stones.

The price of gemstones is calculated by their weight (1 carat is 0,2 gram). As large gemstones are usually rare, their price per carat is considerably higher. This effects especially the so called "precious gemstones", like ruby, sapphire and emerald – also some more high-quality gems like tanzanite, mandarin-garnet, tsavorite and others.

The colour is a very important factor for price-building of gemstones. The more vivid and saturated the colour is, the higher the price of a gemstone rises.

Gemstones without eye-visible inclusions are absolutely top-valued. Colored gemstones mostly have tiny inclusions – just visible by using a loupe. Absolutely flawless gems are rather rare and most valuable. Small inclusions, which do not effect the brilliance of the gemstone, make the stone cheaper but do not matter its beauty.

The cut and especially the faceting of a gemstone increases its value because of showing brilliance, flashes and sparkles. Well cut gemstones always look lively – refracting and reflecting the light by selective absorption.

Some natural gemstones occur very common, others are quite rare. This is also an important factor for the price.

Gemval – online guide to gemstone current market values and historical prices.