@jbergman 's article on emerald misconceptions is one of my favourite, the chelsea filter in particular.
What are some of the most common coloured gemstone misconceptions you hear?
Which make you cringe?
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Oddly enough 
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Iām just going to slink away nowā¦ 
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Turquoise!
Just because its blue doesnāt make it a turquoise.
magnesite dyed blue is not turquoise.
plastic dyed blueā¦
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The biggest misconception I repeatedly hear pertains to the fact that rubies and sapphires are both corundum and that they come in multiple colors. Most people donāt seem to know this.
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The videos on YouTube that instruct to test to see if a diamond is real by hitting it with a hammer !! If you strike a real diamond on the culet point ā¦ it will usually pulverize, real or not !! ;)))) Also the same line of instructional videos that say if the stone under test will scratch glass, then it is a diamond !! There is a lot of dis-information out there. ;)))
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In honesty, not a specific stone or type, but the word āRareā getās to me!
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You will here pigeon blood red more often. That being said, the gem societies leave a large door open as to what color a ruby can be to officially be considered a ruby. The best description I have read is that a ruby has to have red within the stone. This description allows for a wide variety of red shades and was found on either this site (IGA) or from GIA, I cannot remember which. What I do remember is being stunned by the broad spectrum of color shades. One in particular was nearly all brown.
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CORNFLOUR BLUE!
Always a personal favorite
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One of the biggest problems I have seen have been the āspecialā colours like ParaĆba and Padparadscha. I remember hearing about a general meeting of gemmologists nearby and they were given one of the colour grading systems and told to pick out what they called Padparadscha and out of the 15 gemmologists in attendance not one person picked the same colour as another.
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