Acceptability

Good examples of acceptability affecting gemstones are ivory or conflict diamonds. Ivory was once very much in fashion, but the poaching of elephants for ivory led to the banning of the ivory trade. Today, very few people would be comfortable wearing ivory jewellery, unless it was antique. The rumours that surrounded tanzanite that insinuated that the sale of this gemstone was supporting terrorists is another good example. This rumour was later deemed to be unfounded, but the tanzanite market suffered during this period.