Taiwanese artist Cindy Chao – owner of the eponymous high jewellery brand – set semi-precious stones including aquamarines, garnets and tsavorites into one of her latest Black Label Masterpieces, playfully titled the Amour Butterfly brooch.

The creation’s three-dimensional, outstretched wings are secured to a body comprised of polished ox horn, which took more than a year to source from Europe. With its green garnets enhanced by ribbons of aquamarine and tsavorite, the piece is a wondrous achievement in terms of colour and scale.

Pomellato has a history of using colourful gems including semi-precious stones. The Milanese jeweller’s Armonie Minerali collection features softly formed cabochons cut from rough blocks of rock, which were shaped in the German town of Idar-Oberstein, known as one of the world’s most important gemstone hubs. Bohemian jewellery pieces feature chunks of chrysocolla, amazonite and rhodochrosite secured by straps of pavé gemstones. Elsewhere, a Samurai-inspired statement ring is mounted with dendritic blue opal, its blackened flecks evoking forms of Japanese calligraphy.

More recently, Pomellato reimagined the scarab beetle for Scarabeo di Pomellato, comprising 31 cocktail rings affixed with turquoise, red jasper and lime-green peridot.

Cocktail rings were popularised in the 1920s as a sign of rebellion against Prohibition, when drinking alcohol was illegal in the US. Tipplers donned oversized bands to draw attention to the glass in their hand. According to the maison, the collection’s “boldly colourful interpretations, carved from extraordinary stones, embody the contemporary Milanese concept of luxury”.

Stand-out combinations include midnight-blue sodalite offset by fiery red spinels, and peaches-and-cream rhodochrosite combined with cobalt sapphires.

Despite all these splendours, only four types of gemstones are deemed “precious”: diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Humans are prone to romanticising these gemstones. Just the word “diamond” may conjure images of royalty, Hollywood starlets, or perhaps memories of Indiana Jones’ fictional hunt for the elusive 140-carat Peacock’s Eye, once owned by Alexander the Great.

Throughout history, the rich and powerful have worn these hallowed stones as an expression of social status for millennia, with precious gemstones playing an important role in the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Greece and Rome.

In 1477, Archduke Maximilian of Austria presented his wife-to-be, Mary of Burgundy, with the first known engagement ring. In the 1920s, the Maharaja of Patiala commissioned Cartier to create a five-chained ceremonial necklace. The piece contained 2,930 diamonds, including the seventh-largest diamond at the time, the 234.65-carat De Beers.

The Patiala necklace was fit for a king but went missing from the royal treasury in 1948. The De Beers diamond resurfaced shortly before being auctioned at Sotheby’s Geneva in 1982. Then, in 1998, the necklace – minus its remaining large jewels – was found in London at a second-hand jewellery shop. Cartier bought the piece and restored it with cubic zirconia, synthetic diamonds and a replica of the De Beers diamond.

But why are diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds more valuable than semi-precious gemstones anyway?

Historically, such gems were considered “precious” due to their relative rarity, exceptional beauty and long-standing cultural significance. The heavier a precious stone, the higher the price – whereas lower-value bling like rose quartz and pyrite can be heavy yet still affordable.

That said, certain semi-precious finds have distinguished themselves with prices in the astronomical category. For example, alexandrite – described as an “emerald by day, ruby by night” – displays one of the most remarkable colour changes on Earth, transitioning from verdant green in sunlight to a vampy reddish-purple under incandescent light. One of three June birthstones, this highly valued mineral commands sky-high prices at auction.

Red beryl is also seldom mined – and worth 1,000 times more than gold, according to the Utah Geological Survey. One red beryl crystal is found for every 150,000 diamonds, and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain reports that a two-carat red beryl is as rare as a 40-carat diamond.

It may seem arbitrary to favour precious stones over semi-precious ones, when the latter can be just as beautiful and rare. Times are certainly changing – just look at lab-created gemstones, which are appealing to a more open-minded, ethically conscious generation of consumers.

One designer who pays no heed to convention is Boucheron’s creative director, Claire Choisne, who was inspired by the 1980s – a decade associated with flamboyance and excess – when planning her More is More high jewellery collection.

For the line, chunks of rough-hewn rock crystal, lashes of onyx, and carved mother-of-pearl were shaped into spheres and cubes. Choisne’s latest pieces are defined by extravagant volume and colour, proving that there are countless design advantages to using semi-precious gems. Thinly sliced hard stone is translucent, coming alive when illuminated, and onyx’s fiery red and orange tones flicker and flash like molten lava.

From milky-white opal to the near-neon Paraiba tourmaline used in Tiffany & Co.’s Schlumberger and Blue Book creations, semi-precious gemstones are steeped in significance. Rose quartz is said to promote self-love, amethyst is believed to reduce stress, and turquoise is worn for protection. White quartz is thought to dispel negative energy, plus increase concentration and balance.

Today, luxury isn’t limited to how you wear pieces: it’s also about the meaning behind them. So, forget diamonds being a girl’s best friend. Semi-precious stones are cropping up more than ever – providing more chances than ever for the wearer to express their personality. That can only be a good thing.