Why are gemstones cheaper now over years ago?

Doesn’t look like kyanite has changed much recently. I haven’t watched Home Shopping Channel in many years, thankfully, and I only ever did it to laugh at it (and the people calling in). I wouldn’t trust anything I saw on it, other than that they would take my money if I called them up and told them I wanted to buy whatever junk they were hawking at the moment.

I would attribute any price changes on HSC to a change in business strategy, not a fluctuation in the price of the materials. Their prices have always been pretty unhinged from reality.

The gems sold on a site like HSN might be from a laboratory.

Like @jca2 says, they’re likely from a lab. That doesn’t mean they’re worthless or undesirable at all, just that they cost a little less. I had a ring made at a national jewelry store using my mother’s diamond from her wedding ring, and I wanted sapphires with it. I thought the lab-made ones were just a little bluer, so I got them.

In times of economic upheaval, like the last year or so, fripperies like semi-precious stones are not considered priorities for purchase. The market for that stuff is smaller because people don’t have jobs or free cash to spend.