Apatite is the name for a mineral group as well as the generic term for many phosphates, but gem-quality apatite is a special gemstone found in a beautiful variety of colors. Apatite’s various colors are often due to the presence of rare earth elements or natural irradiation. Because of its wide color range, apatite has […]
Category Archives: Gem Stone
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Zircon Zircon is a colorful gem with high refraction and fire that’s unfairly confused with cubic zirconia. ABOUT Zircon Colorless Zircon is known for its brilliance and flashes of multicolored light, called fire. These zircon properties are close enough to the properties of diamond to account for centuries of confusion between the two gems. Zircon […]
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Azure sky, robin’s egg blue: Vivid shades of turquoise define the color that’s named after this gem. ABOUT TURQUOISE Turquoise is found in only a few places on earth: dry and barren regions where acidic, copper-rich groundwater seeps downward and reacts with minerals that contain phosphorus and aluminum. The result of this sedimentary process is […]
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Tourmalines have a wide variety of exciting colors with one of the widest color ranges of any gem. ABOUT TOURMALINE Tourmaline’s colors have many different causes. It’s generally agreed that traces of iron, and possibly titanium, induce green and blue colors. Manganese produces reds and pinks, and possibly yellows. Some pink and yellow tourmalines might […]
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Honey yellow. Fiery orange. Cyclamen pink. Icy blue. In warm or cool tones, topaz is a lustrous and brilliant gem. ABOUT TOPAZ Topaz actually has an exceptionally wide color range that, besides brown, includes various tones and saturations of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple. Colorless topaz is plentiful, and is often treated […]
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TANZANITE Poised between lush blue, vibrant violet, and rich purple, exotic tanzanite is found in only one place on earth, near majestic Mount Kilimanjaro. ABOUT TANZANITE Found in just one place on earth, tanzanite is a relatively recent discovery. Tiffany & Co named this blue-violet variety of zoisite in honor of Tanzania, where it was […]
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Sunstone’s phenomenal varieties show a distinct and lively glitter called aventurescence. ABOUT SUNSTONE Sunstone is a member of the feldspar group. Both the orthoclase and the plagioclase feldspar species boast a sunstone variety. Other feldspar group gems include moonstone, non-phenomenal orthoclase, phenomenal and non-phenomenal labradorite, and amazonite. Sunstone from Oregon is gaining attention as a […]
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polished-spinel
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SAPPHIRE he name “sapphire” can also apply to any corundum that’s not ruby red, another corundum variety. ABOUT SAPPHIRE Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes so-called “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often […]
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Rose quartz is a quartz variety that gets its name from its delicate pink color. ABOUT ROSE QUARTZ The color of rose quartz ranges from very light pink (almost white) to medium-dark pink. The most appealing color typically occurs in larger sizes; small rose quartz specimens with good color tend to be scarce. Rose quartz […]
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Perfect shining spheres. Lustrous baroque forms. Seductive strands, warm to the touch. Pearls are simply and purely organic. ABOUT PEARL Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, pearls—natural and cultured—occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar are white and cream, but the palette of colors extends to every hue. Natural pearls form […]
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opals Fireworks. Jellyfish. Galaxies. Lightning. Opal’s shifting play of kaleidoscopic colors is unlike any other gem. ABOUT OPAL Because opal has the colors of other gems, the Romans thought it was the most precious and powerful of all. The Bedouins believed that opals contained lightning and fell from the sky during thunderstorms. When Australia’s mines […]
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Morganite is the pink to orange-pink variety of beryl, a mineral that includes emerald and aquamarine. ABOUT MORGANITE Morganite’s subtle color is caused by traces of manganese. Because morganite has distinct pleochroism—pale pink and a deeper bluish pink—it’s necessary to orient the rough carefully for fashioning. Strong color in Morganite is rare, and gems usually […]
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MOONSTONE A ghostly sheen moves under the surface of this feldspar, like moonlight glowing in water. ABOUT MOONSTONE Moonstone is a variety of the feldspar-group mineral orthoclase. During formation, orthoclase and albite separate into alternating layers. When light falls between these thin layers it is scattered producing the phenomenon called adularescence. Adularescence is the light […]
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LAPIS LAZULI Lapis is a beautiful rock; an aggregate of several minerals, mainly lazurite, calcite, and pyrite. ABOUT LAPIS LAZULI This ancient rock is an aggregate of several minerals. The three major minerals that comprise lapis are lazurite, calcite, and pyrite. The rock can also contain lesser amounts of diopside, amphibole, feldspar, or mica. Lazurite […]
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KUNZITE Collectors love kunzite for its color range, from delicate pastel pink to intense violetish purple. ABOUT KUNZITE Kunzite is the best-known variety of the mineral spodumene. It’s named after famed gemologist George Frederick Kunz, who was the first to identify it as a unique variety of spodumene. Kunzite gets its delicate color from trace […]
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Jade is actually two separate gems: nephrite and jadeite. In China, a pierced jade disk is a symbol of heaven.\ ABOUT JADE ade has its cultural roots in the smoke-dimmed caves and huts that sheltered prehistoric humans. Around the world, Stone Age workers shaped this toughest of gems into weapons, tools, ornaments, and ritual objects. […]
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Iolite
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GARNET Garnets are a set of closely related minerals forming a group, with gemstones in almost every color. OVERVIEW ABOUT GARNET Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. Red garnet is […]
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Peridot Found in lava, meteorites, and deep in the earth’s mantle, yellow-green peridot is the extreme gem Peridot (/ˈpɛrɪdɒt/ or /ˈpɛrɪdoʊ/) (sometimes called chrysolite) is gem-quality olivine and a silicate mineral with the formula of (Mg, Fe)2SiO4. As peridot is a magnesium-rich variety of olivine (forsterite), the formula approaches Mg2SiO4. ABOUT PERIDOT The ancient Egyptians […]
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