Figure 1. The GIA 7 Pearl Value Factors system classifies pearls according to size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre, and matching. Composite photo by GIA staff. Prized by many cultures throughout ...

Only during the last few years have the gem riches of Pakistan become known to the rest of the world. This article reports on three gem materials currently being mined: emerald, corundum (most ...

The Thai city of Chanthaburi is a well-known international trading hub for colored gemstones but was once an important corundum mining center. In recent decades, mining activity in the area has ...

The red variety of the mineral tugtupite, a rare silicate closely related to sodalite, has been used as a gemstone since 1965. This article presents the history of the mineral and details of its ...

Diamonds are the most amazing of gems. Just as amazing, however, is how natural diamonds reach Earth’s surface. Diamonds are formed 150 to 700 km deep in Earth, and are then carried upward in a rare ...

In November 2022, a parcel of 24 approximately 0.5–1.2 ct spinel crystals, described as cobalt-diffused, were obtained directly from a treater by the research team at GIA in Bangkok. Of these, seven ...

Figure 1. Sapphires from Madagascar: a beautiful 3.29 ct untreated faceted stone and an assortment of rough in the background. Madagascar has produced many high-quality stones in the last few years ...

This handful of crystals is just a small portion of the production we saw during our short visit to the Cruzeiro mine. These multicolored crystals range from rubellite to green, with black ...

Diamonds are known for their hardness – their ability to resist scratches and abrasions. But diamonds are not impervious to damage, since their hardness is uneven along different crystal directions.

Raman spectroscopy confirmed the identity of the material as pezzottaite by an intense peak at ~1100 cm –1, which is not present in beryl. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed features ...

Earth’s surface is divided into tectonic plates, and the ones that make up the ocean floor are destined to sink. Sheets of oceanic crust typically bend and sink down into Earth’s interior at so-called ...

Figure 1. Glass in a silver brooch, hallmark from 1866. Private collection, photo by Jaroslav Hyršl. Tectites are members of a large group of impact glasses, formed by the collision of a meteorite on ...