Gems & Gemology
4 C's
by Mary Borchert | Oct 20, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Emerald-Cut Diamond Platinum Engagement Ring. Diamonds, by nature of their unique characteristics, can be evaluated much more precisely than other gems. Their extreme hardness allows for meticulousness in cutting and polishing not possible with any other gem material....
A Brief History of Gemstone Writings
by Mary Borchert | Oct 6, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Gem Identification & Characteristics
from Gems in Myth, Legend and Lore by Bruce G. Knuth References to gemstones appear in many ancient writings. They may be mentioned as decoration, a means of barter, a symbol of wealth, the source of power and magic or the objects of adoration. In these earliest...
A History Of Diamond Cutting
by Mary Borchert | Sep 25, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
This article gives an overview of the history of diamond cutting. For detailed descriptions of the different diamond cuts see the table below or click on the links provided in the text. Point Cut Emerald Cut Briolette Cut Old European Cut Asscher Cut Rose Cut Shield...
Adamantine Luster
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Adamantine is the term used to describe the luster exhibited by diamonds and gems with a Refractive Index of 1.9 - 2.5. The root word adamant derives from the Greek word adamastos which means untameable. Throughout history the word adamant has been used in reference...
Adularescence
by Mary Borchert | Aug 23, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Adularescence is an optical phenomena often called the "moonstone" effect. The phenomenon is applied to feldspar, usually orthoclase that, when cut as a cabochon, exhibits a floating, billowy bluish or white light as the stone is turned. Referred to as schiller by...
Adularia
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Agate-Zircon, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Adularia is a variety of orthoclase feldspar that is colorless to milky in appearance. It is mineralogically a potassium, aluminum, silicate feldspar found in the Alps which can display a bluish sheen. This phenomenon is called adularescence. Moonstone Ring with...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 5, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Agate-Zircon, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Agate, a variety of chalcedony, occurs in many different colors and in all degrees of diaphaneity - although mainly opaque to translucent. There are many agate varieties named after specific locations where they were found or named after a physical characteristic as...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Aggregate in the geologic or gemologic sense of the word, is defined as a composition of various materials (usually mineralogical and chemical) brought together by processes within the earth to form rock. A famous example of an aggregate is Lapis...
Agra Diamond
by Mary Borchert | Sep 26, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Famous Diamonds, Diamonds
Like many historical diamonds, the Agra's saga is a familiar combination of fact and legend, leaving the reader with the challenging task of choosing what is indeed its true story. Regardless, the Agra diamond's travel through time is an interesting mixture that...
Akbar Shah Diamond
Unfortunately, the history of famous diamonds is not without its list of casualties. In this category are those magnificent stones that somehow could not escape the fate of enduring such calamities as an uneducated owner, an untalented or unscrupulous gem cutter, an...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 5, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Agate-Zircon
Alabaster is a name used for gypsum and calcite but has also been used to indicate selenite. These minerals are easily worked due to their low hardness and have been used to craft all sort of things from since antiquity. Think of sculptures, household items and, of...
Alexandrite and Diamond Ring. Alexandrite, a chrysoberyl variety, possesses a distinct change of color when viewed under different (incandescent and fluorescent) light sources. The change in color is caused by trace amounts of chromium and vanadium. The amounts of...
Alexandrite-Like
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Alexandrite-like refers to the ability of a gem material to change colors when viewed under different light sources such as daylight and incandescent lighting. It is named after the natural "change of color" gemstone alexandrite which is a variety...
Allochromatic
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Gems & Gemology, Diamonds, Gem Identification & Characteristics
The term allochromatic is used in reference to gem materials that derive their color from elements that are not an essential part of their chemical composition. In other words, the gemstone's color is due to impurities. A good example of an allochromatic...
Alluvial
Alluvial means 'deposited by water'. The word 'alluvial' is derived from the Latin word 'alluvius', from 'alluere', which means 'to wash against'. When rocks are exposed to the elements they can "weather" breaking down into smaller particles. Gravity, wind and water...
Almandine Garnet Ring. These deep purplish-red garnets were often featured in Victorian Jewelry. When they are cut en cabochon they are referred to as "carbuncles." [table id=62 responsive=collapse...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Agate-Zircon, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Amazonite, a variety of the microcline series of the feldspar group, gets its name from the Amazon River. A gridlike structure visable in amazonite gives the stone a faint sheen and makes it easily identifiable. Amazonite is always cut en cabochon or...
In the forest primeval, a creature calls…Its echo is heard for millions of years.Frozen in time; the drama unfolds--A death struggle painted in amber tears. Amber is the fossilized resin from ancient, extinct, pine trees and conifers which...
Amethyst is almost certainly the most coveted member of the quartz family. It has a color range from a deep purple with red flashes (known as Siberian amethyst) to a pale lilac with blue undertones which are termed Rose de France. These colors are the result of minor...
Ametrine is a variety of quartz consisting of both amethyst and citrine with zones of both purple and yellow. Most naturally occurring ametrine comes from Bolivia, with some from India and Brazil. Differentially heat treating amethyst can...
An amorphous substance is one that has no regular arrangement of atoms; it literally means without form. Examples of materials and gems that have no regular arrangement of atoms, hence no crystal structure, are glass, amber, obsidian, opal,...
Andalusite var. Chiastolite. More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America G&G Article...
Andradite Garnet var. Demantoid.
by Mary Borchert | Oct 6, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology, Diamonds
This anniversary gift list is a recent compilation that is recognized by the American Gem Trade Association, Jewelers of America, The American Gem Society, The Gemological Institute of America, the Jewelry Industry Council and the Cultured Pearl Association. [table...
More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article Index: ApatiteSummer 1962,...
Aquamarine Ring. Aquamarine (from the Latin, "water from the sea") is, as the name suggests, a pale green bluish to medium dark blue member of the beryl family. Due to its lovely, limpid color and its durability aquamarine has been one of the most...
Aragonite is a naturally occurring crystal form of calcium carbonate and is a precipitate from salt and freshwater conditions. One form of aragonite occurs naturally in most mollusks. Crystallizing from calcium carbonate into orthorhombic translucent microscopic...
Archduke Joseph Diamond
This stone enjoys the distinction of being the twelfth largest "perfect" diamond in the world. Named for a military man of royal blood, this diamond followed a long history of courting danger, yet, like its longest-tenured owner, was lucky enough to survive two world...
Arcots
ARCOTS – A Pair of Diamonds They began their existence as nature had made them; two beautiful pear-shaped diamonds. Their brilliance was of such magnitude that they would be owned by the royal families of three countries. Ownership would take them from Arcot, located...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 13, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Edwardian Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Retro Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, American Jewelry, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
In 1902 the Dutch diamond cutter Joseph Asscher developed the cut that would carry his name on into the future. The square, step cut, design had been around for ages but the modifications Asscher implemented, two more rows of facets and a diagonal cross cut blunting...
Asterism
Asterism is an optical phenomenon that results in the reflection of light rays on a gemstone, cut en cabochon, forming a star. Dense, fine parallel inclusions cause light to reflect as a ray perpendicular to these inclusions. These stars can...
Aventurescence
Aventurescence is a phenomenon in gemstones whereby glittering reflections of small inclusions of hematite or goethite in feldspar or fuchsite or hematite in quartz, sparkle and shimmer.
More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article...
Azurmalachite
Sources Gem Reference Guide, Los Angeles: Gemological Institute of America, 1988. Pp. 22-23. Schumann, Walter. Gemstones...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 6, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts, Gem Identification & Characteristics
The baguette cut represents an elongated, rectangular table cut. The modern version, as in the ring on the right, was (re)introduced for diamonds by Cartier in 1912. The linear, rectangular cuts from which the modern baguette is derived have been seen in jewelry and...
Banjarmasin Diamond
One could rightfully call this stone the Rodney Dangerfield of diamonds. Almost from the moment of its discovery, this diamond has gotten positively no respect from the jewelry world. Even after it was cut in an attempt to make it more marketable the newly sized...
Beau Sancy
This diamond's name is taken from its first recorded French owner, Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, a fancier of fine gems who just happened to be King Henri IV's exceptionally talented Minister of Finance. With de Sancy's name already attached to another larger diamond in...
Belperron
by Mary Borchert | Sep 27, 2017 | Famous Jewelers, Jewelry Glossary, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Gemstone Cuts
Suzanne Belperron was born Madeleine Suzanne Vuillerme on September 26, 1900 to Jules Alix Vuillerme and Marie Clarisse Baily-Maitre in Saint-Claude, France. Her mother encouraged her talents and enrolled her in the Municipal School of Music and Fine Arts quite a...
More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article Index: BenitoiteSummer 1953,...
Beryl is a mineral family with a wide variety of colors, ranging from blue to red. The colors are produced by minor traces of elements in the beryllium silicate crystal lattice. When these traces are absent, the mineral is colorless. The two most important gemstones...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 17, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Earrings, Pendants, Gems & Gemology
A bi (from Chinese) is a jadeite discoid with a central hole which is used in pendants and earrings. In the Western world it became popular around 1920.
Birefringence is the strength of double refraction as measured by computing the difference between the high and low indices of a doubly refractive stone. Related Article Double refraction
by Mary Borchert | Oct 6, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gems & Gemology
The tradition of birthstones, or birthday stones, is a Polish 18th-century popularization of accumulated superstition and tradition which were passed along by our ancestors. The exact origin of this tradition is uncertain, but many...
Biwa Pearl
by Mary Borchert | Sep 17, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Agate-Zircon
Biwa pearls are a cultured pearl produced in a freshwater mussel native to Lake Biwa, Japan. Considered to be a non-nucleated pearl, they are produced by introducing 10 to 20 bits of mantle tissue from another mussel into incisions in the host mantle. The...
Akoya pearl bleaching is a common, but generally undisclosed treatment used to even out the color in white cultured pearls. After the harvest, pearls are soaked and heated in a mild pearl cleaning solution under bright fluorescent lights. This results in a...
Bloodstone Intaglio Signet Ring with a Coat of Arms Seal. Tiffany & Co. Who on this world of ours his eyesIn Aries opens shall we be wiseIf always on his hand there liesA Bloodstone. Bloodstone is a polycrystalline variety...
Body color refers to a pearl's overall color. White, cream, pink and black are the most commonly seen body colors. The body color can be modified, when applicable, with light, medium or dark (for example: light cream).
by Mary Borchert | Sep 18, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Gems & Gemology
Boule Boule refers to the rough form of synthetic corundum or spinel, produced through the flame fusion/Verneuil method, which is either pear or carrot shaped. The name comes from French ("ball" or "globe") and was applied to the globular shape of the...
Brilliance Brilliance is a term used to quantify the brightness of a gemstone. Brightness, and therefore brilliance, are related to the surface polish on the gem and the quantity of internal light reflection. Correctly placed facets will reflect the light...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 25, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Medieval Jewelry, Renaissance Jewelry, Georgian Jewelry, Victorian Jewelry, Art Nouveau Jewelry, Edwardian Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
Brilliant Cut Diamonds as We Know Them When we think of a diamond, most of us will form an image in our mind which closely resembles the image above. This cutting design has become the ultimate standard and almost all of the rough diamonds that are found these days...
Briolette Cut
by Mary Borchert | Oct 6, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Renaissance Jewelry, Baroque Jewelry, Georgian Jewelry, Victorian Jewelry, Art Nouveau Jewelry, Arts & Crafts Jewelry, Edwardian Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Retro Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
Briolette Cut Edwardian Garland Motif Pendant Suspending a Briolette Cut Diamond. Briolettes are drop shaped, multi faceted stones. They are unique in the sense that they lack a girdle, a feature all other gemstone cuts have and by which they are usually set....
Brunswick Blue
To paraphrase Charles Dickens, this is a tale of two diamonds. Purportedly cut from the same stone that produced the Hope Diamond, this diamond's path through history turned out quite differently from its alleged famous sibling. Shrouded in mystery, this diamond's...
Bruting
by Mary Borchert | Sep 19, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Jewelry Tools, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
Bruting is a process in diamond cutting that establishes the girdle outline. Once the height and width of the diamond are determined, it is then shaped along the girdle edge by grinding it against another diamond on a specially designed, high-speed lathe. This process...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 22, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Victorian Jewelry, Agate-Zircon, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Cairngorm is the name given to a citrine quartz variety with an amber or brown color traditionally mined in the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland. During the Victorian period cairngorms were extensively used in traditional Scottish jewelry such as kilt ornaments, bonnet...
Calcareous Concretion
Calcareous concretions are pearl-like growths produced in mollusks that lack nacre. While still composed of calcite and aragonite, the crystals are much coarser. Some of these "pearls" may have a flame-like sheen on their surface. Calcareous concretions...
Sources Gem Reference Guide, Los Angeles: Gemological Institute of America, 1988. Pp. 41-43. Schumann, Walter. Gemstones of the World, New York:...
Calcium carbonate is a primary component of the shells of marine mollusks and pearls. The outer shells of mollusks are composed of calcium crystals bound by conchiolin. The middle layer is formed by calcium carbonate hardened as crystalline calcite. The...
Calibré
by Mary Borchert | Sep 23, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Art Deco Jewelry, Retro Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, Gemstone Cuts
Calibré refers to gemstones cut precisely to fit a specific design. Usually, calibré cut stones are rectangular or square but can be any shape necessary to precisely complete a design.
A unit of weight for gemstone materials. One carat equals 0.200 grams.
by Mary Borchert | Sep 25, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Carbon is a chemical element on the periodic table. Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the earth's crust and the 4th most abundant in the universe. Known and used since antiquity, carbon is the main element of diamond and graphite and...
by Mary Borchert | Sep 25, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Victorian Jewelry, Gems & Gemology, Agate-Zircon, Gemstone Cuts
A large almandine garnet that is cut en cabochon. These deep purplish-red garnets were popular in Victorian jewelry.
Carnelian Intaglio Ring. Carnelian (or cornelian) is the translucent red variety of chalcedony which in its turn is a form of cryptocrystalline quartz. It's been known and used since antiquity when it was sourced from the surfaces of the Egyptian and...
Cat's-Eye
Cat's-Eye is an optical phenomenon (also known as chatoyancy) whereby light reflects back off a gemstone, cut en cabochon, as a single ray. Extremely fine parallel inclusions in the gemstone cause a silvery ray to appear perpendicular to...
Cave Pearls
Cave pearls are not actually pearls, they are a calcareous concretion occurring in subterranean limestone caves. While they bear a resemblance to pearls, they have a porous texture. Cave pearls form when calcite crystallizes on a nucleus, similar to the...
Chalcedony is cryptocrystalline quartz. It is semitransparent to opaque and, depending on its color, chalcedony is further divided into several varieties. History All varieties of chalcedony were very popular in Victorian Jewelry. Moss agate, known for its green...
A phenomenon of some colored gemstones in which the gem material appears a different color in incandescent light than in daylight or fluorescent light. As an example: the spinel on the right appears blue to us in daylight and...
Chatham, as used in gemological conversation, stands for a manufacturing technique of synthetic gemstones. The method incorporates crystallization of a gem material from a solution in a flux rather than from molten ingredients such as the flame...
Chatoyancy
An optical phenomenon which appears as a bright band of light across certain gemstones that when cut as cabochons, reproduce the appearance of the narrowed pupil of a cat, hence the more common name 'cat's eye'. The reflection is from fine inclusions, all...
Chlorastrolite
Chlorastrolite. Sources Gem Reference Guide, Los Angeles: Gemological Institute of America, 1988. Pp. 49-50.
A 9.39 carat Cat's Eye Chrysoberyl is the Star of this Vintage Style Ring. Cat's eye has the longest history of gems in the chrysoberyl family. It was treasured in Asia before the birth of Christ and became quite well known in Rome by the end of the First Century. In...
Chrysocolla is an intense blue-green to light blue variety of chalcedony. It can be translucent to semitransparent and is usually cut en cabochon. Tumbled Chrysocolla.
Chrysoprase is the name reserved for bright green cryptocrystalline quartz. It is a subvariety of chalcedony and owes its beautiful green color to the presence of nickel impurities in its crystal structure. The material was very popular in Victorian times when it was...
French Japonesque Cinnabar, Diamond and Onyx Jabot Pin. Online Texts on CinnabarSome Cinnabar Deposits in Western Nevada by Knopf
The yellow to golden variety of quartz, colored by trace elements of iron, is named citrine. The color of citrine closely resembles the color of the more expensive yellow topaz and consequently, citrine is sometimes marketed under various misnomers such...
A very included spessartite garnet. This stone has a very low clarity grade of I3. The grading of a gemstone based on the presence or absence of inclusions. The fewer inclusions, the better a gemstone's clarity grade. In diamond grading clarity is one of...
DefinitionThe ability of a material to split along a certain plane or planes with weak atomic bonding. A crystal structure is built up out of bonded atoms. These atoms lie in a regular repeating three-dimensional array. Although regular, the bonds and positions of...
Cleveland Diamond
If ever fate has lent a hand in determining the course of a diamond's story, it is this one. Just a few seemingly random events combined to influence its path through history, including a beginning that would have been much different, had its original owners not...
Colored stones are all gemstones that are not a diamond. The term is used as a general catch-all for gemstones.
Composite Stone
by Mary Borchert | Sep 29, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Gems & Gemology, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Composite Stone - Triplet. Composite stones are gem simulants that are composed out of several materials. Doublets and triplets are good examples. Composite stones are often produced to deceive, but, as in the case of opal, it's also a way of...
Conch Pearls
Conch Pearls A conch pearl is not technically a pearl at all, but a white or pink (sometimes brown or yellow), non-nacreous, product of the saltwater giant conch or queen conch shell. Classified as a calcareous concretion, conch pearls are rare and generally found as...
Conchiolin
A dark organic substance secreted by some invertebrate animal life including coral polyps and pearl producing mollusks. Conchiolin is the binding agent in nacreous layers of pearl and mother-of-pearl shell. It is also the material that forms...
Copal is a fossilized organic resin. This amorphous yellow to brownish material is often confused with amber, but amber is much older than copal. A test using acetone can separate amber and copal - copal will react immediately while amber will take longer to be...
Coque de Perle
by Mary Borchert | Sep 29, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Georgian Jewelry, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Agate-Zircon
Coque de perle, from the French for 'pearl shell' was a Georgian faux pearl carved from the East Indian nautilus shell. The central whorl of the convex part of the shell was cut away to form these delicate "eggshell pearls." Filled with cement to stabilize it, coque...
Coral is an organic gemstone which is cut from a mass of skeletons, secreted by polyps as a calcareous habitat. These corals usually grow at a depth of no more than about 50 feet (15 to 20 meters) in tropical to sub-tropical waters in a belt between 30...
Corundum
Definition The mineralogical name for Al2O3, the corundum family encompasses the gem varieties sapphire and ruby. It crystallizes in the trigonal structure and is surpassed only by diamond in hardness. Etymology Whether the word 'corundum' originates from the...
Crown-Gemstone
by Mary Borchert | Oct 1, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gemstone Cuts, Gem Identification & Characteristics
The crown of a gemstone refers to the part above the girdle.
Cryptocrystalline
by Mary Borchert | Oct 1, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Having crystals so small that individual crystals cannot be seen under ordinary optical microscope, but are detectable by effect under crossed polars; a full rotation of a cryptocrystalline material between crossed polars will show the stone transmitting light in all...
A crystalline material is a substance with a regular, repeating, 3-dimensional atomic structure. We divide crystalline materials into monocrystalline and polycrystalline materials. An illustration to clarify the difference between...
Round Brilliant-Cut Cubic Zirconia. Cubic zirconia is a man-made material used to imitate diamond and other gemstones, commonly referred to as CZ. Cubic Zirconia has a thermal insulating property while diamond is a very efficient thermal conductor. It is therefore...
Culet
Culet. The tip of the pavilion is called the culet. Sometimes in the form of a facet, sometimes as a sharp point formed by the pavilion facets coming together. Historic diamonds cuts often have a facet as a culet. Related ArticlesPavilionFacet
Cullinan Diamond
It was the late afternoon of January 25, 1905. Employees at the Premier Diamond Mine in the British African colony of Transvaal were finishing up for the day when their routine was shattered by an animated worker hurriedly approaching the mine superintendent,...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 2, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds, Gemstone Cuts
Cushion cut is a sexy and romantic name for a squarish ("cushionesque") antique brilliant-cut diamond, sometimes referred to as an old mine cut. Cushion cuts precede an older brilliant cut, known as a European cut, and represent a step in the evolution...
Czochralski
by Mary Borchert | Oct 2, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Jewelry Materials & Techniques, Gems & Gemology, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Synthetic Ruby, Czochralski Boule. The Czochralski method, developed by Polish scientist Jan Czochralski, was a byproduct of his investigation into the crystallization rates of metal. He accidentally dipped his pen into molten tin, instead of his inkwell, and pulled a...
Darya-ye-Noor Diamond
Darya-ye-Noor Diamond. Darya-ye-Noor, translating "river of light" or "sea of light", is the product of an undocumented – but what some might call happy- accident. The Darya-ye-Noor is believed to be a major portion of the fabled Great Table Diamond discovered in the...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 5, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Victorian Jewelry, Art Nouveau Jewelry, Arts & Crafts Jewelry, Edwardian Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Retro Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, Agate-Zircon, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Antique Demantoid and Diamond Earrings. At the end of the reign of Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia, and the beginning of the reign of Tsar Alexander II - after whom the mineral alexandrite was named - a new garnet variety was discovered in the Ural...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 5, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Medieval Jewelry, Renaissance Jewelry, Baroque Jewelry, Georgian Jewelry, Victorian Jewelry, Art Nouveau Jewelry, Arts & Crafts Jewelry, Edwardian Jewelry, Art Deco Jewelry, Retro Jewelry, Fifties Jewelry, Contemporary Jewelry, American Jewelry, Agate-Zircon, Diamonds, Gem Identification & Characteristics
Asscher-Cut Diamond Ring. Diamond is a gemstone composed of chemically pure carbon, with a cubic crystal structure and manifesting extreme hardness resulting from the incredibly strong chemical bonds between the carbon atoms. Diamonds are valued for their brilliance,...
Diamond Cutting & Grading
Diamond Cuts Main Article More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article Index: Diamond Cutting & GradingSummer 1936, The New Line-Cut Diamond, p. 43, 2pp.Winter 1936, The New Diamond Cuts Break...
by Mary Borchert | Oct 5, 2017 | Jewelry Glossary, Diamonds
More InformationGems & Gemology: The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America. G&G Article Index: Diamond TradeMarch-April 1934, Antwerp Cutters Optimistic, p. 48, 1p.1934, Diamonds at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, p. 23, 4pp.March-April...
Diaphaneity is the general term to describe the transmittance of light through an object. The three typical classifications are transparency, translucency, and opacity.