Gemstone study - African Emeralds

The best emeralds in the world are known to originate from the mountains of Colombia, but there is a new hot spot that has been the source of many of 2015’s most beautiful green gems: Africa. With Colombian emeralds becoming increasingly rare and very expensive, the most exclusive jewellery houses have been turning to African emeralds. With a slightly different hue to grass-green Colombian emeralds, African emeralds tend to be more blue-green, but just like emeralds of Colombian origin, variations in depth and intensity of colour are common.

Because of their intense green colour, Colombian emeralds have always been highly prized and, in particular, those from the legendary Muzo mine that dates back to the 16th century. Unlike other precious stones, gemologists can often pinpoint an emerald to a specific mine according to the crystal structure, with its inclusions, known as "gardens", making it easier to determine an African from a Colombian emerald.

On the right: Shaun Leane white diamond and marquise-cut emerald earrings, from the Aerial collection.


But over the past five years there has been a marked rise in the presence of African emeralds in high jewellery creations. Only last week Bulgari showcased a pair of Diva African emerald earrings alongside a Colombian emerald necklace. And, last year, actress Mila Kunis headed the Gemfield's emerald campaign wearing a stunning Fabergé emerald necklace aglow with the verdant hues of gems originating from Zambia, raising the profile of this traditional stone among a younger audience:

• Zambia Produces 20% of the worlds Emerald
• Zambian Emeralds are generally cleaner and more saturated in color than Columbian Emeralds
• Gemfields and Tiffany & Co. have been instrumental in brining the Zambian Emerald to market.

Zambian cabochon emerald necklace by David Morris in white gold.

Emerald mining began in Zambia during 1976. The region of South Africa where Zambia resides is rich in minerals and gemstones. Some of the neighbouring countries include Tanzania (famous for Tanzanite), Mozambique (famous for Rubies) and Botswana (famous for Diamonds). The discovery of large amount of Emeralds in Zambia sent excitement through the gemstone world.

Popularity of Zambian Emeralds

Zambian EmeraldsThe popularity of Zambian emeralds has been on a rise over the past few years. It has enabled the country to gain a reputation of being one of the greatest sources of Emeralds. In the world of Emeralds, Zambia is still considered to be the second best as far as the production of such eye catching emeralds is concerned. While the value of the Zambian emeralds keeps increasing, the prices are considerably lower as compared to the ones which are mined in Columbia. Columbian Emeralds are leading the popularity race for Emeralds. Luckily the difference in price doesn’t imply any kind of a shortcoming as far as the quality of the emerald is concerned.

Now that you are aware of the basic information regarding the Zambian emeralds, let us mentioned a few of the facts about such gemstones in order to let you have a better idea.

• On the Mohs scale of hardness, the Zambian emeralds are capable of standing at an amazing 7.5 to 8 which depicts their utter strength.
• Emeralds can be a fragile gemstone so care should be taken when they are worn.
• Not only are these emeralds considered as the May birthstone, but they are also used as a traditional gift for 20th or 35th anniversary

If you are into eye catching green emeralds, then Zambian emeralds are certainly not going to disappoint you in any way. Not only are these perfect for pretty much all settings, but they do also have a timeless quality to offer. What else could you possibly ask for?

What is moonstone vs rainbow moonstone?

You can find these stones all over the place. And you maybe didn't even know they are not the same.

Moonstone’s delicate beauty and its long-established heritage make it perhaps the most familiar gem-quality member of the feldspar group.

Feldspars are the most widespread minerals in the earth’s crust, as well as some of the most diverse. You can pick up a rock anywhere in the world, and you’ll probably find that it contains a mineral or two from the feldspar group.

Moonstone is a variety of the feldspar-group mineral orthoclase. It’s composed of two feldspar minerals, orthoclase and albite. At first, the two minerals are intermingled. Then, as the newly formed mineral cools, the intergrown orthoclase and albite separate into stacked, alternating layers.
When light falls between these thin, flat layers, it scatters in many directions, producing the phenomenon called adularescence. Adularescence is the light that appears to billow across a gemstone, giving its surface a glowing appearance.

Moonstones are found in an array of colors---peach, orange, yellow, green, grey, black, blue---some with a white adularescence (like the moon) or with blue adularescence (like moonlight on water).
Perhaps the most captivating aspect of adularescence is its appearance of motion. The misty light seems to roll across the gem’s surface as you change the viewing angle.

Other feldspar minerals can also show adularescence. One is a labradorite feldspar found mainly in Labrador, Canada. Another labradorite—found in Madagascar—has a multicolored adularescence over a light bodycolor. It’s known in the trade as rainbow moonstone, despite the fact that it’s actually a variety of labradorite rather than orthoclase.
So basically, rainbow moonstone is a type of labradorite. Even I did not know that until recently.
They are both genuine gemstones that look very similar, and both are beautiful.

The Super Seven Stone!

I have been browsing stones, crystals and gemstones for ages now... but only very recently I have heard about the unique Super Seven stone!

Super Seven is a very interesting crystal, also known as Sacred Seven and Melody Stone. A piece of Super Seven retains all the properties of Amethyst, Clear Quartz. Smoky Quartz, Cacoxenite, Rutile, Geothite and Lepidocrocite combined. This is part of what makes this stone so desirable. However what gets people really excited is that it is one of the few stones that retains all the energy and clarity of each mineral and it never needs cleansing or energising!

Because the Super Seven opens up all the senses and helps one to see auras it is considered and important stone for stimulating and developing all types of psychic abilities, including telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, channeling, telekinesis and others.

The very nature of the stone means that it is not associated with any one chakra; instead it is fantastic at healing, balancing and energizing all seven charkras, (hence the name Super Seven).
Seven minerals of Super Seven Crystals, Here are some of the properties of the seven minerals present in Super Seven.

AMETHYST is a variant of quartz. An important companion stone for those seeking spiritual enlightenment. Amethyst bestows strength, stability, patience and calm in stressful situations,
and a strong stone for changing negative energy to positive energy.

CLEAR QUARTZ CRYSTAL, also known as Rock Crystal, known for enhancing energy and communication and listening skills. Clear Quartz Crystal increases energy flow and harmony.

SMOKEY QUARTZ exhibits a light to dark smokey grey to black color. Enhances focus, attentiveness, creativity, good business acumen and for those under stress it is an excellent
grounding and centering crystal.

CACOXENITE can help to bring spiritual awakening, promote new ideas and understanding,
and seeing the positive, benevolent side of life.

GOETHITE can facilitate communication, as well as stimulate and amplify clairaudient abilities. Goethite is wonderful for those wishing to lessen the burden of distraction , and enhance their ability to concentrate and focus.

LEPIDOCROSITE while acting as a stimulus to intellectual pursuits, lepidocrocite can help to promote grounding, centering, clear thoughts, expanding and retaining knowledge.

RUTILE Quartz can bring strength, love, ease in making transitions, and accelerate growth in all levels of body, mind and spiritual development. An excellent choice for promoting and building stability within relationships, as well as emotional and mental imbalances. It is an incredible tool for dispelling unwanted energy and can aid astral travel.

The World's Rarest Gems - part 2

Continuing the list of the world's rarest gems, here are 5 more:

5. Alexandrite

Named for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, this exceedingly rare gemstone was thought to be mined out after the original deposits, found in 1830 in Russia's Ural Mountains, were nearly exhausted.

Alexandrite is a color-changing gemstone: its hue shifts from red to green depending on the light it's exposed to. Alexandrite from the Ural Mountains in Russia can be green by daylight and red by incandescent light. Other varieties of alexandrite may be yellowish or pink in daylight and a columbine or raspberry red by incandescent light.
Stones that show a dramatic color change and strong colors (e.g. red-to-green) are rare and sought-after.

Recent finds in Brazil, East Africa and Sri Lanka have brought this stone back on the market, but it is still one of the world's most coveted stones.

Today, several labs can produce synthetic lab-grown stones with the same chemical and physical properties as natural alexandrite. One of these methods produces what is called flux-grown alexandrite, which produces gems that are fairly difficult to distinguish from natural alexandrite as they contain inclusions that can look natural.

Composition: Beryllium, Aluminum, Oxygen | Market Value: $12,000 per carat.

4. Blue Garnet

Although red is the most commonly occurring colour, garnet occurs in almost every colour. One of the most recently discovered colours of garnet is the rare blue garnet, which was discovered in the late 1990s in Madagascar. It has since been found in other regions, such as the USA, Russia, Kenya, Tanzania and Turkey.

It changes color from blue-green in the daylight to purple in incandescent light, as a result of the relatively high amounts of vanadium. The most expensive, a 4.2 carat gem sold in 2003 for $6.8 Million.


3. Musgravite
Another precious stone in the same family as Taaffeite, this stone's color ranges from a brilliant greenish gray to purple. Musgravite was discovered in 1967 in the Musgrave Range of Southern Australia, and for many years there were only eight known specimens.

Recently, small quantities of Musgravite have been located in Greenland, Antarctica, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Tanzania. Don't let this new "surplus" fool you, though: this incredibly hard stone is still exceedingly rare, fetching $35,000 - or more - per carat.

Composition: Magnesium, Beryllium, Aluminum, Zinc, Iron, Oxygen | Market Value: $35,000 per carat. Its hardness is 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale.

2. Red Diamonds
Technically speaking, red diamonds are diamonds, but they serve to highlight the fact that that diamonds actually come in a range of colors. They are, in order of rarity: yellow, brown, colorless, blue, green, black, pink, orange, purple and red. In other words, The clear diamonds you're liable to encounter at your local jeweler aren't even rare as far as diamonds go.

As a point of reference, the largest red diamond on Earth — The Moussaieff Red, pictured here — weighs just 5.11 carats (about 1 gram). The largest traditional diamonds — such as those cut from the 3,106.75-carat Cullinan diamond — weigh in at well over 500 carats. [Photo Credit: The Gemological Institute of America]

1. The Pink Star Diamond

The Pink Star, formerly known as the Steinmetz Pink, is a diamond weighing 59.60 carat (11.92 g), rated in color as Fancy Vivid Pink by the Gemological Institute of America. The Pink Star was mined by De Beers in 1999 in South Africa, and weighed 132.5 carat in the rough. The Pink Star is the largest known diamond having been rated Vivid Pink. As a result of this exceptional rarity, the Steinmetz Group took a cautious 20 months to cut the Pink. It was unveiled in Monaco on 29 May 2003 in a public ceremony.

The Pink Star was displayed (as the Steinmetz Pink) as part of the Smithsonian's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit. In 2013 the Pink Star was auctioned by Sotheby's in Geneva on 13 November 2013. The sale price was USD 83,187,381, a world record for a diamond of any colour and, indeed, for any gemstone.

All you wanted to know about Chrysocolla

Text: Sandra Kemppainen, shimmerlings.com; 

photo: wikipedia, A close-up photograph of a specimen of Chrysocolla from Australia. 

Author: Lloyd.james0615

One of the less known stones quite commonly used in jewellery making is Chrysocolla.

Quite often confused with turquoise, it has many of the same visual qualities as turquoise. But it is nothing like turquoise.

In ancient Egypt, it was called the ‘wise stone’ as those who wore it generally came up with clever comprises when it seems and unbearable pass in negotiations. It was also thought it would protect the wearer against psychological damage as well. It is also told that this stone had the power to make more violent people more sensitive and tolerant, which is apparently why Cleopatra carried chrysocolla with her everywhere she went.

Scientific Properties:

Mohs Hardness of 2 with a monoclinic crystal structure.

Chrysocolla gemstone generally occurs as a bright green or bluish crust or as compact grapelike clusters of stone. It is a copper bearing mineral found wherever copper deposits occur especially in areas of the southwestern USA, Chili, Zaire, Australia, France and England. Eliat Stone is a variegated blue and green mixture of chrysocolla and other copper minerals found in the Gulf of Aqaba, near the northwestern end of the Red Sea”.

Pure chrysocolla is generally too soft for main line jewelry purposes although, beads can be created with it, as well, it is often found in quartz deposits which makes the chrysocolla hard enough to polish for cabochons and other products. It is often found mixed with malachite, turquoise and azurite, which creates a wonderful product called Eilat Stone (a gem associated with King Soloman’s Mines) as well as bringing the metaphysical qualities of each of those gemstone into play as well.

Mystical Properties:

Chrysocolla is generally associated with peace and tranquility, as well as intuition, patience and unconditional love. It is often thought to offer gentle and soothing qualities, it is believed to be a powerful source of life-force energy, as well as a stone for feminine empowerment; helping to build feminine energies and cam emotions. 

Chrysocolla helps to clear the subconscious of negative feelings of guilt, fears and tension, and bringing up inner strength. It aids in releasing old resentment and in forgiving people you’ve been holding resistance to. It is exceptionally helpful in dealing with the anger and pain associated with rape, or abuse of any kind.

This is a stone that is excellent for reading layouts or for jewelry, psychic impressions suggest that this stone is a master healer, through emotion expression. It is told to be quite useful to one for expressing those emotions which are fire based, such as anger, fear, passion or excitement. Chrysocolla has been known to raise the metabolism to assist in rectifying an imbalance or to help in losing weight.

Chrysocolla is known to promote level headedness, encouraging clarity of thought and a neutral, calm attitude during turbulence. It can also be used to decrease nervousness and irritability.

Healing Properties:

Chrysocolla is best known among Native American Indian cultures for its capability of strengthening the body’s resistance and bringing about calm feeling where there has been upset and turmoil. It enhances creativity in all, female energy and communication, as well as relieving ulcers and arthritis.

This stone can be placed directly on the effected body position, for alleviating cramps, infections of the throat, detoxifying the liver, lowering blood pressure (heart) or assisting recovery from burns. As well, laying it on the third eye offers immense spiritual benefit.

Chrysocolla is particularly effective when carried as a touchstone or jewelry that is in constant contact with the skin. It should be cleansed once a month under warm running water and then recharged overnight in a bowl with tumbled hematite.

Magical Properties:

Chrysocolla makes a bridge of energy between the Earth and the Sky, the physical and the spiritual planes. A stone with very feminine energies, chrysocolla ease the mental and emotional pains of any troubled relationship by relieving tension and bringing out your inner strengths.

When attempting to remove yourself from a troublesome or even dangerous relationship or situation, especially those filled with emtional tension, draw a nine inch circle on a piece of paper. Set a peice of chrysocolla in the center of the circle, sit and meditate on what this situation is costing you in manners of self-esteem, physical danger, emotional stress and psychological duress, as well as monetarily. Force yourself to see it for it’s full and true ugliness....no excuses!

Do this for nine nights, each time moving the stone closer and closer to the edge of the circle. In the meantime, take whatever measures are appropriate and necessary for you to be safe. By the end of the ninth night, you should be able to remove the stone completely from the circle.

If however, you have procrastinated, and taken to steps to physically help remove yourself from this situation, moving the stone to the edge of the circle will not gain you freedom from the problem. You may start again, but you should consider why you were unable to do it the first time, before beginning again.

All you wanted to know about: Lapis Lazuli

Found in artifacts dating to the predynastic Naqada II (3500-3100 BC) time period throughout the rest of ancient Egypt’s long history, lapis lazuli appears to have been one of the most popular gem stones in the ancient culture. 

In the Epic of Gilgamesh; the oldest known story in human history, lapis lazuli is referenced several times. Lapis jewelry has been found at excavations of the Predynastic Egyptian site Naqada (3300–3100 BC), and powdered lapis was used as eyeshadow by Cleopatra.

Known as KHESBED, the stone was used in jewelry, in effigies, in amulets, and even in medicines.

Lapis is a deep blue stone, reflecting both the life-giving waters of the Nile and the divine expanse of the sky. Associated with the sky goddess, Nut, the goddess of balance and truth, Ma’at, and the sun god, Re, lapis was highly sought after in ancient Egypt. 

Egyptian cultures made a practice of burying a lapis lazuli scarab with their dead, and believed it to offer protection. The very earliest cultures valued lapis lazuli more highly than gold. Greeks spoke of an ancient sapphire which was included with gold, and this was unmistakably lapis. Some believed that dreaming of lapis would foretell love that would be forever faithful.

Healing properties of Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli is used with other stones when parts of the body need to be purified and cleansed and should be only used by a healer. Lapis Lazuli has high intensity and can open many of the chakra centers. This must be done only with love in the heart and comprehension in the mind and wisdom in soul.

Lapis lazuli is regarded by many people around the world as the stone of friendship and truth. The blue stone is said to encourage harmony in relationships and help its wearer to be authentic and give his or her opinion openly.

Lapis lazuli is a rock, largely formed from the mineral lazurite.

The main component of lapis lazuli is lazurite (25% to 40%), a feldspathoid silicate mineral with the formula. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite (white), sodalite (blue), and pyrite (metallic yellow). 

Lapis lazuli is an opaque rock that mainly consists of diopside and lazurite. It came into being millions of years ago during the metamorphosis of lime to marble. Uncut, lapis lazuli is matt and of a deep, dark blue colour, often with golden inclusions and whitish marble veins. The small inclusions with their golden shimmer, which give the stone the magic of a starry sky, are not of gold as people used to think, but of pyrites. Their cause is iron. The blue colour comes from the sulphur content of the lazurite and may range from pure ultramarine to a lighter blue. At between 5 and 6 on the Mohs scale, this stone is among the less hard gemstones.

When the cutter turns up his nose ...

Many a cutter ‘turns up his nose’ when cutting lapis lazuli, for as soon as the stone comes into contact with the cutting-disc it gives off a typical smell. An experienced cutter can even tell from the odour how intense the colour is. When polishing this stone, he must handle it gently on account of its modest hardness and not subject it to much pressure. But there is no need for the wearer to worry: a lapis lazuli that has grown matt from having been worn too much can easily be repolished at any time. Lapis lazuli is often sealed with colourless wax or synthetic resin. As long as these substances are not mixed with any colouring agent, this sealing process simply has the effect of improving the stone’s wearing qualities. Having said that, the stone should always be protected from acidic substances, and it should not be exposed to too much sunlight.

All you wanted to know about Tourmaline

Tourmalines are gems with an incomparable variety of colours. The reason, according to an old Egyptian legend, is that the tourmaline, on its long journey up from the centre of the Earth, passed over a rainbow. In doing so, it assumed all the colours of the rainbow. And that is why it is still referred to as the ‘gemstone of the rainbow’ today.

The name tourmaline comes from the Singhalese words ‘tura mali’. In translation, this means something like ‘stone with mixed colours’, referring to the colour spectrum of this gemstone, which outdoes that of all other precious stones. 

There are tourmalines from red to green and from blue to yellow. They often have two or more colours. There are tourmalines which change their colour when the light changes from daylight to artificial light, and some show the light effect of a cat’s eye. No two tourmalines are exactly alike. This gemstone has an endless number of faces, and for that reason it suits all moods. No wonder that magical powers have been attributed to it since ancient times. In particular, it is the gemstone of love and of friendship, and is said to render them firm and long-lasting.

Colours, names and nicknames

In order to understand this variety of colour, you will have to brush up your knowledge of gemmology a little: tourmalines are mixed crystals of aluminium boron silicate with a complex and changing composition. The mineral group is a fairly complex one. Even slight changes in the composition cause completely different colours. Crystals of only a single colour are fairly rare; indeed the same crystal will often display various colours and various nuances of those colours. 

And the trademark of this gemstone is not only its great wealth of colour, but also its marked dichroism. Depending on the angle from which you look at it, the colour may be different or more or less intense. It is always at its most intense when viewed looking toward the main axis, a fact to which the cutter must pay great attention when lining up the cut. 

This gemstone has excellent wearing qualities and is easy to look after, for all tourmalines have a good hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale. 

In the trade, the individual colour variants have their own names. For example, a tourmaline of an intense red is known as a ‘rubellite’, but only if it continues to display the same fine ruby red in artificial light as it did in daylight.

 If the colour changes when the light source does, the stone is called a pink or shocking pink tourmaline. In the language of the gemologists, blue tourmalines are known as ‘indigolites’, yellowish-brown to dark brown ones as ‘dravites’ and black ones as ‘schorl’. The last mentioned, mostly used for engravings and in esotericism, is said to have special powers with which people can be protected from harmful radiation.

One particularly popular variety is the green Tourmaline, known as a ‘verdelite’ in the trade. However, if its fine emerald-like green is caused by tiny traces of chrome, it is referred to as a ‘chrome tourmaline’.

The absolute highlight among the tourmalines is the ‘Paraiba tourmaline’, a gemstone of an intense blue to blue-green which was not discovered until 1987 in a mine in the Brazilian state of Paraiba. In good qualities, these gemstones are much sought-after treasures today. Since tourmalines from Malawi with a vivid yellow colour, known as ‘canary tourmalines’, came into the trade, the colour yellow, which was previously very scarce indeed, has been very well represented in the endless spectrum of colours boasted by the ‘gemstone of the rainbow’.

Yet the tourmaline has even more names: stones with two colours are known as bicoloured tourmalines, and those with more than two as multicoloured tourmalines. 

Slices showing a cross-section of the tourmaline crystal are also very popular because they display, in a very small area, the whole of the incomparable colour variety of this gemstone. If the centre of the slice is red and the area around it green, the stone is given the nickname ‘water melon’. On the other hand, if the crystal is almost colourless and black at the ends only, it is called a ‘Mohrenkopf’, (resembling a certain kind of cake popular in Germany).

Tourmalines are found almost all over the world. There are major deposits in Brazil, Sri Lanka and South and south-west Africa. Other finds have been made in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tourmalines are also found in the USA, mainly in California and Maine. Although there are plenty of gemstone deposits which contain tourmalines, good qualities and fine colours are not often discovered among them. For this reason, the price spectrum of the tourmaline is almost as broad as that of its colour.

The ‘aschentrekker’

It is not only designers who love the tourmaline on account of its inspiring variety of colour. Scientists too are interested in it because of its astonishing physical qualities, for tourmalines can become electrically charged when they are heated and then allowed to cool. Then, they have a positive charge at one end and a negative one at the other. This is known as ‘pyro-electricity’, derived from the Greek word ‘pyr’, meaning fire.

The gemstone also becomes charged under pressure, the polarity subsequently changing when the pressure is taken off. When the charge changes the tourmaline begins to oscillate, similar to a rock crystal but much more pronouncedly.

 The Dutch, who were the first to bring the tourmaline to Europe, were familiar with this effect a long time before it was able to be provided with a scientific explanation. They used a heated tourmaline to draw up the ash from their meerschaum pipes, and called the gemstone with the amazing powers an ‘aschentrekker’.

In the fascinating world of gemstones, the tourmaline is very special. Its high availability and its glorious, incomparable colour spectrum make it one of our most popular gemstones - and apart from that, almost every tourmaline is unique.

Sandra Kemppainen.

All you wanted to know about Spinel

 

Spinel is the great impostor of gemstone history: many famous rubies in crown jewels around the world are actually spinel.

In Burma , where some of the most beautiful colors are mined, spinel was recognised as a separate gem species since 1600 but in other countries the masquerade continued for hundreds of years. Historically, fine red spinels were esteemed as much as ruby, and sometimes even more. 

Next to ruby and the rare red diamond, spinel is the most expensive of all red gems. Spinels were most often referred to as “balast rubies” which may have referred to colour or to country of origin.

The most famous is the Black Prince’s Ruby, a magnificent 170-carat red spinel that currently adorns the Imperial State Crown in the British Crown Jewels after a long history: Henry V even wore it on his battle helmet! The Timur Ruby, a 352-carat red spinel now owned by Queen Elizabeth, has the names of the Mughal emperors who previously owned it engraved on its face, an undeniable pedigree!

With a hardness of 8 and no cleavage planes, spinel is a tough and durable gemstone suitable for any kind of jewellery. 

Its’ lustre is vitreous and rough crystals can be transparent, translucent or nearly opaque. A member of the isometric system, the octahedron is the typical habit. Dodecahedrons and combinations of other isometric forms are also common. Many crystals are twinned on the plane of the octahedral face forming flattened triangular forms known as “spinel twins”.

Today, spinel is a favourite of gem dealers and gem collectors due to its brilliance, hardness and wide range of spectacular colours. Vivid traffic light red and cobalt blue are the most expensive colours for spinel and nice stones over 3cts. in size are always a rarity.

Top quality red spinels display superb bright and saturated red colours that actually fluoresce, or glow, in natural light. Pure colourless natural spinel is extremely rare and natural white spinels always show a trace of pink. Star spinels are found occasionally and they may display either four or six rays depending on their orientation. Spinel also comes in beautiful blues which are sometimes called cobalt spinel, but these are very very rare.

Because spinels made in a laboratory are often used for imitation birthstone rings, many people think “synthetic” when they hear the name “spinel.” They have often never even seen the real thing.

In fact, the main thing holding back greater recognition for spinel is rarity. Fine spinels are now more rare than the rubies they used to imitate. Strangely, they are also more affordable: in the gem world, too rare can be a drawback because so few people even get a chance to grow to love these gem varieties.

In addition to Burma, now known as Myanmar, spinel is mined in Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Tadjikstan, part of the former Soviet Union.

Spinel is a durable gemstone that is perfect for all jewellery uses. 

It is most often faceted in oval, round, or cushion shapes and is not currently found in calibrated sizes due to its rarity.

Precious spinels appear strikingly clean and free of inclusions. This impression is due among other things to the lack of liquid inclusions. 

The best proof of spinel is spinel and microscopic octahedra may be scattered in long chains and sinuous bands throughout inner stretches of the host crystal. Besides these mini spinels, spinel shelters a whole range of other guest minerals including albite, anhydrite, apatite, baddeleyite, calcite, olivine, and titanite.

Historically, fine red spinels were esteemed as much as ruby, and sometimes even more. Next to ruby and the rare red diamond, spinel is the most expensive of all red gems.

Sandra Kemppainen, wikipedia.

Precious Gemstones: Emerald

Emerald is the green variety of Beryl, and its most precious and valuable variety. Its intense green color has given it status as an important gemstone throughout the centuries. The color of Emerald is green to emerald-green. The light green form of Beryl is not recognized as Emerald, but rather Green Beryl. The deep color of Emerald is caused by traces of the element chromium, but sometimes also vanadium.

The ancient source of Emeralds in the old world was Egypt, but their quality was not exceptional. However, the Native South American civilizations such as the Incas have had high quality Emeralds from the mines of Colombia, which have traditionally produced the highest quality Emeralds and continue doing so.

Emeralds can be transparent and gemmy, in which case they are extremely valuable, or they can be in opaque or semi-opaque forms which are much more common and not as valuable.

They are sometimes heat treated, which causes their color to turn blue and transform into Aquamarine.

Emeralds are notorious for their flaws. Flawless stones are very uncommon, and are noted for their great value. Some actually prefer Emeralds with minute flaws over flawless Emeralds, as this proves authenticity. Flaws are often hidden by treating the Emeralds with oil or synthetic lubricants, and this is a common practice in the industry. 

Though Colombian Emeralds have traditionally been the highest quality Emeralds with the finest green color, a new source of Emerald from the African country of Zambia has been producing deep green Emeralds with fewer flaws.

Though Emerald has good hardness, it is a brittle stone. It may develop internal cracks if banged hard or if subject to extreme temperature change. Emeralds that were treated to mask internal flaws should never be cleaned with an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, nor should they be washed with soap. These practices may remove the oiling treatment and expose the hidden internal flaws.

USES  

Transparent emeralds are faceted into gem cuts for jewelry, and make one of the most popular jewelry gemstones. Emerald is very sensitive to pressure and banging, and the well-known emerald cut was developed specifically for this gem to reduce the amount of pressure during cutting. Translucent Emeralds are cut and polished into cabochons and beads, as are Trapiche Emeralds. 

Emerald is the birthstone of May.

VARIETIES  

Brazilian Emerald  -   Emerald from Brazil. The term Brazilian Emerald may also refer to green Tourmaline from Brazil.

Cat’s Eye Emerald  -  Emerald exhibiting cat’s eye effect. Cat’s eye emerald is very rare, and only exists on paler Emeralds.

Colombian Emerald  -   Emerald from Colombia. This Emerald is usually regarded as the highest quality.

Star Emerald  -  Synonym of Trapiche Emerald.

Trapiche Emerald  -   Emerald with black impurities in the form of a six-rayed star.

Zambian Emerald  -  Emerald from the African country of Zambia. Zambian Emeralds can have very good color and transparency. 

FALSE NAMES  

Emeralds have been synthetically produced since 1848. Synthetic Emeralds currently produced can be very similar to true, natural Emeralds to the point that they may be virtually indistinguishable by normal means. Here are some names for synthetic emerald to watch out for:

Biron Emerald

Chathan Emerald

Gilson Emerald

Kimberly Emerald

Lennix Emerald

Linde Emerald

Regency Emerald

Zerfass Emerald

Glass dyed green is also a major Emerald simulator. The color of green glass and emerald may be identical, but other physical and optical properties can easily differentiate the two. Some fraudulent names given to green glass used as jewelry:

Broghton Emerald

Endura Emerald

Ferrer’s Emerald

Medina Emerald

Mount St. Helen’s Emerald

Spanish Emerald

Emerald in different cultures, and emerald lore

The Gachala Emerald is one of the largest gem emeralds in the world, at 858 carats (172 g). This stone was found in 1967 at La Vega de San Juan mine in Gachalá, Colombia. It is housed at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Precious Gemstones - Ruby

Ruby is red corundum, all other color varieties of corundum being referred to as sapphire. Corundum is the second hardest substance on the Mohs scale, with a rating of 9. Diamond tops the scale with a rating of 10. Excellent hardness combined with the rich color and silky shine makes fine ruby so valuable and secures them a position as one of the so-called “precious” gemstones.

Ruby is named after the Latin word “ruber” for red. Ruby is one of the most expensive gems, large rubies being rarer than comparable diamonds. Many rubies are an essential part of royal insignia and other famous jewelry. 

Ruby crystal before faceting, length 0.8 inches (2 cm). Picture released to the public domain by Adrian Pingstone

Ruby is the birthstone for those who are born in July. Ruby is also used to celebrate a couple’s 15th and 40th anniversary.

Corundum: Corundum is best known for its gem varieties, Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby and Sapphire are scientifically the same mineral but just different colors. Ruby is the red variety, and Sapphire is the variety that encompasses all other colors, although the most popular and valued color of Sapphire is blue. Sapphire is also only used to describe the gem variety, otherwise it is simply called Corundum.

Corundum is a very hard, tough, and stable mineral. For all practical purposes, it is the hardest mineral after Diamond, making it the second hardest mineral. It is also unaffected by acids and most environments.

Ruby colors

Rubies range in color from pinkish to orangey and purplish and brownish red, depending on the chromium and iron content of the stone. The most desirable color is the so-called “pigeon’s blood”, a pure red with a hint of blue.

Buying Ruby

Color is the most important consideration, with clarity a distant second. Large rubies are rare.

Photo from Freedigitalphotos.net

Color

The most desirable color is the so-called “pigeon’s blood”, a pure red with a hint of blue. Color saturation makes all the difference.

Lighting

Ruby shows pleochroism which means that the color varies with the direction of viewing. Stones displaying the cat’s eye or star effect effect are best viewed in daylight.

Many rubies will fluoresce in long or short wave UV and this property can often be used to help identify a stone’s geographic origin. Burmese rubies often fluoresce so strongly that the effect is noticeable even in sunlight.

Such stones seem literally to glow. Thai rubies generally lack this property.

Clarity

Inclusions are common in ruby and not always an indication of lower quality. Included rutile needles cause the “silky shine”. If such a stone is cut en cabochon it exposes the rare cat’s eye effect. Oriented rutile crystal inclusions cause a six-rayed-star light effect (called asterism) to form the popular star ruby.

Ruby location and deposits

Myanmar: For centuries the most important deposits are in upper Myanmar (Burma) near Mogok. Only one percent of the production is of gem quality. Some of the rubies are of pigeon’s blood color and considered to be the most valuable rubies of all. In the early 1990’s large new deposits were discovered at Mong Hsu.

Thailand: Rubies found in Thailand (Chanthaburi district) often have a brown or violet tint. The Thai ruby production is declining, and Chanthaburi is now mainly a center for processing and trading gems.

Sri Lanka: The deposits are located in the southwest of the island in the Ratnapura district. Rubies from that deposits are usually light red to raspberry red.

Madagascar: in the 1990’s major ruby deposits were discovered in this huge island off the coast of Mozambique. Madagascar is now one of the world’s leading ruby producers. 

Tanzania: On the upper Umba River in northwest Tanzania are deposits for gemstone quality rubies that are violet to brown-red. A few opaque rubies are mined as well.

Other deposits of some importance are found in: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya and Vietnam. Less significant deposits are in: Australia, Brazil, India, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, United States and Zimbabwe.

Common Ruby treatments

The most common treatment for ruby is heat treatment. Stones, generally before they are cut, are heated to between 1700 to 1800 degrees Celsius (3100-3300 degrees F) for several hours. Heating often improves both color and clarity. A reputable dealer will always disclose gem treatments.

Lower grade rubies with surface-reaching fissures are often fracture-filled with lead glass. 

This treatment produces good looking stones that can be sold at a very reasonable price.

World-famous Ruby

Famous stones of outstanding beauty and color are the “Edwardes Ruby”,weight 167 ct, displayed at the British Museum of Natural History in London, the “Rosser Reeves Star Ruby”, of 138.7 ct, to be seen at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the “De Long Star Ruby”, weight 100 ct, shown in the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the “Peace Ruby”, 43 ct, which was found in 1919.

Many rubies are an essential part of royal insignia and other famous jewelry. The Bohemian St. Wenzel’s Crown holds an unfaceted ruby of about 250 ct.

Information collected and compiled from The Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom, www.minerals.net and Wikipedia.

Sandra Kemppainen.

Exquisite, lustrous and gemmy ruby crystals in matrix, measuring up to 2 cm, together with small, blue crystals of kyanite. - wikipedia, user StrangerThanKindness

Bracelet with Ruby and Diamonds - wikipedia, paparutzi / christina rutz

Birthstones – Gemstones that tell about you - June, July

In this article we will present the birthstones for the months of June and July.

For June, we have moonstone and pearl. Both have a delicate shine, reflecting light in a captivating and mysterious way.

For July, we have two strong stones, ruby and jade. 

Moonstone: 

This mysterious gem, captivating as a full moon gleaming in the night sky, is considered sacred in India, where it has appeared in jewelry for centuries. The gem is also the traditional gift for the 13th wedding anniversary. 

Moonstones are named because their sheen is similar to moonlight. Moonstone has another synonym, which is Selenite, according to the Greek godess of the moon, Selene.

Top quality blue Moonstone displays an incredible “three-dimensional” depth of color, it will be seen clearly only when playfully tilting the stone and moving it. They are very rare and thus highly valuable and coveted. 

It is believed moonstone have special properties:

To arouse the passion of lovers.

If placed beneath the tongue when the moon is full, a moonstone is said to reveal what is in store, good or bad, for a romance.

Used to protect women and babies.

Used by females to attract men.

Pearls: 

These amazing Minerals are formed by living Oysters and mussels and come in various colors. 

Pearls symbolize loyalty, faithfulness and friendship. 

Pearls are believed to help with purity, modesty and chastity. 

Health problems related to the heart, stomach, spleen and intestine are believed to be eased by using pearls.

July: Ruby, Jade

Ruby:

Rubies are deep red gemstones, and the color may vary from pinkish red to blood-red. 

Rubies symbolize integrity, courage, happiness and devotion. Rubies are believed to help with success, vitality, generosity, confidence and strength.

Health problems linked to blood and infection are believed to heal with rubies.

Jade:

In ancient China and Egypt jade was used as a talisman to attract good fortune and friendship. 

Worn as an amulet it is believed to protect one from evil while traveling and to promote wisdom and ensure a long life.

Helps to protect the kidney, heart, larynx, liver, spleen, thymus, thyroid and strengthens the body. Jade is known as a symbol of love and virtue.

Sandra Kemppainen

Susan Fred.