Category: Featured Articles

The Impact of Cut on Colored Gemstones

Gems are broadly classified into three categories of cutting styles from traditional, fantasy, and precision. There are often debates as to how these cuts impact value and certainly, beauty. Better cuts will impact beauty and beauty will impact value. Cutters often have a story, and that story may include responsible sourcing, the cut, and the cutter and marketing these leads to better profit.

White Buffalo: An Update

“The original white buffalo stones are not turquoise, they are dolomite, and are Located in esmeralda county just west of Tonopah, Nevada, as it’s just on the edge of Nye. Dry Creek is known for having white turquoise which some called ‘sacred buffalo’ but is a separate stone from white buffalo.

Behind the Designs

For the first in our series on innovators in jewelry design, we are focusing on Philip Zahm, president of Philip Zahm Designs. Well established as a dealer of fine gemstones for decades, Zahm has been…

Diaspore

INTRODUCTION Diaspore is a mineral species with the formula, AlO(OH). It was first discovered in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia (the type locality) in 1801. Since the initial discovery, diaspore has been found in numerous localities around the…

An Ebay Experiment

One evening last January, I just couldn’t get to sleep. As I lay in bed wondering what I could do to pass the time, it struck me, “I will look for gemstones on eBay.” Little…