Black gems tend to be ranked towards the lower end of value chain in the gem market. Thanks to increasing interest in unusual gem materials and advertising, they recently have acclaimed quite a recognition.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Beads; The Original Jewelry Style The discovery of 13 deliberately perforated shell beads that were stained with red ochre and showed significant wear in the Grotte des Pigeons at Tafora in Eastern Morocco in late 2000s…
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)While colorless zircon was considered a convincing substitute of diamond for centuries before cubic zirconia or moissanite appeared in the market, all other colors were enjoyed in their own merit thanks to its high dispersion.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)The eye visible purple-violet pleochroism of iolite is often one of the first gems used to introduce gemology to beginners because of its almost magic like optical feature.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Gemstones with unusual optical effects are defined as phenomenal gems. Their unusual effect can designate a variety within a species and add value.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Clarity enhancement; probably the oldest gem treatment method...
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Spodumene is almost exclusively a pegmatitic mineral of the pyroxene group that forms in monoclinic system with a chemical formula of LiAlSi2O6. Its hardness is 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs’ scale and displays perfect prismatic cleavage. Transparent and colored varieties show strong pleochroism. Strangely, the name spodumene means “ash-colored” in Greek referring to the dull and colorless examples when it was first named in the second half of the 19th century.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Engraved Gems. Timeless Seals and Canvases of Ancient Scenes.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)Titanite, as it is known to modern mineralogists for its significant titanium content, was first recognized as a new mineral by the great German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1795. Soon after its discovery, in 1801, the wedge-shaped crystals inspired the mineralogist Rene Just Haüy, the name bearer of mineral hauyne, to introduce the name “Sphene” after “sphenos,” meaning wedge in Greek.
*Gem Focus & Market Pulse (Free Subscriber)The fascination of deep blue matrix speckled with golden colored pyrite flecks of lapis lazuli goes back several millennia, almost to the beginning of all civilizations.
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