News Archive

Colored Stone Market

The August JCK Las Vegas show provides the first opportunity since the 2020 Tucson GemFair for buyers and exhibitors to come together for a major jewelry trade event in the U.S. At press time JCK, Couture, AGTA and the Antique shows were set to go ahead in late August as scheduled.

Phenakite

Of all the colorless “rare gems,” phenakite is perhaps the most desirable of almost all of its colorless counterparts for several reasons.

Heliodor and Golden Beryl

The demand for heliodor in the gem market fluctuates by fashion to an extent. Since one of the Pantone Colors of the Year for 2021 is a bright yellow named “Illuminating,” all tones of heliodor should get more attention.

Gem Focus June 2021: Fluorite

Brightly colored crystals of fluorite, a.k.a., fluorspar, in large sizes have been a prized possession of mineral collectors for hundreds of years. This calcium fluoride mineral was first named by Carlo Antonio Galeani Napione in the late 18th century. He was inspired by the Latin word “fluere” meaning “to flow" because the mineral is used as a flux in iron smelting for industrial purposes.

Gem Focus May 2021: Feldspar

Gem quality feldspar species are more commonly sought as collectors’ stones and seldom for jewelry since they are not very durable. They tend to be colorless, light yellow, sometimes gray. The unusual variety of microcline feldspar, which displays an attractive greenish blue color is called amazonite.

Pink Diaspore

Much of the pink diaspore rough seen to date has areas capable of cutting medium to large size stones that are eye clean and in many cases loupe clean