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Gemstones are mineral crystalsWhat specifically are gems and gemstones? We know some of the most common ones - emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds. But what exactly are they, how are they made and why we do we prize them so highly?
The International Gem Society defines a gem as "a mineral that has been chosen for its beauty and durability, then cut and polished
for human adornment."
Most gems are minerals. Others, like pearls or amber, are created from living organisms. Usually gems are of a color that mirrors other natural elements we consider beautiful or valuable. Emeralds mirror the lush green of plant life, sapphires are the color of the sky and rubies are a rich blood-red. There are variations in color in all of these gems, of course, and in diamonds, but those are the colors most normally associated with them. Diamonds can come in colors as well, with pink and canary diamonds being highly prized variants.
Most gems are hard and durable, although pearls can be easily damaged, as can opals and moonstones. Usually a gemstone has to be durable enough to wear as adornment, but others, while too soft to wear, are valued by collectors. Pearls can eventually disintegrate, even if all you do is wipe dust off them. And if you spray hairspray or perfume on them, this can also damage your pearls.
Opals are highly prized for their beauty and fire and make exquisite jewelry, but are extraordinarily susceptible to damage. They can shatter easily if dropped. And there's a story of a woman who wore an opal brooch to a holiday party. When she left the warmth of the party to leave and the brooch experienced the sudden drop in temperature, it shattered, just like a glass that's been heated and then cooled too quickly.
American Topaz
The world's largest cut topaz, called the American Topaz, resides at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. A 172-faceted topaz weighing 22,892.50 carats (5785 kg), it's the largest cut yellow topaz in the world, and one of the largest...
Garnet
garnet lantern to safely steer his Ark through the darkness of the night and the great flood. Garnets are found in jewelry from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman eras. Many courageous discoverers and travelers wore garnets for protection, as they...
Quartz 2
could be found. The Greeks had originally named quartz, krystallos, the word for ice, but this soon came to mean any crystal. In China's Ming Dynasty, quartz often showed up as stone in jewelry work. In Pre-Columbian America, explorations of Mixtec...
Fluorescence
We're all familiar with the 4Cs of diamonds - cut, color, clarity and carat weight. But diamonds also possess a quality called fluorescence that's part of the evaluation and assessment of a diamond. It's actually called photo-luminescence and it's...
Portuguese diamond
There's something so exciting about these incredibly large and perfect stones. Sometimes they have well-documented histories and we know where they came from and who owned them and when. But others have a past that's not as well-known, and that only...
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