In the last few years, the influx of synthetic diamonds into the market has sparked tremendous interest in the laboratory growth of this beautiful and fascinating gemstone. The chart provided here ...

Figure 1. Sapphires from Madagascar: a beautiful 3.29 ct untreated faceted stone and an assortment of rough in the background. Madagascar has produced many high-quality stones in the last few years ...

CARLSBAD, Calif. – November 4, 2024 – The GIA laboratory in Ramat Gan, Israel, will end operations by the end of 2024 due to changes in the global diamond industry that resulted in significant ...

Diamonds have a long history as a premier gemstone—a natural consequence of their beauty, rarity, and superlative physical properties such as extreme hardness. Diamonds that are mined for use as ...

The micro-world of gems lies at the very core of gemology. Information gathered from observations through the microscope serves as the very foundation for many conclusions drawn on a specimen, ...

A well-known collector mineral, wavellite (Al 3 (PO 4) 2 (OH) 3 •5H 2 O), is named after its discoverer, British surgeon Dr. William Wavell. Wavellite mineral specimens seen on the market often occur ...

Figure 1. Corundum is an example of a negative uniaxial mineral. This ruby crystal in matrix from Mogok, Myanmar, is approximately 6.15 cm in length. The cut gem is a 3.22 ct unheated ruby, also from ...

Carved single-crystal diamond rings are rare, with few examples to reference (see Spring 2020 Lab Notes, pp. 132–133). But with advancing technology in the laboratory-grown diamond industry, the ...

Figure 1. Five loose “Edison” Chinese freshwater cultured pearls (11–14 mm) surrounded by a 17-inch necklace featuring variously colored round Edison pearls (10.5–13.5 mm). Photo by Robert Weldon/GIA, ...

Abalone is the common name of the marine mollusk species that belongs to the Haliotis genus. Various abalone species are distributed worldwide along cold coastal waters. They live in rocky habitats, ...

In November 2022, a parcel of 24 approximately 0.5–1.2 ct spinel crystals, described as cobalt-diffused, were obtained directly from a treater by the research team at GIA in Bangkok. Of these, seven ...

Although today’s global freshwater cultured pearl market is mostly dominated by Chinese products, Japanese freshwater pearl cultivation started in 1935. Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture supplied pearls ...