jewelry and gold

Agate banded beauty No gemstone is more creatively striped by Nature than agate, chalcedony quartz that forms in concentric layers in a wide variety of colours and textures. Each individual agate forms by filling a cavity in host rock. As a result, agate is often found as a round nodule, with concentric bands like the rings of a tree trunk. The bands sometimes look like eyes, fanciful scallops, or even a landscape with trees. Agate was highly valued as a talisman or amulet in ancient times....

Chrome diopside a beautiful gem with an ugly name Chrome diopside certainly won't win any contests for the most beautiful name. To most people, it sounds more like a car polish than a gemstone. But don't be misled by that! Chrome diopside has a beautiful rich green colour and an amazingly low price. In fact it is the most affordable gemstone in a pure rich green. There are a few drawbacks. Chrome diopside is mostly available in small sizes: in the rare large sizes, the colour actually becomes...

Alexandrite This rare gemstone is named after the Russian tsar Alexander II (1818-1881), the very first crystals having been discovered in April 1834 in the emerald mines near the Tokovaya River in the Urals. The discovery was made on the day the future tsar came of age. Although alexandrite is a relatively young gemstone, it certainly has a noble history. Since it shows both red and green, the principal colours of old Imperial Russia, it inevitably became the national stone of tsarist...

Blue tourmaline Tourmalines are the most colourful gemstone group. They occur in all variations, green, red, blue, yellow, colourless, black... and some come in two or more colours at once. There is no other gemstone group whose diversity of colour exceeds that of the tourmalines, but the colours do not occur with equal frequency and they are not all equally well known. The best known are the green tourmaline and the pink or red rubellite. By contrast, a tourmaline which is pure blue is a...

Along with the emerald and sapphire, ruby is one of the most prized colored gem available. The main quality of the ruby is its bright red color. The best color usually comes from Burma and is very costly; stones from Thailand are darker but clearer and much more common. Only red stones are called rubies. If the color is too light to be called red, it is a pink sapphire. Corundum, the main material of ruby, is the second-hardest material known after diamond. Inclusions and flaws are fairly...

Quartz is one of the most versatile gemstones on earth. Many people do not know that some of the most popular gems such as citrine, amethyst, onyx and chalcedony are varieties of quartz. Quartz has a long history in the gem and jewelry world. The word “quartz” comes from the Greek word krustallos, meaning ice, because it was believed that quartz was ice formed by the gods. Throughout history varieties of quartz have been used in place of the more expensive gems like yellow sapphire, yellow...

Originally prized for its toughness and used in tools and weapons by prehistoric man, jade has a varied history. This gem has been known as the "royal gem" in China for 5000 years, and it was once valued more than gold by the Mayans and Aztecs. The name "jade" is derived from the Spanish "piedra de ijada" or loin-stone where it was thought to have medicinal powers to heal kidney ailments. Jadeite and nephrite are two different minerals that are both considered genuine jade. Nephrite is the...