For more than a century, the Four Peaks mine in Maricopa County, Arizona, has produced gem-quality amethyst from crystal-lined or crystal-filled cavities and fractures in a brecciated quartzite host rock.

The GIA diamond cut grading system described here includes the components of brightness, fire, scintillation, polish, and symmetry, as well as weight and durability concerns, into a single overall grade for cut quality for standard round brilliants.

This article compares some of Chatham Created Gems’ synthetic colored diamonds to natural diamonds and explains the results.

In recent years, the obligation to fully disclose all gem treatments has changed from a mere ethical responsibility to a legal one.

Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Many areas in the jewelry industry—education, gemological research, lecturing, publication, and laboratory and inventory documentation, to name a few—either require or benefit from high-quality photomicrography.

This chart combines a comprehensive listing of the commercially available treatments for the most commonly used gem materials with an indication of the current status of their detectability.

Australia’s Argyle mine has set records for volume since its establishment in 1983, and is additionally noted for its rare pink diamonds.

The Capão mine is one of the oldest and most productive fully mechanized Imperial topaz mines in the historic Ouro Preto area of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Opal occurs as nodules in volcanic rocks at a new gem opal locality in the Menz Gishe district of Shewa Province, Ethiopia.

Since 1993, large amounts of gem-quality sapphires from the Andranondambo region of southern Madagascar have entered the international gem market.

This article illustrates the various features in filled diamonds and explores the best techniques for examining them.

Yogo Gulch, discovered more than 100 years ago, is one of four major sapphire-producing areas in Montana, United States.

Northern Vietnam began producing significant quantities of rubies and fancy sapphires in the late 1980s.

Renewed interest in large-scale commercial mining of Montana sapphires motivated a detailed study of the heat treatment of sapphire from the Rock Creek deposit.

Blue diffusion-treated sapphires have become a subject of considerable controversy since their introduction in significant quantities a few years ago.

After almost 75 years of inactivity, the deposits of boulder opal in Queensland, Australia, began to attract new interest in the 1960s and 1970s.

Burma, now named Myanmar, has for centuries been considered the world's preeminent source of fine rubies.

The East African nation of Tanzania has great gem wealth.

Gem-quality rubies and pink to purple sapphires are being recovered from the Luc Yen and Quy Chau mining regions of Vietnam.

In addition to its rich history, the Dresden Green offers an opportunity to gain information about how to distinguish natural from laboratory-irradiated green diamonds.