Sapphire – Art Deco

Art Deco is my favorite style of jewelry with its flair of design and the use of unusual combinations of gemstones.  Art Deco is a style of architecture and design […]

Corundum – From Sapphires to Rubies

Gemstones of the mineral corundum [Ref 1] offer a rainbow of colors for the lapidarist and jewelry maker as displayed in Figure 1.  Traditionally, of these, the ruby and blue […]

Diamonds IV

Lattice Defects, Impurities and Color As stated in references 17, 18 of my DIAMONDS II blog, impurity atoms and lattice vacancy defects are responsible for the coloration of diamonds [Ref […]

Diamonds III

A Gallery of Natural Diamond Crystals The gallery includes clear crystals and those exhibiting a range of colors (Figures 2-13), a range of shapes (Figures 2-15), examples of inclusions found […]

Diamonds II

In this blog, my second on diamonds, I’ll discuss the physical and chemical properties of a diamond, then its optical properties in relation to its crystal structure and chemistry, and […]

Fluorite Art Works & Jewelry

Artworks and jewelry have been created from fluorite since ancient times, such as the carved fluorite statues discovered in Crittenden County, Kentucky and shown in Figure 1 [Ref 1]. The […]

Fluorite, A Collectors Favorite

The rich, often “electric” rainbow colors of fluorite specimens from world-wide locations, the frequent appearance of different colors within regions, bound with the lattice planes within a crystal, and the […]

Fluorite, A Gallery of Specimens

I’ve assembled a gallery of 15 fluorite specimens from some of the locations around the world which are favored by collectors.

An Unusual Quartz Crystal

While at the Flagstaff Gem, Mineral & Jewelry show this past August, my fellow Coconino Lapidary Club member and collector friend, Gordon, and I spotted an unusual appearing polished quartz […]

Calcite II – Jewelry & Art

In this blog, art works and jewelry, dating from 2300-2400 BC to the present, are shown. All were discovered with great fun by googling the web. CALCITE JEWELRY AND ARTWORK […]