ARTICLES
A Visit to the Indonesian Opal Fields in 2019 – Opal Types, Mining and Treatments Part 2
Part 2 provides more detailed information on the physical characteristics and gemmological properties of the opal, fossil plant material and gastropod specimens collected, as well as reporting on heat treatments conducted by the authors. A summary provides further comment on the...
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Gemstones and the Artist’s Palette – Natural Mineral Colouring of Paint Pigments
To most gemmologists, the idea of grinding up a beautifully coloured gemstone would be something tantamount to sacrilege. The appreciation of many gemstones starts with their colour but extends to their apparent beauty, rarity and durability, the very definition of...
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Would Tanzanite by Another Name Sell as Sweet?
Scientists as a whole are always searching for something new which in turn may be quite unrelated to the field of expertise. One of us as a toxicologist was interested in the words ‘cyanide’ and ‘cyanite’ [1] and also in...
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Zoisite – a Gemstone of Many Colours
We all know the common narrative of tanzanite being first found in Tanzania in 1967 and named by Tiffany and Co’s Henry B. Platt after the gemstone’s geographic origin. This widely used trade name only refers to the purple and...
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A Delightful Pendant Suite
A lovely piece of jewellery came across the desk recently; something that can truly be worn with any coloured outfit that would be complemented by a pendant. Shown in Figure 1, this pendant comprises six pieces. The pendant itself has...
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