Gemstone Encyclopedia

Ruby: The Fiery King of Gemstones, Its History, Legends, and Investment Power

Ruby is the only major gemstone whose color and whose glow come from the same atom doing two different jobs. The rock it grew in decides whether the glow survives, and that single fact explains the...

Blue Sapphire Guide: Origins, Treatments, Value & Records

When the Blue Belle of Asia sold for 17.3 million dollars, the price was justified line by line on a single laboratory report. This guide reads blue sapphire the way the market does: five certifica...

Black Star Sapphire Information

Its star is gold, not silver. It comes from one Thai province. And it is the only sapphire whose value lies entirely in what it contains rather than its color.

Green and Blue-Green Sapphire Information

Green was the color the sapphire trade once heated away. Today teal and parti stones lead modern bridal design. The full story of corundum's rehabilitated color.

Blue Star Sapphire Information

Every gem guide tells you to avoid inclusions. Star sapphire inverts the rule: without the flaws there is no star. How asterism works, and what a fine star costs.

Fancy Sapphires: Every Color of Corundum Explained

Pure corundum is colorless; every sapphire color is a chemical accident. A map of the full palette, from undervalued purples to the stones that change color after dark.

Padparadscha Sapphire Information

Padparadscha is the only sapphire whose name can be taken away by a lamp. The LMHC definition, the fade test born in Madagascar, the origins that divide the trade, and what these lotus-colored ston...

Yellow Sapphire: Color, Pukhraj Tradition, Value & Care

Yellow sapphire answers to two markets: Western jewelry buys it for color, the Vedic world buys pukhraj untreated. How the two rulebooks shape one gem's prices.

Pink Sapphire: The Gem Between Ruby and Padparadscha

Pink sapphire and ruby are the same mineral separated by a judgment call. Where the line is drawn, why Madagascar changed the market, and how to buy the pink corundum well.