Let's Learn About Gemstones

I really need to know...

I decided I need to get myself more educated about gemstones so that I can make informed decisions when I purchase beads for my jewelry making. I am using this lens to collect and hold the information I find.

Gemstone books on Amazon

Gemstones (Smithsonian Handbooks)

by Cally Hall

Amazon Price: $13.60 (as of 07/20/2008)

Gemstones of the World: Newly Revised & Expanded Third Edition

by Walter Schumann

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/20/2008)

Healing Crystals and Gemstones: From Amethyst to Zircon

by Flora Peschek-Bohmer, Gisela Schreiber

Amazon Price: $12.98 (as of 07/20/2008)

The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones: A Complete Guide to Appraising and Using Precious Stones From Cut and Color to Shape and Settings

by Judith Crowe

Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 07/20/2008)

Secrets of the Gem Trade: The Connoisseur's Guide to Precious Gemstones

by Richard W. Wise

Amazon Price: $35.96 (as of 07/20/2008)

Featured gemstone auctions

Malachite!

I am going to try to feature stone beads being sold on Ebay right now.

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

Reader Feedback

SIgn in and let me know if you have some gemstone info to share!

pinman201

Rocks and stones tell great stories. Neat lense.

Posted February 15, 2008

appleandstar

What a great resource! Thanks for sharing all of your hard work :-)

Posted January 10, 2008

Scarboroughseashells

Cool idea for a lens, Mags! :)

Posted June 22, 2007

Links to Gemstone resource sites

Vote for the ones you find useful, add any you know of!

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Beads and Beading Blog

Great list of information about gemstones in gener more...0 points

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American Gem Trade Association - Gemstone Information

American Gem Trade Association. The Natural Colore more...0 points

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International Gem Society Reference Library

International Gem Society Reference Library.0 points

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http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/jasper.htm

Beautiful site about different kinds of jasper.0 points

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http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/directory/library/subject/49

Gemology Information for Jewelers0 points

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How to Spot a Fake Gemstone - Gemstone Fakes and Deceptions - Jewelry Advice

Call them what you like: fake gemstones, imitation more...0 points

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Bijoutery's Blog

Great blog with some entries about stone identific more...0 points

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Encyclopedia of Gemstones - All About Gemstones

Great list of stones with pictures and properties.0 points

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Colored Stone March/April 2003 - Sources: Chalcedony

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International Gem Society

On line Gemology Course, learn how to grade and id more...0 points

New Featured Lenses

Here are some great resources for stone information!

Gemstones

This lens will be dedicated to information about all types of gemstones. I will feature articles and links relating to identification, grading, evaluating, buying, selling and just appreciating gems in all forms. Further down this page there are...

A Gemstone Encyclopedia

Our Gemstone encyclopedia has nearly everything you always wanted to know about gemstones. The Internet is about information, and we want to provide you with all the information you will need on gemstones. Our gemstone encyclopedia is one of the most...

Tourmaline

Legend has it that on the long way from the Earth’s heart up towards the sun, Tourmaline traveled along a rainbow. And on its way it collected all the colors of the rainbow. It is easy to see why ancient people would think this. No gem family is...

Interesting Unique and Unusual Gemstones - TaoGems

TaoGem supplies inexpensive interesting unique and unusual gemstones. beautiful loose cut gemstones. Cut, faceted and polished designer gemstones for making custom hand made gemstone jewelry, and other gemstone related art work. TaoGem wi...

Jasper the Mineral

Jasper the mineral Squidoo Community lens was created to provide lapidaries, jewelry designers, collectors of Jasper, and especially for those interested in learning and comparing the various Jaspers appearances after cutting, sanding and polishing t...

Wiki links for some gemstones

Quick reference guide to some information about some gemstones I am currently working with.

Turquoise: "Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In recent times turquoise, like most other opaque gems, has been devalued by the introduction of treatments, imitations, and synthetics onto the market, some difficult to detect even by experts."
Malachite: "The stone's name derives (via Latin and French) from Greek molochitis, "mallow-green stone", from moloch%u0113, variant of malach%u0113, "mallow". Malachite was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until about 1800. The pigment is moderately lightfast, very sensitive to acids and varying in colour."
Chalcedony: Chalcedony From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
Chalcedony knife, AD 1000-1200
Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of the minerals quartz and moganite[1]. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz
Kyanite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Kyanite From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search
KyaniteGeneral
Category
Mineral
Chemical formula
Al2SiO5
(aluminium silicate)
Identification
Color
Blue; also green, white, grey, black
Crystal habit
Columnar; fibrous
Crystal system
Triclinic
Cleavage
[100] Perfect, [010

Blog Posts from Google about Gemstones

Gemstone Globes - The Ultimate in Globe Beauty: A gemstone globe is a work of art and when the attention to detail has been met you get this masterp...
Style Spotlight: 8 High-End Gemstone Pieces To Covet: Think that only independent jewelry designers use gemstone beads in their collections? Think again!...
Ekanite- Discovery of a New Rare Gemstone By Mr FDL Ekanayake: The discovery of 'Benitoite' in San Benito country in California, before the World War I in 1907 and...
Acer Ready to Ship the Gemstone 8920G: The Gemstone 8920G is a ultra-portable large laptop. I know you got use to reading more and more new...