Provides a visual guide to the internal features of natural, synthetic, and treated spinel, as well as inclusions of spinel in other gemstones.

A singly-terminated topaz from Pakistan hosts a prominent phlogopite crystal with strong dichroism and lamellar cleavage planes.

Attractive iridescence creates a beautiful “play-of-color” effect on dendritic healed fissures in a blue sapphire.

The Carlsbad laboratory recently examined an unusually large faceted hexagonite with iridescent cleavage cracks and needle-like structures.

A beautiful new gem and mineral museum in Tucson is home to the stunning Somewhere in the Rainbow collection.

Two Australian rough diamonds demonstrate both pink and colorless sections in the same crystal.

A graduate of GIA’s Hong Kong Jewelry Design program hopes her award-winning design will help raise environmental awareness.

An overview of how the gem and jewelry trade, from miners to manufacturers, and from designers to dealers, dealt with the many challenges posed by the pandemic.

Two cabochons displaying white four-rayed “stars” are fashioned from one large natural diamond crystal.

Provides criteria for detecting the resin filling of turquoise, an advanced treatment that reduces porosity and can dramatically improve appearance and stability.

Presents a method for accurately predicting the color of a gem material when viewed in any direction as long as the polarized spectra and the viewing angle relative to the c-axis are known.

A rare chatoyant effect is produced within play-of-color patches in a natural opal.

Progress in creating laboratory-grown CVD diamonds allows for larger sizes, including the largest yet seen at the Carlsbad lab.

Presents a combination of observational and spectroscopic means to separate the three main geographic localities for blue amber, which shows very strong blue fluorescence under sunlight or D65 illumination.

The GIA lab in Carlsbad recently had the opportunity to examine a truly “all-American” diamond.

The annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show has been a reliable source for the niche and the unusual, as seen with the rhodium-plated iron meteorites acquired by author BL at the 22nd Street Show in February 2020.

A parcel of small rubies was received for identification at the S Gemmological Institute (SGI) gem lab in Yangon, Myanmar.

A holiday snowflake scene in a treated Mong Hsu ruby surprises and delights a gemologist in the Bangkok lab.

Offers a systematic evaluation of rose cuts produced for various colored stones in the latter seventeenth century, based on the examination of rare artifacts that belonged to the archbishops and prince-electors of Trier and Cologne.

The Bangkok lab identified unexpected characteristics in a flux-grown synthetic sapphire.