This installment of “Colored Stones Unearthed” explores inclusions in gems—how they form, how they are studied, and what they mean for gemologists and geoscientists.

The first installment of this column explores the potential role of modern-day deep-focus earthquakes on diamond growth.

A blue topaz recently examined by the authors contained an interesting and complex fluid-filled negative crystal that revealed some remarkable behavior when cooled down.

Meghan Simmons, a graduate of GIA’s Jewelry Design program at the Carlsbad campus, received the fifth annual Gianmaria Buccellati Foundation Award for Excellence in Jewelry Design.

At the AGTA show, we spoke with Natassa Patel, who along with her mother, Salma, owns and operates True Blue Opals and Gems.

The New York laboratory reports on a new record size for CVD laboratory-grown diamond.

Four-billion-year-old meteorite carved into a life-sized human skull draws attention at the 2022 AGTA show.

Sellers and buyers alike were delighted to be back at Tucson for the show season after a two-year absence.

Custom knife maker Loren Feldman details his craft, including his use of rare and fascinating materials such as gem dinosaur bone and meteorites.

At the AGTA show, Rod and Nathaniel Cook of Washington Jade (Edmonds, Washington) told us about shifting their focus to cat’s-eye blue and bluish green nephrite jade.

A look at Harvey Liberman’s career as a renowned diamond cutter in New York’s Diamond District.

A very light blue hexagonal apatite inclusion is observed in natural smoky quartz.

A 3.03 ct stone submitted to GIA’s Bangkok laboratory was identified as a ruby from Mozambique with no indication of heating.

GIA’s New York laboratory reports on a 15.10 ct (17.47 × 11.53 × 7.94 mm) Fancy Vivid blue cut-cornered rectangular step cut named the De Beers Cullinan Blue diamond.

Researchers examine six specimens of banded turquoise, obtained through long-term cooperation of local miners in Zhushan County.

Nacreous pearls are known to have platelet growth resembling fingerprints or topographic maps, but a less common appearance is nacre with a concentric spiral pattern.

Remarkable “horsetail” inclusions discovered in a demantoid garnet, while their origin and composition remain under discussion.

The Tokyo lab recently identified a unique localized distribution of cloud-like inclusions in a chrysoberyl.

Unique diamond- and emerald-lensed spectacles from the Mughal Empire were tested in GIA’s New York laboratory.

Examines the mining and the internal, spectroscopic, and chemical features of peridot from this deposit, which possesses a rich olive green color and is available in large sizes.