Documents Namak Mandi’s transformation from a salt market to one of Pakistan’s primary gem trading centers, with a look at the commercial activities taking place today.

Using customized, image-based measurement systems to quantify the effect of fluorescence on the color, brightness, and transparency of gem diamonds viewed in both face-up and table-down orientations.

The optical phenomenon of iridescence creates a beautiful pearly rainbow effect in an abalone shell.

A beautiful melo pearl is accidentally served up for lunch within its host gastropod.

A rare transparent and near-colorless sodalite contains two-phase inclusions linking it to its ancient formation.

Inspired fashioning showcases mobile inclusions in a polished quartz specimen, reminiscent of an hourglass.

Inclusions can be found in a variety of different gemstones; they create a window that allows the viewer to picture a stone’s formation history.

Natural opal beads displaying vibrant play-of-color are strung together to create a remarkable necklace.

Provides a visual guide to GIA’s approach to classifying and describing pearls.

Phosphorescent-based screening initially results in a rare mixed-type natural diamond falsely testing as laboratory-grown.

In a delightful juxtaposition, a diamond-shaped cloud inclusion appears in the center of a 0.53 ct round brilliant diamond.

Oblique fiber-optic illumination of thin-film fluid inclusions in Brazilian aquamarine reveals a kaleidoscopic play of interference colors.

The Carlsbad laboratory recently examined a Mexican opal containing a rare fluid inclusion with a freely moving gas bubble.

Abnormal fluorescence supports the likelihood that this amber bracelet had been “baked” to enhance its color.

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.