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Articles in Home | Nature Collectibles | Gems And Crystals



  • How Birthstones Were Born  By : Ann Knapp
    The conception of birthstones can be traced back to the first century. It was believed that gemstones possessed virtues or cures. By assigning a specific gemstone to each month of the year, the power of that stone was released to those born in that month. In the early 1900s, the American National Association of Jewelers instituted a list of 12 gems that represented each month of the year:
  • Power Stones - Montana Moss Agates  By : Marlene Affeld
    Since biblical times agates have been considered power stones, talismans of protection and healing energy. The agates found in Montana are no exception. Native Americans believed the intriguing stone told stories from the earth mother and provided protection.
  • Amber Mysteries Revealed  By : Sam Serio
    Amber, the gem of a stone that's not really a gemstone at all, is actually fossilized pine sap. People have collected, traded, carved, and coveted amber for more than 10,000 years. Yet despite our fascination with it, much about the smoky yellow stone -- the history of amber -- remains a mystery.
  • From Rough Diamond To Gemstone  By : Dror Klar
    From the bowels of the earth to the display cases of jewelry stores across the world, the time and preparation involved in creating a finished diamond is staggering. It is fascinating what it takes to create this amazing gem stone that has enchanted generations of people for hundreds of years.
  • The Cut Of A Brilliant Diamond  By : Dror Klar
    When a diamond is cut to its proper proportions, the light is refracted from one facet to another and then dispersed through the top of the diamond causing what is known as the Return of Light. With the newest optical technology, this Return of Light can be measured.
  • The Many Colors of Diamonds  By : Dror Klar
    When most people think of diamonds, it usually brings to mind a clear white colored stone of indescribable beauty. They have the indescribable part right. However the color may not necessarily be so. Many of the world's most intriguing diamonds are vibrant in their color. The shades are of a wide range.
  • Diamond Quality Classification  By : Dror Klar
    The four C's are the most important words when determining how much the value of a diamond should be. Cut, clarity, color, and caret all play their own part in the end conclusion. When you buy a diamond, it should be accompanied with a certificate of authenticity.
  • Interesting Information About Diamonds And Pearls  By : Dror Klar
    Two of the most sought after jewels of all time would have to be the diamond and the pearl. Miners mine for diamonds, divers dive for pearls, and thieves have long loved to steal them both. Their values can range from minor to astronomical.
  • The Theft Of Diamonds Has A Long History  By : Dror Klar
    Thieves once tried to steal the famous Sancy diamond while in route to be loaned to Henry IV. The owner, Nicholas Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, sent it with his loyal messenger to deliver the diamond. It is said he was attacked by thieves, but when his body was found, the stone was found in his stomach.
  • A Little About Amateur Diamond Mining  By : Dror Klar
    It is common knowledge that people mine for diamonds in countries like South Africa, South America, India and other foreign places. Who knew that the average Joe could mine for diamonds right here in the good old United States of America?
  • The History Of Diamond Mining  By : Dror Klar
    For Centuries the only source known to man for diamonds were rivers. They were found in active rivers or in the beds of rivers long ago dried up. In 1871 diamond pipes were discovered in South Africa. They were mined from kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipes. Magma in these pipes brought the diamond crystals to the surface from deep in the earth.
  • The History of Birthstones  By : Ann Knapp
    Many scholars believe that earliest use of birthstones dates back to Biblical times and that the tradition arose from a description of a jewel-decorated ceremonial breastplate worn by Aaron, the brother of Moses. Mentioned in Exodus, this breastplate had 12 jewels, each one representing one of the tribes of Israel. Exodus cites the following stones on Aaron's breastplate.
  • The Pearl Is a Natural Gem  By : Ann Knapp
    Pearls have been worn for thousands of years. Pearl popularity reached its peak during Roman times when women of the privileged class were richly adorned with pearls. Pearls even found favor with Julius Caesar and Cleopatra dissolved a pearl in wine and drank it to prove her love to Marc Antony.
  • Identifying and Caring for Your Pearls  By : Ann Knapp
    Pearls are highly treasured gems and require proper care in order to ensure a beauty and luster to last a lifetime. Here are some tips for identifying pearls and for taking care of them.
  • How Fine Diamonds Are Graded For Clarity And What Affects The Rating  By : Gregg Hall
    A diamond is graded for clarity based on the number of flaws it has inside and out. The fewer flaws there are on it and inside and out the more valuable it is going to be. There are only a few stones that can be classified as flawless and they are of seriously high value. Most flaws on diamonds cannot be seen without a special jeweler's microscope.
  • The Many Shapes Of Diamonds And The Difference Between Shape And Cut  By : Gregg Hall
    Even though two diamonds of the same shape may look the same, no two diamonds are ever going to be the same. Even if you had two identical rings with two identical stones they would not look the same when worn by two different people due to hand size and skin color. No diamond will ever be identical to another; one stone may have flaws that the other doesn't.
  • Where Colored Diamonds Come From And How They Are Named  By : Gregg Hall
    Natural stones can be treated and cleaned with a high heat system called irradiation and other stones are painted to raise value. Many people like stones to have no color and consider them to be more of value but others enjoy the bright colors in their stones. Most colored diamonds are mined that way naturally. Some may turn green from heat and radiation others from nitrogen causing yellow stones.
  • The Great Stones  By : Muzammil Bashir
    Diamonds have been the focus of thought for artists, writers, religions, and people in general for almost all cultures for years because they correspond to status, beauty, perfection and wealth.
  • Tanzanite History  By : Bernard McClay
    From being just another variety of stone lodged in the deep recesses of the Earth in the mysterious African continent to being a gemstone that has caught the imagination of designers, artists, businessmen and the general public alike, the history of the magnificent gemstone knows as Tanzanite in an interesting one to trace.
  • Silver in Alternative Medicine  By : Catherine Darcy
    Not only are many crystals and minerals believed to contain healing energies, but silver is too. Find out more...
  • Opals Australia Gold  By : wstaton
    Though opals are found around the world, Australia is the biggest source . Precious opal is a hydrous silicon dioxide material, that flashes iridescent colors when it is seen from different angles, or when the is moved or when the light source is moved. This is also know by the term Koroit-Opal.( Boulder Opals)
  • Agate Stones Today  By : Priyanka Arora
    The semi-precious stone agate comes from the mineral chalcedony. It is a fine-grained and fibrous variety of the mineral. It has irregular clouding and colored bands. An individual agate forms once it fills a cavity in the host rock. It could be found in concentric layers and come in all kinds of textures and colors, ranging from transparent to opaque.
  • Treasure Hunting For Herkimer Diamonds  By : David Cowley
    Herkimer diamonds are double terminated quartz crystals that are found in Herkimer County, New York, hence the name. These crystals have usually have a shape that is very similar to diamonds with 18 facets and two terminators or points at the end. These beautiful gemstones were formed close to five hundred million years ago.
  • Treasure Hunting For Sapphires  By : David Cowley
    Sapphires have captivated people for thousands of years. They seem so encapsulate wisdom somehow, or perhaps our own potential. Somewhere in a pile of dirty gravel, there is a shining gem just waiting to be uncovered. Sapphires come in a wide variety of colors, including blue, pink, orange, brown, clear, yellow and purple. Why no red sapphires?
  • Treasure Hunting For Aquamarine  By : David Cowley
    Not every buried treasure has been discovered. There still is a remarkable quantity of quality treasures still in Mother Earth, including the semi-precious stones to be found at Gem Mountain in North Carolina. One of the biggest draws to Gem Mountain is aquamarine treasure hunting. You find it - you keep it. It's as fun and as simple as that.
  • Treasure Hunting for Opals  By : David Cowley
    Opals have been considered a magical precious stone for thousands of years. It is said to help the wearer's psychic powers and to have better and more vivid dreams. Modern Witches and Pagans especially look for black opals, said to enhance any magic spell. But not are opals rich in myth and magic, they are also really nice to look at.
  • Treasure Hunting For Fire Agates  By : David Cowley
    Fire Agates is a layered stone that is formed then water that is saturated with colloida silica and iron oxide enters a cavity in a rock and the mineral in the water starts do form new rock. When cutting, the stones layers are ground or polished off following the natural contours of the stone until the desired colored is all that is left. Grind off one to many layers and the stone is ruined.
  • Treasure Hunting For Emeralds  By : David Cowley
    As with most gemstones the emerald can be created as the result of volcanic activity, where the extreme pressure and heat creates the gemstones. Another process knows as hydrothermal circulation, which in the most general sense is the circulation of hot water containing dissolved minerals passing through pockets in the underlying bedrock, evaporate caused the stones to cool as large crystals.
  • Treasure Hunting For Turquoise  By : David Cowley
    Turquoise is possibly the most valuable, non-transparent mineral used in jewelry. It has been mined since at least 6000 BC by Egyptians. Like other opaque such as coral, turquoise is commonly sold by the size in millimeters rather than by weight.
  • Treasure Hunting For Jade  By : David Cowley
    Do you have a hankering to find some Jade but you do not want to travel to China or South America for it? Well you are in luck; you can just pick it off the ground from Jade Cove which is located about 65 miles south of Monterrey California.
  • Treasure Hunting For Tourmaline  By : David Cowley
    According to Egyptian legend tourmaline gets it color when it passes over a rainbow on its journey up from the center of the earth and that is why it is often referred as the gemstone of the rainbow. Multicolored and bi-colored tourmaline are the norm and very rarely found in the clear or colorless form. Watermelon colored gemstones are green at one end and pink at the other, hence the name.
  • Treasure Hunting For Star Garnets  By : David Cowley
    India and Idaho are the only two places in the world that star garnets are found. They range in size from a grain of sand to golf ball in size. Star Garnets display a reflection of the light with a four or six ray star, which is caused by an inclusion of rutile in the gemstone. Idaho is the only known place where six ray star garnets are found.
  • Treasure Hunting for Amethysts  By : David Cowley
    The Amethyst gemstones range in color from pale lilac to deep purple. Gemstones with the deepest colors are the most valuable and some of these fine gemstones are featured in the British Crown Jewels. Amethyst is a transparent quartz crystal and is used in many pieces of striking jewelry today.
  • Treasure Hunting For Benitoite  By : David Cowley
    Benitoite was named after the county where it was first found, San Benito County, in 1907 and to this day San Benito County is the only place in the world that you can find this gemstone, making it among the rarest gems on the planet. Benitoite became California's official state gemstone in 1985.
  • Treasure Hunting For Sunstones  By : David Cowley
    Sunstones are formed in molten lava and found in volcanic vents that have erupted from volcanoes. When the lava rock is weathered away or broken up the sunstone crystals are exposed. Sunstone is a transparent, yellowish labradorite found as crystals in these volcanic rocks.
  • Agate  By : Fashion Jewelry
    Agate is a variety of chalcedony which comprises cryptocrystalline quartz gemstones composed of layers of quartz, sometimes of different colors. Agate is usually found as rounded nodules or veins. The layers of quartz are often concentric. The composition of agate varies greatly, but silica is always predominant, usually with alumina and oxide of iron.
  • Growing Crystals  By : Kevin Clement
    Do you want to grow great crystals? These are general instructions for growing crystals that you can use for most crystal recipes. You can find the recipes and information on crystal structures in the Growing Crystals section. Here are the basics, to get you started and help you troubleshoot problems.



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