Some gemstones, particularly diamonds, have a fascinating property where they emit visible light when exposed to invisible ultraviolet (UV) rays. If you place a diamond under a UV light (often called a “black light”), it might glow a soft blue, or occasionally yellow or green. It’s like the stone has a secret glow-in-the-dark hidden life!
Many people confuse these terms, but they are very different: Hardness: Measures a stone’s resistance to scratching (using the Mohs scale). Toughness: Measures a stone’s resistance to breaking, chipping, or fracturing from a hard blow. Example: A Diamond is the hardest (10), meaning it won’t scratch easily, but it is not the “toughest.” A hard…
Opals are unique because they don’t have a single solid color. When light hits the internal structure of an opal—which consists of tiny silica spheres—the light bends and splits, creating flashes of every color of the rainbow that seem to jump and dance as you rotate the stone. This phenomenon is strictly called “Play-of-Color.”
Inclusions are like a gemstone’s “fingerprints.” They are tiny bits of other minerals or liquids trapped inside the stone while it was growing underground millions of years ago. Common inclusions include:
Technically, no. Pearls are classified as organic gemstones because they are created by living organisms (mollusks like oysters and mussels). When an irritant (like a grain of sand) enters their shell, they secrete layers of a substance called nacre to coat it, eventually forming a pearl.
Though they sound exactly the same, they measure completely different things in the jewelry world:TermWhat it MeasuresCarat (ct)The physical weight of a gemstone. (1 carat = 0.2 grams).Karat (k)The purity of gold. 24K is pure gold, while 18K means it is 75% gold and 25% other metal alloys.
The standard “Round Brilliant Cut” is the most popular style for diamonds and many other gems because it has been mathematically designed to reflect the maximum amount of light back to the viewer’s eye. It creates the highest level of brilliance and sparkle compared to other shapes. Would you like to know anything else, perhaps…