Some gems are enchanting both outside and in. Recently, the Lotus Gemology laboratory received an interesting submission of a 78.01 ct carved Russian emerald. According to the client, the emerald was carved by gemstone engraver Michael Peuster and inspired by art nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. The woman depicted holds blooming flowers, symbolizing the arrival of spring (figure 1). Microscopic examination revealed delicate, bouquet-like thin film inclusions on the back of the carving (figure 2). Iridescent thin films are frequently observed in emeralds from Russia, and this specimen showcased several striking examples. It was a delightful coincidence to find that the inclusion scene in this stone echoed the floral motif carved into its exterior.

gems, beryl, emerald, Russia, Malysheva, Russian beryl, emerald mines, Ural Mountains, inclusions

A recent conversation with the AI chatbot is a cautionary tale for those who rely heavily on AI for information.

gems, beryl, emerald, AI, artificial intelligence

Over the past five years, gemologists at Bangkok’s Lotus Gemology have seen increasing numbers of what we might call “non-traditionally” oiled gems. This is particularly true of, but not limited to, Burmese gems such as ruby, sapphire, and spinel. But it is important to note that any gem with surface-reaching fissures can be oiled, often with dramatic improvements in apparent clarity. Cuprian and rubellite tourmalines are also frequently enhanced in this way. Recently we received a faceted tanzanite weighing more than 100 carats for testing. As is our practice for non- emeralds exhibiting fissure-filling clarity enhancement, we photograph the gem and then allow the client to re-submit the stone after filler removal. Figure 18 clearly shows the dramatic effect that fissure filling with oil/resin can have on gems such as tanzanite, even where the refractive index of the filler does not closely match that of the gem.

gems, zoisite, tanzanite, treated tanzanite

Of the treatments we see in the laboratory, fissure filling has become one of the most ubiquitous. We have observed this treatment in a variety of stones, including emerald, ruby, sapphire, spinel, tourmaline, tanzanite, and more. The filling of fractures minimizes their appearance, making the gems appear cleaner. Fissure filling can be detected with a variety of methods. One way is to examine the infrared spectrum, where some fillers display distinctive peaks. Another is the hot point method, where oils can be observed leaking out in droplets. Some fillers are unmasked with simple observation in the microscope, because they display flashes of color or because they include visible dyes.

gems, beryl, emerald, emerald fillers, LW UV torch

As laboratory gemmologists, we are frequently asked by friends and colleagues for recommendations on lab equipment. Often the focus is based around the most modern and advanced instrumentation, much of which is out of reach for what my grandfather likes to call the “great unwashed.” One piece of equipment that is often overlooked is the humble ultraviolet (UV) lamp. Although it is an older and relatively affordable tool, it is an essential test in our laboratory, and we examine all submitted stones under UV light. Often used in diamond testing, it can also be a tremendous help with coloured gems, in detecting treatments and synthetics, as well as a capable tool to screen pieces of jewellery with many smaller stones.

gems, instruments, beryl, emerald treatments, inclusions

On October 22, 2007, TanzaniteOne, the world leader in tanzanite mining, announced the acquisition of a tsavorite project through its subsidiary, TsavoriteOne Mining Ltd. The move was not surprising to people familiar with these gems given that tanzanite is a gem geologically linked with tsavorite. More recently, in September 2008, the TsavoriteOne project was again in the news when Gemfields, a group involved in emerald mining in Zambia, made a surprise offer for TanzaniteOne. This article presents an update on tsavorite, along with studying its potential as one of the coming century's major gemstones.

garnet, tsavorite, gems

A brief look at the famous emerald and alexandrite from Russia's Ural Mountain mines.

gems, beryl, emerald, Russia, Malysheva, Russian beryl, emerald mines, Ural Mountains, alexandrite, inclusions

One of the greatest gemological challenges is determining if a ruby or sapphire has been heat treated. UV fluorescence can assist in that identification, as well as detecting fillers in emerald.

corundum, color.4, treatments.6, gems

Blue, green and red – sapphire, emerald and ruby – the colored-stone trinity. There is something primal about our attraction to these gems. Each relates to a familiar part of life. Blue is ocean/sky. Green – verdant soothing. And red? Red is fire, blood, the very life-giver itself – passion. Women do not paint their lips green, nor do men send their love blue valentines. No, for thoughts of love and passion, only one color will do – red. And no more passionate gem exists than the ruby.

corundum, quality.10, gems

An examination of gemological dogma relating to emerald enhancements… It started small. Probably a joke at the office water cooler. Rumor was that the US Postal Service was lobbying to put a tax on e-mail. Next thing you know, angry messages are flying around the world and I'm dusting off my bazooka for an assault on the Capital building. That is until I found out it wasn't true. It mighta been true, it coulda been true, oh it shoulda been true, but alas, it simply wasn't. Damn! Beliefs. We guard 'em closely. We bow down to them, defend them to the death. We are Pope Paul V railing against Galileo's Copernican astronomy. Don't know if you're like me, but once I get an idea in my head, it takes over like some kinda virus. All of a sudden, it's down with the godless commies, pox on the infidels and the next thing you know, I'm whistling the David Koresh death march…

emeralds, beryl, emerald enhancements, treatments, gems

For those new to the news, in the past few years, emerald traders have become the pariahs of our business, ranking right down there with terrorists, child pornographers and those who propose an increase in the minimum wage. If one reads the reports correctly, they tend to lurk in trench coats outside of playgrounds, ever ready to corrupt the morals of the nation's youth. Their weapon of choice: Opticon. By slipping a treated emerald from beneath their cloaks, they induce in their victims a permanent state of moral turpitude, leading them across to the dark side, a state of total and utter depravity. Extreme rhetoric? Perhaps, but the mere mention of Opticon today seems to induce a type of collective hysteria that borders on paranoid schizophrenia. Just why is a mystery to this writer.

gem enhancements, treatments, beryl, emerald, gems

IT is ICA Congress time and that means once again it's time for the biannual cat-fight over enhancements. For this year's main event, we nominate emerald and ruby. This article will deal primarily with emerald.

treatments, gem enhancement, beryl, emerald, gems

beryl, emerald treatments, labs, ICA, gems

nomenclature, red beryl, emerald, red beryl, gems

Hugh Whittington has gone missing - reported dead while filming near Mount Everest. Determined to find him, his brother Charles embarks on a perilous and illegal journey from India into the forbidden land of Tibet, all the way to the monastery of Yamdring. There awaits a woman with a deadly and ghostly secret, an emerald treasure to guard and the invading Chinese Red Army. The Rose of Tibet (1962) is Lionel Davidson's second novel. His extraordinary and thrilling tale of a haunted land is among the very finest of its kind and prompted Graham Greene to remark: 'I hadn't realised how much I had missed the genuine adventure story until I read The Rose of Tibet.' Its combination of adventure and travelogue is further proof of Davidson's great variety as a writer, and caused Daphne du Maurier to say: 'It has all the excitement of King Solomon's Mines.'

gems, fiction, Tibet, India, China

A rare 1688 probate inventory documents the extensive gem collection of Gregorio di Girach-Mirman (1612–1688), a prominent Armenian merchant active in Venice and Livorno, Italy. Originally written in Armenian and later translated into Italian, this archival record lists more than 100,000 gemstones, including diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls, as well as more than 1,700 kilograms of rough amber, garnet, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. Housed in the State Archives of Venice, the inventory offers a uniquely detailed window into the early modern luxury trade and highlights the global commercial reach of Armenian merchant families like the Girach-Mirmans. Drawing on this previously unstudied source, along with a broader set of archival documents from across Europe and Armenia, the present article reconstructs the world of seventeenth-century gem dealing and collecting. It argues that Armenian merchants were central figures in the global trade of luxury goods, operating alongside and sometimes in competition with better-known European contemporaries. The provenance and diversity of Gregorio’s gem holdings, likely sourced from as far as modern-day Colombia, Sri Lanka, Iran, and Myanmar, attest to the geographic reach of Armenian trading networks and the sophistication of their market knowledge. By placing this inventory in its global and material context, the article contributes to ongoing discussions around early modern economic history, material culture, and global commodity flows across Eurasia and the New World. It demonstrates that gem inventories, often overlooked as solely bureaucratic and estate documents, can illuminate the complexity of merchant strategies, the transcontinental mobility of luxury goods, and the dynamics of status and prestige in the early modern period. Finally, one of the central aims of this article is to illuminate the inner workings of gem dealing in this period, including practices of sourcing and collecting, through a rare body of obscure commercial correspondence. These materials offer an exceptional view into a dimension of the trade that remains largely inaccessible and nearly absent from existing historiography.

gems, gem trade in Asia, gem business, trade between Europe and Asia, corundum, history.1, Early Modern trade, Armenia, Armenians, Iran, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Turkey

An emerald from the late Hellenistic (or early Roman) period and another emerald from the end of the Middle Ages, both set in small rings, were studied using non-destructive methods. Their microscopic, spectroscopic and chemical characteristics are consistent with those of emeralds from the Swat Valley, Pakistan. This suggests that Swat Valley emeralds may have been more common in ancient jewellery than previously thought. This study highlights the importance of combining gemmological analytical techniques with archaeology to draw more reliable conclusions about the origins of historical gemstones.

gems, beryl, emerald, Afghanistan, anthropology, Pakistan, Central Asia, Swat

Although the emerald deposits in India and the Himalayas were not officially discovered before the 20th century, recent gemological analyses conducted by the LFG (French Gemological Laboratory) on emeralds from historical jewelry dating back to the 16th century have shown that they correspond to the characteristics of the Swat deposits (Pakistan). This discovery is consistent with ancient gemological literature, which, since Theophrastus (4th century BCE), mentions the Himalayas as a source of emeralds. This interdisciplinary article explores the methodological difficulties inherent in historical gemology and highlights the importance of scientific gemology for art history and archaeology.

gems, beryl, emerald, Afghanistan, Egypt, Colombia, history of gemology, Central Asia, China, Tajikistan, Pakistan

Cevâhirnâmes are significant scientific and cultural texts within the Islamic intellectual tradition, particularly during the Ottoman period. Precious and semi-precious stones were valued not only for their aesthetic and economic importance but also for their perceived medical and therapeutic properties. Numerous works titled Cevâhirnâme were produced to describe the origin, classification, physical and chemical characteristics, and healing qualities of these stones. One of the most important examples of this tradition is the Cevâhirnâme-i Abdülmecid-i (Guidebook), compiled in 1857 by Chief Physician Salih Efendi under the patronage of Sultan Abdülmecid. Considered the first systematic gemological study in the Turkish-Islamic world, the work represents one of the final examples of the classical cevâhirnâme tradition. The book consists of twelve chapters devoted to stones such as diamond, ruby, emerald, pearl, turquoise, amber, coral, agate, and jade, examining their physical properties alongside their temperaments (mizaj) and effects on the human body. By combining traditional humoral medicine with empirical observations of gemstones, the Cevâhirnâme-i Abdülmecid-i serves as a valuable historical source that bridges traditional Islamic medicine and early modern gemology, reflecting the scientific, medical, and cultural knowledge of the late Ottoman period.

gems, history of gemology, Arabic mineralogy, gem prices, corundum, ruby, sapphire, diamond, emerald, pearl, turquoise, amber, coral, agate, jade

The story of the Colombian emerald is as old as the Andes themselves — a history carved in stone, shaped by myth, and transformed by human ambition. From the sacred rituals of the Muzo and Muisca peoples and the legend of Fura and Tena to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, its destiny has mirrored the evolution of civilizations. What was once a spiritual emblem became a symbol of global power: from the mines of Muzo and Chivor, emeralds journeyed aboard galleons bound for Seville, Goa, and the Mughal courts, defining the idea of luxury in the early modern world. Colombian Emerald / Esmeralda Colombiana reveals how this gem’s story — spanning myth, conquest, and artistry – forged an invisible bridge between Colombia, Europe, and Asia, and how its light continues to reflect the soul of a nation.

gems, beryl, emerald, Colombia