Gems, Pearls, and Precious Metals

The Round Brilliant Cut diamond is the most traditional and popular of all the diamond shapes. Many experts consider this shape ideal for a diamond because it maximizes its sparkle. It has 58 facets, which offer great brilliance and stability. This shape of diamond is most commonly used in solitaire diamond engagement rings.

The Princess Cut is most popular non-round diamond. Its beautiful brilliance and unique cut makes it a favorite for engagement rings. The Princess Cut has pointed corners and is traditionally square in shape. The ideal Princess Cut will have a length to width ratio that is as close to 1.00:1.00 as is possible, as Princess Cut diamonds can range from this perfect square through to almost rectangular.

The Emerald Cut diamond is a square or rectangular shaped stone with cut corners. This is also known as Step Cut, because it has rows of facets, usually 48 to 50, that resemble a staircase. Due to its larger, more open table, this shape highlights the clarity of a diamond but with fewer facets that brings less brilliance than the other shapes.

The Oval Cut is also a beautiful shape and provides great brilliance and fire through its 56 facets. A well-cut Oval-shaped diamond can be almost as bright as a well-cut Round Brilliant-shaped diamond.

The Marquise Cut is a traditional shape having elongated ends at both edges. The pointed ends make this shape the most fragile and the most expensive of brilliant style cuts. It has a total of 56 facets, construction of which requires a lot of experience and the delicacy of its sharp points demands the utmost precaution. Now-a-days this shape is very popular for engagement rings.

The Pear Cut diamond is often called a teardrop due to its single point and rounded end with 56 to 58 facets. This diamond is popular for its uniqueness and brilliance. The Pear Shape diamond is mostly used in pendants and is also a good choice for a hand with smaller fingers.

The Asscher Cut is a modified version of the Emerald Cut. This shape is named after Joseph Asscher of Holland who was an eminent diamond cutter. In 1902, his company, Asscher Diamond Co., developed and patented the Asscher Cut, a squarer step cut with an almost octagonal outline. This new cut enhanced the fire and light of the stone; it had a small table, a high crown, wide step facets, a deep pavilion and a square culet.

The Radiant Cut is a rectangular or square stone with cut corners. This shape comes with 62 to 70 facets and combines the elegance of the emerald shape with the brilliance of the princess shape. Trimmed corners are typical of this shape, and they help to make the radiant cut a popular and versatile choice for jewelry. Diamonds with radiant shape look very good when adorned with baguettes or round side stones.

The human heart is the ultimate symbol of love and the Heart Cut is regarded as the most romantic of all the shapes. The heart-shaped diamond is essentially a pear-shaped diamond with a cleft at the top and it typically contains 59 facets. Due to the complexity of the shape, skilled cutting is necessary to maintain the diamond’s brilliance. Generally people prefer a heart-shaped diamond for sentimental purposes. This shape is mostly used in pendants, but is also suitable for most jewelry items.

Cushion Cut diamonds are also known as “pillow cut” diamonds. This type of diamond has a shape ranging from square to rectangular, and it has rounded corners and larger facets to increase its brilliance. These larger facets also highlight the diamond's clarity.

The Baguette Cut diamonds are generally used to fill in channels or stable grooved tracks around a gemstone centerpiece. This shape is similar to the Emerald shape.

The Trilliant Cut is one of the unusual cuts and a diamond with this shape displays a very sharp brilliance or fire. This triangular shaped diamond may either have pointed corners or more rounded corners.

Agate is a variety of chalcedony formed from layers of quartz, which usually show varicolored.

Alexandrite’s color change is dependent on pure light sources - pure candescent light to pure incandescent light. For example, sunlight to candlelight.

Amber’s use in adornment is probably as old as mankind itself. In recent times, it has had a limited market. Of course, that was before millions of people saw dinosaur DNA extracted from a mosquito trapped in amber in the film Jurassic Park. Millions of people learned from the film that amber, which is fossilized pine tree resin, is ancient and valuable, like an antique from history.

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz used in jewelry. The name comes from the ancient Greek a- (“not”) and methustos (“intoxicated”), a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness.

Aquamarine (“water of the sea”) is a gemstone-quality, transparent variety of beryl, having a delicate blue or turquoise color, suggestive of the tint of the sea. It is closely related to the emerald.

Blue Zircon is a pastel blue, but some exceptional gems have a bright blue color. Zircon is also available in green, dark red, yellow, brown, and orange. Natural zircon today suffers on account of the similarity of its name to cubic zirconia, the laboratory-grown diamond imitation. Many people are unaware that there is a beautiful natural gemstone called zircon.

Citrine, a form of quartz, derives its name from the French word for lemon, “citron”. It is available in a range of golden hues, from lemon and straw to sun yellow and gold, as well as oranges, browns, and deep-madiera reds.

Diamond is among the most prized substances on earth. Diamonds are available in almost every color. Their incomparable brilliance, elegance, durability and mystery have captivated our imagination for thousands of years.

Emerald has been prized for thousands of years for its lush green hues and rare beauty. Throughout the ancient world, emerald symbolized eternal hope, rebirth, and the arrival of spring.

Fire Opal is remarkable in that, unlike many other opals, its play of color is minimal. Also known as Mexican opal or Mexican fire opal, its legendary popularity instead comes from its breathtaking brilliance, opalescence, extraordinary fiery hues, and stunning clarity.

Iolite cut in a cube will look more or less violet blue, almost like sapphire from one side, clear as water from the other, and a honey-yellow from the top. Due to this pleochroism (when a mineral has one color viewed one way and another color when viewed from another angle), the Viking mariners used thin pieces of it as the world’s first polarizing filter.

Garnet is one of the most versatile stones available on the market. It comes in a vareity of colors, ranging from deep red and tangerine orange to lime green and pale pink, as well as purple, gold, and brown.

Jade was known in China as the ‘royal gem’ for thousands of years. Symbolic energy and beauty, an enchanting range of colors and fine luster, the traditional and the modern are combined in jade in a particularly harmonious way.

Lapis lazuli is a gemstone of the kind that might have come straight out of the Arabian Nights: a deep blue with golden inclusions of pyrites, which shimmer like little stars. It is a versatile and popular gemstone and has fascinated both men and women for thousands of years with its fabulous color and those golden points of light formed by pyrites.

Marcasite is a mineral with a metallic luster that was made popular in Victorian times and continues to remain popular today. When used, it adds an old-world touch to modern jewelry.

Moonstone appears in a variety of colors such as white, pink, blue, and yellow while some appear clear with no color. Moonstone has a very shimmering appearance with a reflective soft glow that seems to come from the inner portions of the stone. Moonstone is often found in the form of a cabochon which is polished to allow the true glow and light of the stone to shine.

Morganite, alongside emerald and aquamarine, is certainly a beautiful gemstone from the colorful group of the beryls. Women the world over love morganite for its fine pink tones which radiate charm and tenderness. There are morganites in many fine pink hues. Some are decidedly pink while others tend more to lilac or light violet, or there may be a hint of orange.

Onyx is a very fine textured quartz stone that is most commonly black in color although it can be found in shades of white, reddish-brown (sardonyx), green, and banded colors.

Opal was worshipped by the Romans as a symbol of hope, fidelity, purity, and good luck. Opal is sometimes called the “queen of gems” because the stone can flash patterns of color representing every hue of the rainbow. This play of color is one of opal’s signature characteristics. The gem is found in a range of hues, including white opal (the most common); black opal; “boulder” opal; crystal or water opal, which is transparent; and fire opal, which has a yellow to orange to red color.

Paua shell is the most colorful of all abalone shells. Its irridescence is similar to that of mother-of-pearl but is by far more colorful, and that is what makes Paua such an amazing gem to be used in jewelry.

Pearl is among the most timeless, classic, and treasured of all organic gems. Although early pearl gathering depended on divers braving the oceans’ depths to retrieve these treasures, the vast majority of pearls today are grown (cultured) on pearl farms by surgically inserting a small shell bead (nucleus) into the mantle of an oyster.

Peridot, found in various shades of green, is most prized in lime hues. The Romans called peridot the “evening emerald”, because its green color was said to glow at night.

Perhaps no gemstone has been as prized throughout history and has adorned emperors and kings and inspired countless legends and myths with their rich, fiery hues as the ruby. As the ultimate red gemstone, rubies have symbolized passion and romance for centuries.

Sapphire has been sought after for thousands of years as the ultimate blue gemstone. Both sapphire and its sister stone, ruby, are part of the corundum family, one of the strongest minerals on earth.

Smoky Quartz is an earth-toned transparent quartz that comes in a variety of shades. Several varieties of quartz have been used as gemstones for thousands of years. Also in the quartz family are the following: Amethyst, Citrine, Ametrine, and Tiger’s Eye.

Spinel was once mistaken for ruby and sapphire, but it’s no impostor, rather a master of disguise. One of the gem kingdom’s best kept secrets, spinel is treasured for its eternal brilliance and spectacular colors including red, blue, pink, orange, and others.

Tanzanite occurs in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors. Rarely pure blue, the gem almost always displays signature overtones of purple. In smaller sizes it tends toward lighter tones, with lavender being the most common. In larger sizes, the gem typically displays deeper, richer blues and purples. It is this mesmerizing saturation of color that has made tanzanite so sought after.

Topaz is most often associated with its golden yellow hues. It also occurs in colorless, as well as orange-yellow, red, honey-brown, light green, blue and pink forms. Imperial shades are the rarest and therefore, the most valuable. The name topaz is thought to come from the Greek word “topazos” meaning “to shine” which also implies “fire.”

Tourmaline is a gem with an incredible variety of colors from green, blue, teal, pink to green, and pink combined. The reason, according to an old Egyptian legend, is that the tourmaline, on its long journey up from the center of the Earth, passed over a rainbow. In doing so, it assumed all the colors of the rainbow.

Tsavorite garnet, East Africa’s beautiful green gemstone, is the rightful heir to the title "the king of garnets". Comparable in scarcity to demantoid garnets, it is extremely rare. Like all garnets, tsavorite possesses few inclusions and its high refractive index results in a superb brilliance.

Turquoise is ancient, yet again and again it finds itself back in fashion. Its shining sky blue is one of the most popular trend colors in the world of jewelry and fashion. The best-quality turquoises are of a pure, radiant sky blue, a color which is highly esteemed with or without its fine, regular matrix. The color of the turquoise makes us feel happy and cheerful, for in it the light blue of the sky and the stimulating green of the sea are combined.

Garnet

Amethyst

Aquamarine

Diamond

Emerald

Ruby

Peridot

Sapphire

Opal or Pink Tourmaline

Citrine or Yellow Topaz

Blue Zircon, Tanzanite or Turquoise