Lawmaker Thomas Mahaffie is advancing a bill to make amethyst the official gemstone of Pennsylvania. Twenty-seven of the 50 states currently have a gemstone to call their own, and the state representative from Dauphin County believes that The Keystone State deserves one, as well. In a legislative memo, Mahaffie outlined why amethyst is the best […]
Welcome to another Music Friday Flashback, when we bring you classic tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we feature Seals & Crofts performing their Summer of ’73 hit, “Diamond Girl.” Using gemstone imagery to describe a girl who is perfect in their eyes, Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts […]
More than 50 gem dealers from the four corners of the Earth are participating in the first-ever global auction of Australian sapphires. On Monday, mining company FURA Gems began unveiling 900,000 carats of natural sapphires in a wide range of colors, including blue, teal, yellow, green and "parti," a unique and popular multi-hued variety. The […]
When an amethyst ring dating back 1,500 years was unearthed in Yavne, Israel, near the site of the largest winery of the Byzantine period (330-1453 AD), archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority were quick to point out the obvious connection. You see, in ancient times it was believed that amethyst jewelry could protect its wearer […]
Weighing in at 277.9 carats, this yellow-orange citrine from the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection is a head-turning, sun-kissed example of November's alternative birthstone. Sourced in Brazil, the round modified brilliant-cut citrine seen here is currently displayed in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals at the National Museum of Natural History in […]
An unstable, deep-Earth mineral that shouldn't be able to exist on the surface has been found inside a diamond. “It’s the strength of the diamond that keeps the inclusions at high pressure,” Oliver Tschauner, a geochemist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told Live Science. Before the discovery, davemaoite existed theoretically. Under extreme pressure […]
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you outstanding songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the multitalented Andra Day performs "Gold," a bluesy ballad framed as a heartfelt apology to a former lover. Day admits she betrayed him even though he treated her “like a precious gift.” She suffers […]
Gemfields just unveiled the largest emerald ever discovered at its Kagem mine in Zambia. Named “Chipembele,” which means "rhino" in the local indigenous dialect of Bemba, the 7,525-carat hexagonal crystal displays a rich, golden green hue and "gemmy" nature suitable for cutting and polishing. The crystal was unearthed in July by geologist Manas Banerjee and […]
A stunning member of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection for the past three years, the impossibly rare "Whitney Flame Topaz" is one of the world's most extraordinary examples of November's official birthstone. The vibrant red gem weighs 48.86 carats and exhibits an exaggerated pear-shape that resembles a flame. At the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of […]
Sapphire-and-diamond jewelry linked to the Imperial Romanov family and smuggled to Great Britain at the onset of the 1917 Russian Revolution will be offered for sale at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Nobel Jewels auction in Geneva on November 10. The sapphire-and-diamond brooch and matching ear clips were originally owned by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the […]