Before you start, take a look at What
makes a stone into a gem? It explains why gemstones are
transparent, the qualities of crystals and other useful
information
Here I have listed gemstones by their mineral composition.
If you want information on a particular gemstone, use Find on
your browser to locate it. Otherwise, happy hunting!
Birthstones are on a separate page.
Writing and phtographing gems is a big task, so only certain links are working as yet. Please be patient, I am adding further pages when I can. Also I have to wait until I get suitable stones with interesting inclusions for the photographs. The pages are for your enjoyment, admiring and photographing the gems is the fun part for me!
I have taken all the photographs
for these pages. I used a digital compact camera (different
models over the
years) held to the eyepiece of a microscope (using a UV filter
to protect the eyepiece from scratches). Photos were then
edited with MS Photo Editor or nowadays with Irfanview. You
will note that the gemstones appear rather dark, this is because
the light is carefully arranged to reduce the normal reflections,
so you can see detail within the stones.
Resizing and cropping the pictures for these pages does result in
loss of detail. So I am adding links to the original photos if
they show more detail.
You will notice their size shows these also have been cropped.
There are 2 reasons, both linked to the difficulty of taking the
pictures. Sometimes blank areas outside the stone are removed,
also at times the circular barrel of the microscope blanks out
part of the picture. So these larger pictures are cropped, and
colours are corrected, but they are not edited in any other
way.
While writing about each gem, I have commented on how to clean the stones. For further information do consult our page on cleaning jewellery. Also note that I give this advice free, and cannot accept responsibility if a gemstone is damaged by cleaning. If you have any doubts, always consult a jeweller. Be especially careful if the stone is damaged.