A gemstone or gem also called a precious or semi-precious stone or jewel is a piece of mineral which in cut and polished form is used to make jewelry or other adornments.However certain rocks, such as la pis lazuli and organic materials such as amber or jet are not minerals, but are still used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
GARNET
Garnet, the January birthstone, derived its name from the Latin word granatus, meaning like a  grain, which refers to the mode of occurrence wherein crystals resemble grains or seeds embedded  in the matrix. Garnet is a family of minerals having similar physical and crystalline properties.  They all have the same general chemical formula,   
,  where A can be calcium,  magnesium, ferrous iron, or manganese, and B can be aluminum, ferric iron, or chromium, or in  rare instances, titanium.  
JASPER
In the traditional sense, jasper is a dense, opaque, microcrystalline variety of quartz (or more strictly, chalcedony), usually red, brown or yellow and coloured by oxides of iron. It has frequently been used as a decorative stone. 
AGATE
Agate  was highly valued as a talisman or amulet in ancient times. It was said  to quench thirst and protect against fever. Persian magicians used  agate to divert storms. A famous collection of two to four thousand  agate bowls which was accumulated by Mithridates, king of Pontus, shows  the enthusiasm with which agate was regarded. Agate bowls were also  popular in the Byzantine Empire. Collecting agate bowls became common  among European royalty during the Renaissance and many museums in  Europe, including the Louvre, have spectacular examples.
HEMATITE
Hematite is used to improve relationships. If you need your personal relationship to be better, carry a hematite with you always.The name comes from the Greek word for blood. It has been used as an amulet against bleeding, and so is known as the "blood stone". When arranged like the petals of a flower, it is referred to as the "iron rose". Native American folklore states that war paint made from hematite will make one invincible in battle. People in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries wore hematite jewelry during mourning.
OPAL
Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water,  but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a  relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any  kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl and basalt. 97% of opal is produced in Australia and is its national gemstone.[4
SAPPHIRES
Sapphire (Greek: σάπφειρος; sappheiros, "blue stone"[1]) is a gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3), when it is a color other than red or dark pink, in which case the gem would instead be called a ruby, considered to be a different gemstone. Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, or chromium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or greenish color. Pink-orange sapphires are also called padparadscha.  Pure chromium is the distinct impurity of rubies. However, a  combination of e.g. chromium and titanium can give a sapphire a color  distinct from red.
SPINELS
Spinel is a very attractive and historically important gemstone mineral. Its typical red color, although pinker, rivals the color of ruby. In fact, many rubies, of notable fame belonging to crown jewel collections, were found to actually be spinels. Perhaps the greatest mistake is the Black Prince's Ruby set in the British Imperial State Crown. Whether these mistakes were accidents or clever substitutions of precious rubies for the less valuable spinels by risk taking jewelers, history is unclear. The misidentification is meaningless in terms of the value of these gems for even spinel carries a considerable amount of worth and these stones are priceless based on their history, let alone their carat weight and pedigree
TOPAZ
  Topaz is a common   gemstone  that has been used for centuries in jewelry. Its golden brown to yellow color is classic but is confused with the  less valuable citrine, which is   sometimes sold under the name topaz. The blue topaz that is often confused with aquamarine is rarely natural  and is produced by irradiating and then heating clear crystals.  Golden Topaz is the November Birthstone,   and Blue Topaz is an acceptable alternate birthstone for December.
DIAMOND
Diamond has remarkable optical characteristics. Because of its extremely  rigid lattice, it can be contaminated by very few types of impurities,  such as boron and nitrogen.  Combined with wide transparency, this results in the clear, colorless  appearance of most natural diamonds. Small amounts of defects or  impurities (about one per million of lattice atoms) color diamond blue  (boron), yellow (nitrogen), brown (lattice defects), green (radiation exposure), purple, pink, orange or red. Diamond also has relatively high optical dispersion (ability to disperse light of different colors), which results in its characteristic luster. Excellent optical and mechanical properties, combined with efficient marketing, make diamond the most popular gemstone.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
PEARL
It is firmly believed that wearing of              pearl  ensure happy conjugal life and protection from  widow-hood. Anybody  wearing an unblemished Pearl earns riches and is  blessed by goddess of  wealth Lakshmi. He or she lives long and all his  sins are said be  washed away. He gets vitality, becomes intelligent and  achieves a high  position in life. Pearl with a yellow luster brings  wealth. A reddish  pearl makes one intelligent. White Pearl bestows fame  and the Pearl  with blue hue is the giver of good fortune. The wearing of  a defective  pearl brings troubles. The Pearl, in which there is spot  without luster  like the hole, that pearl, is likely to cause leprosy to  the wearer.  If in any pearl there is a spot or sign looking like the eye  of a fish,  the wearer suffers loss of children. The Pearl, devoid of  luster is  said to shorten life. The Pearl that is flat brings a bad name  to the  wearer. The Pearl that is long instead of being round makes the  wearer  foolish and an idiot. If a side of the Pearl is broken, the  wearer of  such stones suffers the loss of his livelihood.Moonga
The wearing of a Red Coral Moonga  makes the native courageous and a conqueror of his enemies. It is believed that  the genuine Red Coral warns the wearer of coming ill health by changing its  color. The Red Coral prevents from bad dreams and nightmares. It protects the  wearer from evil spirits. A good and auspicious Coral possesses the following  merits:
RUBY
The red color of           ruby results from a small admixture of chronic oxide. The most prized           tint is blood red or crimson known in the trade as "pigeon's           blood" red. The color of this corundum varies, however,           according to the geographical locality of the mine. Siamese rubies,           for instance, are of a deeper garnet red than those found at Mogul in           Burma, while Ceylon ruby is of a pinkish dull red. Corundum is           extremely hard, 9 on the Moss scale. It is, therefore, not quite as           hard as diamond but much harder than other minerals, including           emerald. Transparent ruby, when cut en cabochon, may reflect light so           as to produce star-like bands, a phenomenon rated highly by the           experts. If viewed from a certain direction, bands of light are           reflected onto the surface of the crystal forming a six-ray star           shape. This optical effect is due to the presence of fine canalization           or inclusions of Ruthie. The color of these "star stones"           varies from pale rose red, to deep crimson, to purple. Generally           speaking, the darker the crystal, the less evident is the star, and           vice verse. It is a rare gem indeed in which the color and the star           are of equal beauty.
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