Did you know? Diamond is the hardest substance found in nature, everyone knows that. Diamond is 4 times harder than the next hardest natural mineral, corundum more specifically sapphire and ruby. If a diamond receives a sharp blow in one of it’s forth cleavage directions it will split. A skilled diamond setter should prevent exposing [...]
Lapis Lazuli is known in everyday life as the dark blue stone with “gold” inclusions. It is a semi-precious stone used ever since antiquity in jewelry, ornaments and decorations, for it’s amazing intense blue. As a matter of fact the “gold” inclusions are not actually gold but pyrite. Lapis lazuli is a rock and not [...]
Did you know? Aquamarine is a variety of the mineral beryl, just like the emerald, but unlike it, aquamarine is found in large crystals. The biggest producer of aquamarines is Brazil, where the stone is quite abundant. Aquamarine is also mined in Nigeria, Zambia, China, India, Australia and US. The very best of stones are [...]
Did you Know? Amethyst is purple variety of the mineral quartz. Amethyst comes from Greek and it means sober, not drunken. It must always be purple in order to be an amethyst, but it can have a wide range of purple shades. The structure of amethyst is long prismatic crystals that have a six sided [...]
Did you know? Turquoise is the modern December birthstone. Turquoise is one of the most valuable non-transparent minerals. Most turquoise is cryptocrystalline, meaning that the crystals can only be seen by a microscope. The finest turquoise comes from Iran. Turquoise is considered a sacred stone for the North American Indians as well as the Tibetans. [...]
