Figure 1. The GIA 7 Pearl Value Factors system classifies pearls according to size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre, and matching. Composite photo by GIA staff. Prized by many cultures throughout ...

One of the greatest concerns with emerald filling is the degree of clarity enhancement such treatment represents. Stones that appear to have excellent clarity with the unaided eye are often revealed ...

Fancy color diamonds are among the rarest and most valuable gemstones. Diamonds in the normal color range are colorless through light yellow and are described using the industry’s D-to-Z color-grading ...

Below is the list of recognized holidays when GIA locations will be closed.View the holiday schedule for all GIA locations worldwide.

Just over a century ago, in the summer of 1912, a workman’s pickaxe struck through the floor of an old tenement house in Cheapside, a commercial district near the renowned St. Paul’s Cathedral in ...

Aquamarine, Maxixe-type (irradiated) beryl, and two types of hydrothermally grown synthetic blue beryl currently available in the marketplace were investigated by classical gemological methods, ...

A set of six antique brooches, set with diamonds and light blue cabochons, was investigated with microscopy, Raman analysis, and EDXRF spectroscopy. Most of the cabochons proved to be fossilized ...

Although the Art Deco period extends roughly from 1910 to well into the 1930s, it was primarily a product of the "Roaring '20s." This was a wonderfully decadent era. It was an age of Prohibition and ...

Figure 1. Sapphires from Madagascar: a beautiful 3.29 ct untreated faceted stone and an assortment of rough in the background. Madagascar has produced many high-quality stones in the last few years ...

Amber shows various luminescence phenomena under UV illumination. Amber with very strong blue fluorescence under sunlight or D65 illumination can appear blue to the unaided eye when placed on a black ...

Sri Lanka’s gemstone and jewelry industry blends traditional practices and experience with the needs of the modern global market. Photo by Andrew Lucas/GIA. To visit Sri Lanka is to experience one of ...

Figure 1. Glass in a silver brooch, hallmark from 1866. Private collection, photo by Jaroslav Hyršl. Tectites are members of a large group of impact glasses, formed by the collision of a meteorite on ...