The tray
Gems
Pick a stone. Each page follows it from the ground, or the lab furnace, to the cut gem and the finished piece, with real specimen photos, mined vs lab-grown side by side, a map of where it is found, and three things worth buying.
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Ruby Red corundum -
Sapphire Corundum, every other colour -
Emerald Green beryl -
Diamond Carbon, natural and lab -
Carnelian Orange chalcedony -
Green onyx Onyx marble and green chalcedony -
Opal Silica that splits light -
Amethyst Purple quartz -
Jade Jadeite and nephrite -
Lapis lazuli Blue rock with gold pyrite -
Turquoise Copper phosphate, sky blue -
Tiger's eye Quartz with golden fibres -
Alexandrite Green by day, red by lamplight -
Spinel The ruby in the crown that is not -
Topaz Blue, golden and imperial -
Moonstone Feldspar with a floating glow -
Labradorite Flashes of blue and gold -
Zircon Natural, not cubic zirconia -
Tanzanite Blue-violet zoisite, one mine -
Sunstone Feldspar that glitters -
Aquamarine Sea-blue beryl -
Citrine Golden quartz, mostly heated -
Garnet A whole family, red to green -
Moissanite Lab-made silicon carbide
New to gems?
Start with the gem world, laid out: what a gem is, the four kinds of stone you will be sold, and the words sellers use.