Welcome to the information center, your source of information about various aspects of jewelry design and the jewelry trade.
Diamonds
Did you know.......The Crater of Diamonds State Park is an Arkansas State Park located near Murfreesboro in Pike County, Arkansas, USA containing the only diamond bearing site in the world that is open to the public.
Gem Diamond Industry
The production and distribution of diamonds is largely consolidated in the hands of a few key players, and concentrated in traditional diamond trading centers. Read about the diamond industry.
Diamond Supply Chain
- See also: List of diamond mines
The diamond supply chain is controlled by a limited number of powerful businesses, and is also highly concentrated in a small number of locations around the world. Find out how diamonds are distributed.
Fake and imitation diamonds have been around for a hundred years or more. With todays technology, synthetic materials and laboratory created diamonds are becoming more widely available. When comparing a fake diamond with a real diamond it can be very difficult to tell them apart, even for the experts.
Man Made Emeralds
Classed as a precious stone, the emerald is a green crystal of the Beryl family. The best gemstones are bright green in colour, with minimal inclusions. Emerald is the traditional birthstone for May, and is also considered the traditional gemstone for those born under the astrological signs of Taurus and Cancer.
Raw emeralds (particularly naturally occuring stones) tend to have a large number of inclusions and imperfections. So large gem quality stones are rare. Because of this, emeralds are mostly found in rings, pendants and earings in mixed settings, usually with diamonds.
Emeralds are available both as a naturally occuring stone (with a corresponding higher cost) and as a laboratory created gemstones. The process for creating emeralds and other precious stones in the laboratory has been developed over many years....
Gold
Find out how gold is formed; unlike iron or aluminum, Gold is found in its native form, and can be mined by digging from the ground. Gold has been found just laying on the ground - which started the California gold rush. More commonly, gold is found in deposits of quartz, often as the result of volcanic activity.
Birthstones
How many birthstones are there? There seems to be more than one answer to the question of which birthstone should be associated with a particular month. There is more than one listing of birthstones by month, which can be further confused with birthstones for each sign of the zodiac. The traditional birthstone list by the American Gem Society gives a good listing of stones that are associated with each month of the year, including multiple stones for some months.
Jewelry Care
Now that you've acquired a nice jewelry collection, it is time to consider how and where to store and look after these precious items.
