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Diamond Prices & News Diamonds.Net is the place to find the Rapaport Diamond PriceList and also up to date diamond and jewelry industry news and reports.
 | Round Cut, also known as the brilliant cut, this is the most ubiquitous cut and shape, and the “Gold Standard” for diamonds. Some reports indicate that this cut accounts for up to 75% of diamonds sold today. The 58-facet cut, divided among its crown (top), girdle (widest part) and pavilion (base), is calibrated through a precise formula to achieve the maximum in fire and brilliance. |
 | Oval Cut this cut is new, it was pioneered in the 1960s. This is an even and perfectly symmetrical design featuring 56 facets. Like the marquise, it is a modified round cut. The elongated shape here gives the stone more visual heft, so an oval-cut stone may appear larger than a round cut stone of the same weight. |
 | Marquise Cut legend has it that the diamond-loving French King, Louis XIV commissioned this cut to match the unrivalled smile of the Marquise de Pompadour. It follows then that this cut is an elongated shape that comes to a point at both ends, with softly rounded sides. Like the oval cut, the marquise cut enhances the visual appeal of the stone, appearing larger than round cuts of the same carat weight. |
 | Pear Cut the oval and marquise cuts come together brilliantly in the pear cut. Technically this is a modified round cut with 58 facets. It has all the visual virtues of the elongated shapes, but it also adds a delightful asymmetry into the mix. |
 | Princess Cut, comes from the 1980s, but has proven very popular, especially in North America. This is a square or rectangular cut that often burns more brightly than the typical round cut. Another more material advantage of the princess cut is that it requires the least amount of wastage of the rough stone of all cuts. |
 | Heart Shape this happens when you take the pear cut and put a cleft at the widest point. As a symbol of romance, this cut cannot be beaten, but it certainly earns no points for subtlety. It works best with larger stones, and is not typically as available as the round cut; this cut takes more skill to accomplish properly. This might affect the overall price too. |
 | Asscher Cut the Asscher Company of Amsterdam developed this cut in the early 20th Century, this brilliant square is the ancestor of the radiant cut. The idea was to combine the emerald cut with the round cut, in a form characterised by extreme symmetry and dramatically cut corners. Like the emerald cut, this one is unforgiving of inclusions and poor color. |
 | Trilliant Cut also developed by the Asscher company, and brought to New York in the 1960s, this cut is exceptional in its scintillating properties. Essentially triangular, it is distinguished by curved or straight sides, with pointed corners or rounded ones. Given the right depth of the stone, the trilliant may be more impressive than the round. |
 | Rose Cut Various forms of the rose cut have been in use since the mid 16th century. The basic rose cut has a flat base and a crown composed of triangular facets in symmetrical arrangement, which rise to form a point. They are usually circular. Rose cuts are seldom seen nowadays, except in antique jewelry. |
 | Radiant Cut by combining the round and the emerald cuts, gem cutters developed this cut in the 1970s. With between 62 and 70 facets, the radiant differs from the newer princess cut in that its corners are trimmed. This cut is basically what happens when gem cutters add a bit of scintillation to the sobriety of the emerald cut. |
 | Cushion Cut is an update of the Old Mine cut from the 18th Century, it is a pillow-shaped cut with 58 facets, this cut has stood the test of time, and is, both classical yet daring. With rounded corners and facets typically larger than that in a round cut of similar proportion, the cushion cut works best with better stones. |
 | Emerald Cut is a rectangular shape with cut corners. It is a very old cut that is unforgiving to inferior stones. It is known as a step cut because its concentric, broad and flat planes resemble stair steps. Inclusions and poor colour are more obvious in this cut while brilliance is reduced. This is a very striking cut for larger stones and typically has 50 to 58 facets. The inclusion-enhancement is also striking when it comes to emeralds, where inclusions add to the visual beauty of the stone. |
 | Baguette Cut baguettes gained popularity during the Art Deco period, it is basically a modified emerald cut. Typically long and rectangular, the baguette-cut diamond has octagonal corners and step cuts, with just 14 facets. |
 | 3-Dimensional Cuts, these cuts are all identical all around, with patterns repeated across the stone. Where the typical stone shows a main face to the world, these cuts are designed to be truly multi-faceted. The nature of these cuts makes them best suited as pendants and earrings. There are 4 variants: briolette cut, drop cut, olive cut, ball cut. |
 | The Love At First Sight diamond. A heart shaped diamond weighing 56.15 carats with a rating of IF Type IIa, color D. It was originally cut from the Cullinan Diamond. The diamond fetched $12 million at a Christie’s auction in 2011. |  |
 | The Shizuka Diamond - is the largest colorless diamond to have sold at an auction in Asia. The shield-shaped diamond features 92 facets. It was carved out of a rough diamond of 460 carats. It sold for $6.21m in February 2009. |  |
 | Flawless Blue Diamond - it took 15 minutes via telephone for this flawless blue diamond to command a record price at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva in 2009. The stone brought $9.3 million or $1.3 million per carat. |  |
 | The Chloe Diamond is a brilliant-cut diamond, weighing 84.37 carats, bought by Georges Marciano, the founder of clothing company Guess Inc. Marciano named the stone “the Chloe Diamond” after his then 12-year-old daughter. The diamond sold for $16.2 Million at Sotheby's Geneva in 2007. |  |
 | In November 2012, Christie's sold the cushion-shaped, colourless, 76.02-carat Archduke Joseph Diamond for $21.5 million. |  |
 | A 14.23 carat diamond, named The Perfect Pink, sold for $23,165,968 in November 2010 to an anonymous buyer after an intense bidding war with four others. Christie's says only 18 diamonds bigger than 10 carats and showing a distinct pure pink colour have ever gone on the block in 244 years of auction history. |  |
 | The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond is a cushion-cut fancy deep grayish blue diamond weighing 35.56 carats. It sold at auction in December 2008 for $24.3m The diamond originates from the Indian kingdom of Golkonda. It's rumored that King Philip IV of Spain purchased the jewel and included it in the dowry of his teenage daughter, Margaret Teresa, in 1664. | 
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 | On 15 May 2013 Christie’s auctioned the "Winston Legacy" in Geneva for $ 26.7m. A pear-shaped perfect diamond weighing 101.73 carats, this sensational gemstone is not only one of the largest pear-shaped diamonds known to date, it is also one of the world’s most perfect diamonds: a D colour, Type IIA Flawless gem. The rough stone weighed 236 carats when it was extracted from the Jwaneng mine (DeBeers) in Botswana and required 21 months to polish. |  |
 | The Orange - Christie’s Geneva sold the largest fancy vivid orange diamond ever offered at auction, weighing 14.82 carats, for a record $35.5m or $2.4 million per carat. The sale set a world record price per carat for any diamond sold at auction, as well as a world record price for an orange diamond. It is the 4rd most expensive diamond ever sold at auction. Christie's said: “Time and again, a stone will appear on the market that is truly a miracle of nature. The 14.82-carat orange diamond is one such a stone, a rare gem, which will perhaps only be seen once in a lifetime. | 
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 | The Princie Pink is a cushion-cut 34.65 carats and is one of the finest and largest of its kind. The stone can be traced back to the ancient diamond mines of India. The diamond was sold at auction in 1960 where it brought a price of 46,000 pounds sterling (approximately $69,588 in today's currency). The stone sold for $ 39m in April, 2013. |  |
 | 13.22 carat pear-shaped Fancy Vivid blue flawless diamond sold at Christie's Geneva on May 14, 2014 for $ 24m, setting a new world auction record for the price per carat for a blue diamond. Immediately after the sale, it was renamed 'The Winston Blue'. |  |
 | The Graff Pink is a vivid pink, round-cornered rectangular step-cut diamond weighing 24.78 carats, set between shield-shaped diamond shoulders, in platinum. It sold on November 10, 2010 for $ 46.2m |  |
 | The 59.6-carat Pink Star diamond lived up to its hype by selling for a world record price of approximately $83.4 million at Sotheby’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale Wednesday. When introducing the internally flawless fancy pink vivid diamond, David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery Division in Europe and the Middle East, called it “one of the most remarkable gems to ever appear at auction.” |  |
 | Sotheby's David Bennett says the diamond belongs in "the ranks of the earth's greatest natural treasures." He said "it was very rare to have vivid pink diamonds weighing only five carats, this 59.60 carat stone is simply off any scale." It is over twice the size of the 24.78-carat "Graff Pink" diamond that set the world auction record for $46.2m. The gem, which was mined by De Beers in Africa in 1999, has received the highest possible colour and clarity rating from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). It weighed 132.5 carats in the rough, and was cut and polished over a period of two years by Steinmetz Diamonds. |  |
 | The Kazanjian Red Diamond is an extraordinary 5.05-carat red gem on temporary display in the Museum's Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems. Red diamonds are the rarest among colored diamonds. Only three 5-carat red diamonds are known to exist: the Kazanjian Red diamond, the trilliant-cut 5.11-carat Moussaieff Red, and the 5.03-carat De Young Red. The original 35-carat piece of rough was discovered in Lichtenburg, South Africa |  |
 | The Victoria-Transvaal is a 67.89-carat, champagne-colored, pear shaped stone. It was cut from a 240-carat crystal that was found in the Transvaal, South Africa. The necklace consists of a yellow gold chain with 66 round brilliant-cut diamonds, fringed with ten drop motifs, each set with two marquise-cut diamonds, a pear-shaped diamond, and a small round brilliant-cut diamond (the total weight of the 106 diamonds is about 45 carats). The necklace was donated by Leonard and Victoria Wilkinson in 1977 to the Smithsonian Institute |  |
 | The Conde Pink Diamond obtains its name from Louis II de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde and the leader of the French Army, who was offered the diamond as a token by King Louis XIII of France in 1643. The Conde Pink diamond is a plastically distorted Type IIa diamond. |  |
 | The Pink Sunrise is a 29.79-carat, fancy pink, internally flawless (IF), diamond, with a modified heart shape. The diamond was cut by the world renowned master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky and the finished stone was unveiled to the world at the beginning of the 21st century. |  |
| The Allnatt diamond is a cushion-cut, 101.29-carat, fancy bright yellow diamond with a VS-2 clarity. The diamond was obtained by Major Alfred Earnest Allnatt in the early 1950s in South Africa. |  |
 | The Deepdene is a 104.52 carat vivid yellow diamond widely considered to be the largest irradiated diamond in the world. On 27 May 1971, Christie's auction house in Geneva offered the cushion-cut, fancy golden-yellow diamond which would only later come to be known as the "Deepdene." After being sold to Van Cleef & Arpels for a reported £190,000 the Deepdene was sent to the Gem Testing Laboratory in London, England. Van Cleef & Arpels promptly returned the stone for a refund, leaving it somewhat of an unwanted orphan. Its current whereabouts is unknown. |  |
 | The Blue Empress is a spectacular 14 carat, symmetrical pear-shaped, fancy vivid blue diamond. The stone was mined at the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa and was purchased from De Beers by the Steinmetz Group. It was first offered for sale by London’s Harrods in 2003 for £10 million. |  |
 | The Florentine Diamond is a lost diamond of Indian origin. It is light yellow in colour with very slight green overtones. It is cut in the form of an irregular (although very intricate) nine-sided 126-facet double rose cut, with a weight of 137.27 carats. After the fall of the Austrian Empire during World War I, the stone was taken by Charles I of Austria into exile in Switzerland. The stone was stolen some time after 1918 by a person close to the Imperial family and taken to South America with other gems of the Crown Jewels. After this, it was rumoured that the diamond was brought into the United States in the 1920s and was recut and sold. |
 | The Sun-Drop Diamond at 110 carats is the world’s largest yellow diamond. It sold at auction for $10.91m in 2011. It was found in South Africa in 2010. The stone was cut as a Pear Brilliant, also called Drop Cut. |  |
 | The Hortensia Diamond. Named after the Queen of Holland, the rock glittered on Napoleon's epaulette braid fastening and, later, on Empress Eugenie's comb. After the French Revolution, the diamond was snatched and later found in a bag of treasures in the attic of an old house in Paris. According to lore, the man who stole the precious gems disclosed the secret location just before his execution. Today, it's held in the Louvre's Gallerie d'Apollon. |
 | The Blue Heart weighs 30.82 carats finished and was first recorded around 1900. The stone changed hands several times until it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. where it remains to this day. |  |
 | The Ashberg diamond is one of the first diamonds discovered in South Africa in the mid 1860s and used to be part of the Russian Crown Jewels, a collection that started in 1719. After the 1920s, the Crown Jewels were transferred to the Kremlin Diamond Fund. In 1934 a Russian trade delegation sold the diamond to Mr. Ashberg. The stone is 102.48 carats and is amber or brownish yellow with a glance of orange. (type Ib) |  |
| The DeYoung Red Diamond is one of the largest known natural fancy dark red diamonds. It is a modified round brilliant cut diamond that has a clarity grade of VS-2 and weighs 5.03 carats. The diamond was acquired by S. Sydney DeYoung, a Boston jeweler, as part of a collection of estate jewelry in which it was wrongly identified as a garnet. It was gifted to the National Gem Collection by Mr. DeYoung in 1987. |  |
 | The Sancy weighs 55 carats and is a pear shape. It was first owned by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, who lost it in battle in 1477. The stone is named after a later owner, Seigneur de Sancy, a French Ambassador to Turkey in the late 16th century. He loaned it to the French king, Henry III, who wore it in the cap with which he concealed his baldness. Henry IV of France also borrowed the stone from Sancy, but it was sold in 1664 to James I of England. In 1688, James II, last of the Stuart kings of England, fled with it to Paris. It disappeared during the French Revolution. It reappeared in 1828. In 1867 it was displayed at the Paris Exposition. The Sancy surfaced in 1906 when bought by William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor. The family possessed it for 72 years until the 4th Viscount Astor sold it to the Louvre for $1 million in 1978. The Sancy now rests in the Apollo Gallery. |  |
 | The Koh-i-Noor, ("Mountain of Lights"), is a 105.6 carat diamond, believed to have originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India around 1300. It has been said that whoever owned the Koh-I-Noor ruled the world. In 1850, the diamond was confiscated from Duleep Singh by the British East India Company and became part of the British Crown Jewels when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877. The diamond is currently set into the Crown of Queen Elizabeth and is on display at the Tower of London. | 
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 | The Steinmetz Sirius is a 103.83 carat D IF cushion shaped diamond mined from the Premier mine in South Africa. This legendary cushion shaped stone is claimed to be one of the largest D colored, internally flawless diamonds to ever appear at auction and is only the fourth of its kind (over 100 carat) to be sold at auction. |  |
 | The Kimberley Diamond gets its name from the mine in South Africa where it was found sometime before 1868. It was cut from a 490-carat stone. It was turned into a 70-carat gem in 1921 and recut to its present form in 1958 to improve its brilliance and proportions. |  |
Andalusite is a strongly pleiochroic gem, which means that is has different colors when viewed from different directions.
Supplies of andesine-labradorite are quite recent, with the mineral found in a range of colors, including red, yellow, champagne and green.
Apatite, a stone seldom found in jewelry stores, is beloved by collectors for its many different colors and forms.
Aquamarine is best known for its breathtaking range of blue colors and belongs to the same family as emerald (beryl). Aquamarine is colored by trace amounts of iron.
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Nuumite is an opaque metamorphic rock with an iridescent play of color. Its chief constituent minerals are gedrite and anthophyllite,
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. It is formed when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools without crystal growth.
More than any other gem, each opal is unique. No other stone has as rich and varied a folklore. Opals are also the most delicate gems commonly worn.
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Axinite is a group of brown to violet-brown or reddish brown minerals that sometimes occur in gem quality. Axinite is distinctive for its strong vitreous luster.
An opal doublet consists of a slice of natural opal glued to a black backing, which causes the colour to become more vibrant.
A new high tech enhancement process using thin film deposition has created a new variety we call Azotic Topaz.
Orthoclase is a transparent yellow feldspar resembling citrine quartz or yellow beryl, found primarily in Madagascar.
Beryl is one of the most important gem minerals. The most famous beryl is emerald, but other beryl varieties include aquamarine, heliodor and morganite.
Paraiba tourmaline is a rare copper-bearing gem with a vivid neon blue color. First found in Brazil in 1989, similar material has since been found in Africa.
Bloodstone, also known as heliotrope, is a green gemstone dotted with bright red spots of iron oxide.
Peanut wood is a variety of petrified wood, where the shape and structure of the wood is pre- served when the original organic material is replaced by quartz.
Boulder Opal is the second most prized form of opal, after black opal. The name derives from the fact that boulder opal is found embedded in ironstone boulders.
Pearls are products of bivalve mollusks (mainly oysters and mussels). They are built up of nacre, which is mainly calcium carbonate in the form of aragonite crystals.
Pure calcium carbonate is colorless, but calcite is often colored by various impurities, including iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc or cobalt.
Peridot belongs to the forsterite-fayalite mineral series. It is an idiochromatic gem, meaning its color comes from the basic chemical composition of the mineral itself.
Carnelian is a brownish red to orange variety of chalcedony quartz, colored by trace amounts of iron. Darker colors (red-brown to brown) are often referred to by the name Sard.
Pietersite is a breccia aggregate of hawks eye and tigers eye, with swirling colors of blue, rusty red, gold and brown.
Cassiterite is one of the densest gem materials known. It also has a very high refractive index, higher than zircon, sphene and demantoid garnet.
Prehnite, a form of calcium aluminum silicate, has a vitreous mother-of-pearl luster. Affordably priced for its size, prehnite makes distinctive and interesting jewelry.
Chatoyancy, the cat's eye effect, is a reflection of light by parallel fibers, needles, or channels, which resemble the slit eye of a cat.
Pyrope Garnet is the most famous of the red garnets. Its dark, blood red color often resembles the color of ruby.
Aquamarine is best known for its breathtaking range of blue colors and belongs to the same family as emerald. Cat's eye aquamarine is quite rare.
Quartz is one of the most common minerals on earth and is well known in the gems world in its many forms including amethyst, citrine, and ametrine.
Diaspore, sometimes marketed under the name Zultanite, is a color change gem from Turkey. Cat's eye diaspore is fairly rare.
Quartz cat's eye is quartz in which inclusions of rutile create chatoyancy or the cat's eye effect. Usually found in colors of white, green, yellow or brown.
Scapolite is a sodium calcium aluminum silicate with a hardness of 5.5 to 6 on the Mohs scale. It is named from the Greek for "stick," since its crystals grow in columns.
A combination of orthoclase and albite arranged in layers cause the lovely sheen. Rainbow moonstone is another variety of moonstone that adds a bluish hue.
Tourmaline with tiny parallel inclusions sometimes display a strong cat's eye effect when polished.
Rainbow Pyrite is a recent find from Russia. The material comes in the form of druzy-- a layer of miniature pyrite crystals coating a matrix.
Chalcedony is the fine-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz. It has a waxy luster and appears in a great variety of colors.
Rhodochrosite is usually found in an aggregate form with alternating light and dark stripes in zigzag bands.
Charoite is a new gem on the market, first appearing in 1978. It is found only in one location in Siberia, Russia. The swirling shapes of lavender and violet are quite unique.
Rhodolite Garnet is the name applied to a mixture of pyrope and almandite. Rhodolite tends to be lighter in color than most other kinds of red garnet.
Chrome Diopside is colored by chromium and displays a rich forest green that has similarities to tsavorite garnet and chrome tourmaline.
Rhodonite is a manganese iron magnesium calcium silicate, and a member of the pyroxenoid group of minerals.
Chrome Diopside is colored by chromium and displays a rich forest green that has similarities to tsavorite garnet and chrome tourmaline.
The unique soft pink color of rose quartz is thought to derive from tiny traces of titanium impurities. Rose quartz crystals tend to be cloudy which deepens the color.
Faceted chrysoberyl is a beautiful gem which is not as well known as it deserves. Apart from the very good hardness (8.5 on the Mohs scale), it has excellent luster.
Vivid pink to red tourmaline, often with a violet tinge, is known as rubellite. It is one of the most valuable tourmaline colors.
The most famous and valuable cat's eye gemstone is chrysoberyl cat's eye. It is valued for its excellent hardness (8.5) and sharp cat's eye.
Ruby is the red variety of corundum, the 2nd hardest substance on the Mohs scale, with a rating of 9. It is the combination of hardness and rich color that make fine rubies so valuable.
Chrysocolla is a hydrous copper silicate. Often confused with turquoise, chrysocolla is found in unusual multicolor combinations as well as in blue or green.
Ruby-Zoisite is the natural combination of ruby and zoisite crystals in a single specimen. Often used for carvings.
Chrysoprase is a gemstone variety of chalcedony or cryptocrystalline quartz, colored by trace amounts of nickel. Its color varies from apple-green to deep green.
Named from the French word for lemon, citrine is yellow to gold to orange-brown shades of transparent quartz.
Rutile Topaz is colorless topaz with inclusions that look like rutile crystals. But the inclusions are actually limonite staining in thin channels in the topaz.
Clinohumite is a rare mineral and an especially rare gemstone. Only three sources of gem-quality material clinohumite are known, in Tajikistan, Siberia and Tanzania.
Sapphire, with its excellent hardness, second only to diamond, is one of the 4 traditional precious gemstones.
Diaspore, sometimes marketed under the name Zultanite, is a color change gem from Turkey recently introduced to the international market.
As a gemstone scapolite is not well known, but it can be a very attractive stone. Its color, which is usually a virbrant yellow to orange, pink or violet, is its best feature.
Color-change Garnet is a mix of spessartite and pyrope garnet. This garnet presents a color change from brownish in daylight to a rose pink in incandescent light.
Seraphinite is a trade name for a particular form of clinochlore. The dark green color of seraphinite is enhanced by a silvery and feathery shimmer caused by mica inclusions.
Some rare sapphires exhibit a color change under varying lighting conditions. Color change sapphires are typically blue in natural light and purple under incandescent light.
Serpentine is a green magnesium silicate aggregate that is used as a decorative stone or for carvings.
Precious coral is a species of coral that grows in rocky seabottoms. Coral exhibits a range of warm reddish pink colors ranging from salmon pink to deep red.
Sillimanite is an aluminum silicate, related to both andalusite and kyanite. In fact these three minerals share the same chemical composition but different crystal structures.
Danburite derives its name from Danbury, CT, where it was first discovered in 1839. It is quite hard, with a rating of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale.
Smithsonite is one of two zinc-containing minerals discovered by the British mineralogist James Smithson. The zinc silicate was named smithsonite in his honor.
Demantoid Garnet is the rarest and most valuable of the garnets. Found in green to emerald green, demantoid garnet is difficult to find and is typically found only in smaller sizes.
Dendritic agate is a whitish-gray or colorless chalcedony with fern-like inclusions known as dendrites. The inclusions look like plant material, but they are actually iron or manganese.
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass. In some stones, the inclusion of white crystals of cristobalite produce a blotchy pattern, known in as snowflake obsidian.
Diamond, the hardest known natural material, is a transparent crystal of carbon. Diamond is famed not only for its superb hardness, but also for its high refractive index and dispersion.
The mineral sodalite is named for its sodium content. As a gemstone, sodalite is usually blue, often with a violet tint, and frequently contains white veins of calcite.
Dumortierite Quartz is an ususual quartz that is integrown with the mineral dumortierite. The inclusions of dumortierite give it a deep blue color that is unique in the world of quartz.
The most valuable spessartite garnets display a bright, orange red. The best specimens come from Namibia.
Emerald is the most precious stone in the beryl group. The wonderful green color of emerald is unparalleled in the gem world.
Sphalerite is a rare collector's gem whose claim to fame is exceptional dispersion or fire. In fact its dispersion rating is three times as high as that for diamond.
Fire agate is an opaque, limonite-bearing chalcedony with an iridescence which is created by diffraction of light by the layered structure.
Sphene is a brilliant yellowish-green, green or brown gemstone of high luster, unique color shades and, with brilliant cut, an intensive fire.
Fire Opal is an unusual variety of opal from Mexico, with colors ranging from yellow to orange and orange-red. Some fire opals are clear enough for facets.
Due to its excellent hardness and clarity spinel is an excellent gemstone for all types of jewelery. Spinel is never treated in any way.
Fluorite is a mineral with a veritable bouquet of brilliant colors that range from purple to blue, green, yellow, colorless, brown, pink and orange.
Spodumene is a relatively new mineral to science, with gem varieties discovered only in the last 120 years. Spodumene occurs in white, gray, pink, lilac and green.
Fossil coral is a decorative material that is formed when ancient coral is gradually replaced with agate. The proper name for this material is agatized coral.
Diopside is best known for the vivid green chrome diopside, but the black diopside exhbiiting asterism or the star effect is also important.
A recent discovery (1966), Gaspeite is a very rare nickel carbonate mineral named for the place in eastern Canada where it was first described.
Star garnet is a rare and unsuual garnet, found only in Idado in the USA and in India. It displays a four-ray star due to aligned inclusions of rutile.
The colorless precious beryl is known as goshenite. It is named after the small town of Goshen in western Massachusetts where it was first described.
Moonstone is a combination of orthoclase and albite arranged in layers which cause the lovely sheen. Star moonstone exhibits a stunning cat's eye or four-rayed star effect.
Grossularite (or grossular) garnet is a calcium-aluminium garnet. The name grossular is derived from the botanical name for the gooseberry, grossularia.
Rose quartz displaying asterism or the star effect is rare. The unique soft pink color of rose quartz is thought to derive from tiny traces of titanium impurities.
Hackmanite exhibits an unusual phenomenon known as reversible photochromism, where a mineral changes color when exposed to sunlight.
Star Ruby is a ruby which displays asterism, a six-rayed star that shimmers over the surface of the stone when it is moved.
Hambergite is one of the lesser-known gemstones. It is usually nearly colorless, with the vitreous luster of glass when cut. It is quite a hard material, with a hardness of 7.5.
Star Sapphire is a sapphire which contains unusual tiny needle-like inclusions which produce a phenomenon called asterism.
Hematite, an iron oxide, is typically a blackish grey. When highly polished it can sometimes look like silver. Hematite is a remarkably dense material.
Sunstone is a plagioclase feldspar with a unique glitter from platelets of hematite. Typically it has a red, more rarely a blue or green, glitter. Star sunstones are known but rare.
Hemimorphite is usually found in aggregate form with blue and white bands, or mixed with a dark matrix.
Quartz with red inclusions of lepidocrosite, hematite or goethite is often sold under the name strawberry quartz.
Hessonite is an orange-brown variety of garnet colored by traces of manganese and iron. It is sometimes know as cinammon stone.
Sugilite is an obscure and quite rare mineral named after the Japanese geologist, Ken-ichi Sugi, who discovered it in 1944.
Hiddenite is a form of spodumene containing chromium. The green color varies from a yellowish to a bluish green.
Sunstone is a type of plagioclase feldspar that exhibits a spangled appearance, due to reflections of red hematite.
Howlite is an interesting grayish white mineral that is sometimes referred to as white turquoise because of its distinctive veining.
Tanzanite is a variety of zoisite. Colors range from blue to purple to green. The highly coveted color is the deep blue which shows a purple hue shimmering around it.
Idocrase is also known as Vesuvianite, since it was originally found on the Mt. Vesuvias volcano. The color is normally green, but also can be brown, yellow, blue or purple.
Tashmarine Diopside is a brilliant yellow-green diopside from a recent discovery in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Western China.
The most sought after of all natural topaz is called Imperial Topaz. Its rich golden color with reddish and orange overtones is generally not enhanced by any kind of treatment.
Tiger's Eye is a type of opaque macrocrystalline quartz with a fibrous structure. It typically displays chatoyant stripes, because structural fibers are crooked or bent.
Pleochroism is very pronounced in iolite and is seen as three different color shades in the same stone: violet blue, yellow gray and a light blue.
Tiger's Eye Matrix is the name given to a mineral aggregate in which tiger's-eye-like structures alternate with iron oxide layers.
Jadeite is found in most colors from pure white thru pink, brown, red, orange, violet, blue, and black, to an range of greens.
Topaz is an important gem due to its hardness and high refractive index. Topaz comes in many colors but the blue topaz is especially popular.
Jasper is usually considered a chalcedony, but scientists put it in a group by itself because of its grainy structure.
One of the most versatile of gems, tourmaline is found in every color. It can show every tone from pastel to dark, and can appear in various colors in the same stone.
Kunzite is the pale pink-violet to light violet species of the mineral spodumene. Kunzite is named in honor of the mineralogist George F. Kunz.
The green species of garnet was discovered in 1967 by British geologist Cambell R. Bridges in the bush along the frontier between Kenya and Tanzania.
Kyanite is a layered crystal with a luster that is vitreous to almost pearly, and is usually found in a sapphire-like blue.
Turquoise, the blue cousin to lapis lazuli, has been known and valued for thousands of years. The early mines in Sinai, Egypt, were already worked out in 2000 B.C.
Labradorite is a member of the plagioclase feldspar group and displays a distinctive schiller in lustrous metallic tints.
Variscite is a relatively rare phosphate mineral and high quality specimens are used as gemstones and for carvings. Variscite is colored by traces of chromium .
Lapis lazuli has been used for thousands of years for jewelry and ornamental objects. The unique deep blue color has never lost its attraction.
Verdite is a light to dark green serpentine rock which is often spotted or variegated. Most specimens come from South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The blue variety of pectolite has become known as Larimar. A very rare mineral, it has only been found in the Dominican Republic, where it is first discovered in 1974.
Zircon has great brilliance and intensive fire, due to its high refractive index and strong dispersion.
Lepidolite is a lilac-gray or rose-colored lithium-bearing mineral of the mica group. It is one of the major sources of the rare alkali metals rubidium and caesium.
| Alluvial diamonds | Diamond deposits eroded from kimberlite pipes, located in rivers or marine environments. |
| Anomaly | A feature that differs from the surrounding area, potentially indicating an area of exploratory interest. |
| Barren | Kimberlitic structure that does not contain diamonds |
| Basalt | Fine grains of igneous rock brought to the earths’ surface through volcanic eruptions |
| Bottom end | A Generic term used to describe the lower value stones in a parcel. |
| Bulk sample | A large sample, often hundreds of tonnes, processed through operational plant machinery to determine the grade of the target area |
| Carat | Unit of weight for diamonds. One carat = 200mg |
| Certificate | Document awarded to a polished stone by an accredited institute confirming the weight, clarity, cut and colour |
| Chrome-diopside | A chrome end member of a group of minerals often found in kimberlitic bodies |
| Conflict diamonds | Diamonds that originated from areas of conflict, controlled by oppressive regimes or unrecognised ruling parties, using the sale of stones to fund their activities |
| Cpht | Carat per hundred tonnes |
| Cut off | grade Lowest grade of minerals calculated to be economical to extract. Will also impact the rate of throughput the plant can handle |
| Cutting | The process of manufacturing rough into polished stones |
| Dense Media Separation (DMS) | The process of separating individual minerals from its waste product using a flotation process. |
| Diamond drilling | Drilling method, whereby a diamond tipped drill is used to extract the core of a targeted prospect zone. |
| Diamond grade | Content of diamonds measured carats measured in its surrounding rock, referred to as cpht |
| Diamond value | The estimated value of the diamonds contained within a deposit, referred to as price per carat. |
| Diamondiferous | Contains diamonds |
| Dilution | Waste material mixed with the prospective ore during processing |
| Dolerite | Medium grains of igneous rock brought to the earths’ surface through volcanic eruptions. |
| Dolerite Dyke | Vertical columns of igneous rock. |
| Feasibility study | Definitive estimation of costs, equipment requirements, production and revenues generated if a mine is developed |
| Garnet | A Silicate material. Pyrope, the magnesium rich variety is often found in kimberlite bodies. |
| In situ | In its original place, often used to refer to the location of resources. |
| (IDEX Online News) – The world’s most exclusive diamond sale, the Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, is being previewed in Tokyo for the first time in five years. Included in the Tokyo preview are three fancy red diamonds. They include a 1.56-carat round gem, the Argyle Phoenix named in honor of the newly commissioned Argyle underground mine. |  |
http://www.diamonds.net/
