New Gemstone Treatments: A Coming Crisis
An abridged version of this article by Joel Arem appeared in the May-June 2009 issue of Colored Stone under the title “Ending Diffusion Confusion.” This is the full version of the scientific paper from which that condensation was made using its original title.

Gem Show Photography: Getting Good Images on the Show Floors
Tony Siedeman shares some of his tips on taking great photos at gem shows that will help with your sales and marketing strategy.

First InStore Show Draws Rave Reviews
April's Chicago InStore show drew around 400 exhibitors and 2,000 buyers. While this optimism didn’t translate into strong sales, it translated into the kind of strong enthusiasm among vendors and visitors that hopes to ensure a second edition of this event.

Social Reponsibility and Environmental Sustainability in the Jewelry Industry
Years ago, buying gems and jewelry was all about feeling good and looking good. Nowadays, the jewelry purchase also has a lot to do with doing good for the people who mined, cut and set the gems we find so beautiful.

Vince Gulino's Sunshine Strategy
It's easy to have good times when times are good. The great secret of business life is to have good times when they are bad. And that's the key to the tremendous success jeweler Vincent Gulino is enjoying in his Tubac, Arizona, store: giving customers good times during hard ones.

True Blues: Chris Smith's Amazing Adventures with Tanzanite
A year ago, there wasn't much new to be said about tanzanite, the oven-blued zoisite found only in its namesake country of Tanzania. Known to be benignly heated from brown to blue since its discovery in the mid-1960s, tanzanite was one of the gem world's safer, most worry-free precious stones.

Colored Stone's First Mystery Gem
This is not a contest. Or, if it is, the winning prize of this guessing game—the first in Colored Stone history—is simply the privilege of having seen such a magnificent rarity.

AGL Under New Ownership with Chris Smith
The AGL Brand will live on--this time under the leadership of Chris Smith.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Gold Liquidation
Continuing our series "Gold Fever" GemMail presents the story of Michael Shields who has turned from dealing in second-hand diamonds, jewelry and watches to dealing primarily in gold--and is doing ten times the business since the switch.

The Penny Pincher's Guide to Fine Gems Between $400 and $900 Retail.
For those consumers willing to stretch their budgets into the middle and upper three figures but who want to stay far shy of the $1,000 mark, there are a multitude of superb colored stones available.

Gold Fever: How to Make a Killing Without Killing Your Conscience
When times are tough and people need money fast, all that glitters is gold.

CSI TUCSON: Is Robert James Furnishing Ocular Proof of Tourmaline Tampering?
Robert James showed evidence of something irregular inside tourmaline, topaz, and garnet processed in Bangkok. But because he called what he saw “grain-boundary diffusion,” critics and even those sympathetic to him found semantic grounds to dispute his findings.

The Penny Pincher's Guide to Fine Gems
Spending less doesn’t have to mean you’re getting less. To the contrary, it can mean you’re getting more—much more. But you might have to shift your spending away from the old staples to what are quickly becoming the new staples: garnet, tourmaline and zircon. Here are some of the best-buy gems in a few dealers' inventories that would retail for no more than $450.

Wild Things: Jewelry Goes Natural!
Nature has inspired designers throughout history, but our growing concerns for our planet, as well as our desire to be more connected with reality, have placed a greater, more urgent focus on the natural elements of our world. Today’s hottest jewelry designers are taking cues from Mother Earth and some of her most brilliantly colorful creations. Tree huggers are not the only ones who’ll go wild for these styles.

A Dark Hour for Gemology: The Diffusion Debacle
Robert James' 14-month investigation into what he calls "grain boundary diffusion" culminates in a day-the-earth-stood-still seminar at Tucson's Hotel Arizona on Friday, February 6th at 3:00PM. There he will summarize the high-tech research that has hardened his suspicions of rampant artificial chemical coloring into undeniable truths.

Chrysoprase Chalcedony: Marlborough District,
Queensland, Australia
Chrysoprase is a form of green cryptocrystalline quartz referred to as chalcedony or chalcedonic quartz. Chrysoprase chalcedony is highly prized in the Asian market and among gemologists worldwide.

Sunstone Hunting in Tibet
It was to have been the scoop of a lifetime—being the first reporter to visit Tibet’s new, much-ballyhooed andesine mine. There was only one problem: No one in Tibet had ever seen or even heard of it.

From Cropland to Outcropping: Vietnamese Pink Tourmaline
As soon as gem trekker Dudley Blauwet saw the dozens of motorbikes parked in the corn field at Khai Trung, Vietnam, he knew the locals had switched from farming to gem mining--in this case, pink tourmaline.