The Curator's Journal

The Colours of Garnet, Part 1: What is Garnet?

By Yaĝé Enigmus   Garnet is not a single gemstone but a group of related minerals, and although red is the best-known colour, garnets also occur in orange, yellow, green and other colours. It is th...

The Colours of Tourmaline, Part 4: Other Tourmaline Species

By Yaĝé Enigmus   While the majority of coloured tourmaline gemstones encountered are composed of elbaite tourmaline, there are other tourmaline minerals which are occasionally seen in jewellery. T...

The Colours of Tourmaline, Part 3: Fancy Colours of Elbaite

By Yaĝé Enigmus Fancy tourmaline colours such as seafoam, olive, lime and mint are trade names for the way elbaite looks, caused by particular combinations of trace elements including iron, titaniu...

The Colours of Tourmaline, Part 2: Primary Colours of Elbaite

By Yaĝé Enigmus   Elbaite tourmaline accounts for the majority of tourmaline gemstones and is the most notably mutlicoloured tourmaline species. Elbaite is a sodium lithium aluminum tourmaline m...

The Colours of Tourmaline, Part 1: What is Tourmaline?

By Yaĝé Enigmus Tourmaline is an exceptionally beautiful gemstone that comes in numerous shades and hues. This gem of many faces has been valued since ancient times, and today tourmaline is among t...

Origins of Ametrine, Part 2: The Legend of Bolivianite

By Yaĝé Enigmus There are a number of locations where ametrine has been known to occur naturally, but the stone is somewhat rare and there is only one place where a significant quantity of gem-grad...

Origins of Ametrine, Part 1: A Natural Bi-Colour Quartz

By Yaĝé Enigmus A wonderful and less commonly known variety of quartz which exhibits zones of amethyst alongside zones that display colours often associated with citrine, ametrine is a gorgeous bi-...

The Colours of Sapphire: A Corundum Rainbow

Sapphire is the gem variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide), which is colourless in its pure form; trace impurities create the colours, such as iron and titanium for blue, chromium for pi...

Famous Sapphire Jewellery, Part 8: Circlet of the Imperial State Crown, Home of the Stuart Sapphire

The circlet of the Imperial State Crown of Britain holds the Stuart Sapphire. Bearing the name of the Stuart Dynasty, the Stuart Sapphire is a large deep blue gem that weighs approximately 104 car...

Famous Sapphire Jewellery, Part 7: The Maltese Cross of the Imperial State Crown, Home of St. Edward's Sapphire

What is perhaps the most well known piece of British sapphire regalia is the Imperial State Crown. British monarchs have worn some form of the Imperial State Crown after their coronation ceremony ...