Developing a comprehensive colored stone grading system has been the dream of gemologists since the late 1970's, but despite a number of valient attempts, we are no closer to the goal today than we were four decades ago. This article examines the various problems of colored stone grading, explaining why the challenges are at least an order of magnitude greater than the grading of diamonds.

The difference between a synthetic, treated, or untreated natural gemstone could mean a difference of thousands, even millions of dollars. Thus, it is no wonder that laboratories are becoming more in demand than ever. With treatments become increasingly sophisticated, gemologists and traders search for new tools to help identify stones.

Is the Mozambique stone the bejesus of bird's blood? Lotus Gemology's resident ruby wallah, Richard Hughes, weighs in on the state of the market and how Mozambique stacks up to historical heavyweights like Burma and Thailand/Cambodia.

An orangish pink “padparadscha” sapphire was submitted for testing at Lotus Gemology’s Bangkok laboratory. Testing showed a number of conflicting features that suggested the gem was a cleverly treated synthetic pink sapphire designed to imitate natural padparadscha.

Why should Hugh Hefner be the only one to enjoy twins? This special Hyperion Inclusion Gallery features images from the Lotus Gemology Hyperion Inclusion Database, but are shown as pairs, all the better to compare one form of beauty with another.

This article discusses the factors that influence quality and what to look for when buying both jadeite and nephrite. A list of jade auction records is also included.

The role of fiber-optic lighting in gemological microscopy.

World auction records for ruby, sapphire and spinel.

A discussion of the definition of padparadscha sapphire, from early to modern times, along with the difficulty in standardizing such definitions.

A brief description of the color types for ruby and sapphire used at Lotus Gemology.