Jewellery Insides

Synthetic Diamond Names – A Negative Side of the Human Imagination  🧠 🍎 If it’s red, then it’s ruby! “Ruby” comes from the Latin “rubinus,” meaning red. Historically, red-cut gems like rubies, spinels and garnets were considered ''ruby'' or if they were cabochon-cut ''carbuncles''. 🔮 The reason for calling all red gems ruby was primarily due to a lack of knowledge to classify them and of course, the misuse of selling them for more money. Here are just a few of the terms or trade names for rubies: Alabandine ruby (almandine), American ruby (pyrope), Bohemian ruby (Czech pyrope), Balas ruby, Black Prince's ruby, Timur ruby and Oriental Ruby (all related to red spinel). 🔬 The Progress of Science and Technology helps in one word to classify the gems. Ruby was separated as a trading name, for pinkish to pigeon blood red variety of the mineral corundum (sapphire is also a variety of the same mineral corundum, but in all other colours, except the red one). 💎 The developed diamond grading scale or system, based on knowledge supported by advanced technology, was not enough to stop the old tradition in the trade market of misleading, scamming, frauding, fading, swindling, hoaxing, cunning, scheming and flimflamming... ❌ "Let's try to list all the trade names popular in the market for diamonds synthesized in a laboratory, which should be correctly called SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS: 🫢 Lab-grown diamonds, lab-created diamonds, man-made diamonds, cultured diamonds, cultivated diamonds, artificial diamonds, industrial diamonds, simulated diamonds, laboratory diamonds, engineered diamonds, manufactured diamonds, factory-made diamonds, eco-friendly diamonds, conflict-free diamonds, human-made diamonds, technologically produced diamonds, grown diamonds, LG, LGD, LGC, MGD, SCD, EGD, PLD, GFD, BCD, and ALD. ❌ We never even used lab-grown ruby before? It is synthetic ruby, so lab-grown diamonds go on the scam list too!  Enjoy! 📷 Synthetic CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) rough diamond (left), laboratory-grown HPHT (High-Pressure High Temperature) rough diamond (middle), and natural octahedral rough diamond (right) © Russell Shor, GIA (Gemological Institute of America) #diamonds #naturaldiamonds #syntheticdiamonds

Trigons, patterns of eruption and not just… ◀️🔼▶️🔽◀️🔼▶️ 🤲Two friends, cubic, octahedral, dodecahedral, rhombododecahedral, or sometimes twinned as macle… Born deep within the Earth, from depths of 150 to 1,000 km, or perhaps even deeper? At pressures of 45.000 to 60.000 atmospheres, and in extreme temperatures from 900 to 1200°C, or maybe a little higher? Rapidly brought to the surface, waiting to be discovered and admired, perhaps reuniting in the romance of a night in bed, together once more. We speak of trigons on the faces of diamonds and spinels, surface patterns of minerals that sometimes even share similar colours. 🫶Trigons are primarily post-crystallisation surface features, created also during the Kimberley eruption, when magma swept diamonds  close up to the Earth’s surface, partially dissolving crystal faces along the way. Trigons form as flat-bottomed or pointed shapes, oriented either in alignment with or opposite to the triangular crystal face 111. 👉Spinel is a magnesium aluminium oxide mineral with the chemical formula MgAl₂O₄ (a solid-state solution between spinel (MgAl₂O₄) and gahnite (ZnAl₂O₄)) represents a large group of oxides containing magnesium, iron, and zinc, with traces of aluminium and other elements (gahnite, hercynite, ceylonite, picotite and galaxite, are rarely used as gems). Much like diamonds, spinels belong to the cubic crystal system and are anisotropic, meaning they are also singly refractive as well. 🌈The most valued gem quality spinel colors are vivid reds and cobalt blues, but very beautify spinels also can include red and pink, mauve, lilac hues. 🖐Of course spinel, the gem often confused for ruby or sapphire)). Throughout history, spinels have been deceptively used, though they are never truly colourless. Notably, the Black Prince's Ruby and the Timur Ruby in the British Crown Jewels are actually spinels. Even today, red or blue spinels have been submitted to the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) as natural octahedral or macle-twinned diamonds. 👆How can you distinguish them from Fancy Colour Diamonds, of course, with the naked eye and without distractions? Look for a fracture! A conchoidal fracture is impossible to find on a diamond but is often seen on quartz. 📷 This South African natural diamond, 4.2 mm in thickness © Rob Levinsky, The Arkenstone, www.iRocks.com; 📷Rough spinel, submitted as a diamond, displayed trigons © Josh Balduf, GIA (Gemological Institute of America); 📷Conchoidal fracture on spinel face, magnified 40x © Daniela Martha Altobelli, GIA (Gemological Institute of America); 📷 Blue Spinel Octahedron with trigons from Sri Lanka © Ben DeCamp, Bill Larson Collection. #Gemmology #Diamonds #Gems #Spinel

Back in 2017, the Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender took place. Now, in 2024, another one will soon close the bids. What will remain? ✨ 🤲 Very soon, on November 18, the long-awaited Beyond Rare Tender 2024 by Rio Tinto will close bids. The Argyle mine, in the Kimberley region, Western Australia, that brought to the world about 90-95% of the most desirable Fancy Colour Diamonds, closed in November 2020. 👈 Just to remind, back in 2017, the Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender, also named ‘‘Custodians of Rare Beauty‘‘, presented 58 diamonds, 49.39 total carat weight, including four Fancy Red Diamonds, four Purplish Red Diamonds, two Violet Diamonds, and one Blue Diamond. 👉 The five ’’hero’’ stones were: 🤌 The Argyle Everglow, 2.11-ct, Fancy Red Diamond; 🤌 The Argyle Isla, 1.14-ct, Fancy Red Diamond; 🤌 The Argyle Avaline, 2.42-ct, Fancy Purple-Pink Diamond; 🤌 The Argyle Kalina, 1.50-ct, Fancy Deep Pink Diamond; 🤌 Argyle Liberté, 0.91-ct, Fancy Deep Grey-Violet Diamond. 👎 For how long will the Argyle tenders continue to appear? 📷 The 5 “hero” stones from 2017 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender © Argyle Diamonds Pty Limited, Rio Tinto. #ArgyleDiamonds #NaturalColorDiamonds #PinkDiamonds #DiamondTender #Gemstones #RareDiamonds #DiamondsHistory

What can be considered a Mint Garnet? 🍵 👉 Just to remind you, one mineral, such as corundum, has many trade names, like ruby and sapphire, or even their varieties, such as pigeon blood ruby or padparadscha sapphire. If science is about simplification, it seems that trade is about complication. Another example is Paraíba tourmalines. We know that, according to many gem labs, Paraíba can only be considered copper-bearing, regardless of the fact that the same tourmaline colour can occur without copper, such as the so-called Lagoon tourmalines. The difference between Paraíba and Lagoon is well explained (check in comments below). 👇 Now let’s go back to garnets, specifically green garnets. Let’s focus on calcium-rich garnets with simplified formula (Ca₃[Cr,Al,Fe]₂(SiO₄)₃) (uvarovite-grossular-andradite), also known as ugrandite blend, exabit in three main ''species'': 🫱 Grossular: green, yellow, brown, orange, and rarely pink or colourless (varieties: 👆 tsavorite: a vivid green colour reminiscent of emerald; 👆 hessonite: brownish-orange to reddish-brown colour; 👆 vesuvianite: green, yellow-green, brown, and rarely blue); 🫱 Andradite: greenish-yellow colour (varieties: 👆 demantoid: vivid green colour and exceptional dispersion; 👆 melanite: black or dark brown; 👆 topazolite: yellowish green); 🫱 Uvarovite: green colour. ✋ Among green garnets, there is a special variety named ''MINT'', which has every right to exist, just like so called ''MAHENGE''. However, while Maheange is based on locality, mint is based on colour. Mint garnets are related to the Merelani mining locality, in the Merelani Hills of Tanzania, from where the famous tanzanites come. 🤜 Merelani Mint Garnet is simply light green. But!!! Is there any available data about its composition? Meaning, if it is mint green - it is a mint garnet? But what is mint green? And is it mint green in daylight or at sunset??? Where are the borders??? 📷 Described as ‘‘Genuine Mint Green Garnet’’ with full right to be described like that!, a 4.61-carat cushion cut (10.6 x 8.4 mm) on a date of publishing this post, online available for sells (link in comments) for +10.000€, or around 2.000€ per carat © Africa Gems. #Gemology #Gemstones #Gems #RareGems #Garnets

What is Cartier without "The Panthère"? 🐆 🐾 Jeanne Rosine Toussaint is the name of the woman who reshaped the norms of jewellery design and created a recognizable symbol of Cartier: the totemic "The Panthère". Her journey began in Charleroi, Belgium, where she was born on 13 January 1887, and led her to the heart of Paris, where she became Cartier’s Creative Director from 1933 to the 1970s. 🙌 The panther appeared as a motif before the First World War as a coat crafted from a striking blend of onyx and diamonds, but it was only after the Second World War that Jeanne Toussaint reimagined the panther in three dimensions. In 1948, it debuted as a brooch, with "The Panthère" ready to leap, poised on emerald and sapphire cabochons. The first design featuring "panther spots," Cartier's wristwatch, was created in 1914 and made from onyx and diamonds. 🫳 A century later, in 2023, a Cartier necklace sold for $711k at Sotheby's. The necklace featuring diamonds approximately 30.71 ctw, with F-G colour and VVS-VS clarity. The sapphires total around 16.57 ct, exhibiting medium blue hues and slight inclusions with 0.24 ctw, medium green and slightly included emeralds. 📷 Diamond, Sapphire, Emerald and Onyx "Panthère" Necklace-Brooch © Sotheby's; 📷 Wristwatch first designed featuring "panthère spots" with onyx and diamonds, 1914 © Cartier Archives. #Jewellery #JewelleryHistory #Cartier

A candy a day keeps the monsters away ! Happy Halloween! 🎃 👁️ The Dalí – Jewel Collection in the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, contains thirty-seven intricate pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones conceived by Salvador Dalí, each capturing the essence of surrealism through their unexpected designs. 💘 Above all, a jewel with a mechanical movement, the ‘‘Royal Heart’’, is ingeniously crafted from gold and an array of natural gemstones, designed to mimic the rhythmic beating of a real heart, symbolizing the fluidity of time and the ever-changing nature of life. 🕯️Happy Halloween, Dear Colleagues and Stay Safe 🎃 ! 📹 The ‘’Royal Heart Brooch’’ by Dalí, in 18k yellow gold features oval and round cut rubies, sapphires, emeralds, aquamarines, peridots, hessonite garnets, amethyst, diamonds and pearls, ca. 1953 © Dalí Theatre and Museum, Figueres, Spain. #Jewels #Hallowen #Gemology #Gemstones #Gems #Daimonds #Pearls

Fancy Red Diamonds: Rob Red & Argyle Prima - When Saturation is Clear! ❤️🩰❤️ 🫱 When speaking about red diamonds, it’s essential to note that they are the rarest, smallest, and most expensive in the category of fancy colour diamonds. Just to remind you, the three largest fancy red diamonds, if we consider the Kazanjian Red Diamond, are around 5 carats each, with clarity ranging from flawless (F) to included (I): the Moussaieff Red, the Kazanjian Red Diamond, and the De Young Red. Beyond these, all other publicly known, auctioned red diamonds are smaller than 3 carats and often exhibit additional hues such as purplish, brownish or orangy. 🤜 The colour origin of red diamonds is linked to stress and natural plastic deformation, although it remains not fully understood. Most red diamonds around one carat, with a variation of approximately ±0.5 carats, if they are Fancy Red, are highly included (see comments below). 🤏 “The most saturated and purest red diamond measured visually and instrumentally to date in the world,” according to Stephen Hofer, author of Collecting and Classifying Fancy Colour Diamonds, is the pear-shaped, 0.59-carat Fancy Intense Red Rob Red Diamond, graded VS1 clarity. Named after its owner, Mr. Robert Bogel, a coloured diamond collector and dealer in New York City, the diamond is believed to have been found in alluvial deposits in Brazil, where Bogel spent much of his youth searching for diamonds. 🙌 Moving to the Argyle mine, from which most pink and red diamonds originate, the largest Fancy Red diamond of highest clarity (SI1) is the Argyle Prima, a pear-shaped, 1.20-carat Fancy Red diamond named in honour of the "prima ballerina assoluta". It is one of the five “hero” stones, featured in the 2015 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender. 👍When it comes to red diamonds, is impossible not to mention LEIBISH family. LEIBISH is a family-run, internationally recognisable and highly reputable premier dealer of natural fancy coloured diamonds, with a particular emphasis on red diamonds. 📷 Argyle Prima © ARGYLE DIAMONDS LIMITED. #Diamonds #ColorDiamonds #FancyColorDiamonds #RedDiamonds #Gemology

Kitsch Among the Aristocracy! – Two Centuries Ago… 👑 🫰 Just as today, the upper class in Europe and the Russian Empire had its own trends. In the 18th and 19th centuries, when decorative arts reached their peak, intricately ornamented boxes designed to hold snuff or tobacco (a powdered form of tobacco popular in the 17th and 18th centuries) became a clear status symbol among the aristocracy. This fashion was accomplished with the colored gemstone from the newly discovered deposits worldwide and the fascination of royalty with collecting rare mineral specimens. 🫱 One of the finest examples of this art form is a snuffbox (snuff is a powdered tobacco, popular in the 17-18th centuries) crafted from gold and gifted to Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia, by an Austrian envoy. This exquisite box is encrusted with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, agates, sapphires, spinels and topazes from all around the world. The transparent rock crystal walls reveal golden engravings featuring the profiles of Roman emperors and their wives, lovers or just mistresses. 💪 But questions arise: Gems from all around the world in a so-called snuffbox, or is it just a tobacco box? Could this be an early sentimentality towards globalisation? After all, how do Roman Emperors, their wives, lovers or just mistresses, fit with 18th-century Germany and Russia? ''Moscow Third Rome''? Does the Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo finally saturated into popular kitsch? - Overly sentimental, superficial or lacking sophistication, a naive imitation of high art, overly eccentric, gratuitous or just poor untaste. What do you think? 📷Mineralogical Snuffbox, Unknown Master, Late 18th Century © The State Hermitage Museum. #JewelleryHistory #Jewellery #DecorativeArt #RoyalJewels #Gemstones

The "Empress Diamond Cut" by CHAUMET: A new aristocratic sparkle of the ideal round brilliant cut! 💎 💠Just a few years ago, since CHAUMET patented a new diamond cut. The round hexagonal, featuring 88 facets, named "Empress Cut" or "Taille Impératrice in French". 👆To our knowledge, this diamond cut is the only one that combines a hexagonal shape with a star-shaped pavilion, totalling 88 facets, symbolising infinity. The star-shaped pavilion reflects light more effectively than the traditional round cut, offering additional shine and enhancing its brilliance and fire. This combination creates the impression of being a blend of the Tolkowsky 58-facet round brilliant cut and the aristocratic sparkle of old mine cuts at the same time. Don’t you think? 🍯So, this was more about geometry, but what is the symbolism and the story behind it that makes CHAUMET - CHAUMET? The cut is named after Empress Joséphine, did you guess she was between first client of CHAUMET? It also connects to CHAUMET’s Bee My Love collection, launched in 2011, featuring the hexagonal motif of honeycomb cells. To remind you, Empress Joséphine was the wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French. 🐝After the coronation in 1804, Napoléon adopted the bee as his imperial emblem, symbolising immortality, industriousness, and renewal. Inspired by the Merovingian kings, who used the bee as a symbol of power and continuity, Napoléon chose it to break away from the traditional fleur-de-lys of the French monarchy. By adopting the bee, he sought to link his empire to France’s ancient past while symbolising hard work, industriousness, and regeneration. The bee became a defining symbol of his empire, earning him the nickname “the Bee” or, in French “l’Abeille”. 📷 Empress-cut 88-facet diamond with star-shaped pavilion © CHAUMET; 📷 Joséphine de Beauharnais, impératrice des Français (1763-1814) en costume impérial, oil on canvas, François Gérard (1770-1837) © @Château de Malmaison; 📷 Bee My Love bracelet in rose gold, set with 60 brilliant-cut diamonds, G colour, VS+ clarity, 7.50-ctw © CHAUMET; 📷 Napoleon I in Coronation Robes, oil on canvas, François Gérard (1770-1837) © Musée du Louvre. #JewelleryHistory #Diamonds #CHAUMET #BeeMyLove #Jewelry

When time meets jewellery 👑 ⏳An amazing 18th century collision of watchmaking, jewellery and gems. 💎‘‘Clock on a Shattland’’ masterpiece, France, Paris. Mid-18th century. Silver, gold, diamonds, spinel, garnet, agate, diamonds, metal, casting, painted enamel, soldered, engraved. 📷 Clock on a Shattland © The State Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia. #Watch #Jewellery #Gemmology #Heritage #Luxury