Summer 2008

Gem News International

DIAMONDS

• Bird-like inclusion in diamond
• A colorless diamond showing strong phosphorescence

COLORED STONES AND ORGANIC MATERIALS

• Almandine-spessartine from Lindi, Tanzania
• "Red andesine" from China: Possible indication of diffusion treatment
• Orange beryl from India
• Chromium-rich clinochlore (kämmererite) from Turkey
• Yellow danburite from Tanzania
• Lawsonite from Marin County, California
• Green mica (paragonite) from Pakistan
• An interesting opal
• Engraved black cultured pearls
• Pinctada maxima cultured pearls grown beadless in the mantle
• Twinned cultured pearl
• Interplanetary cat’s-eye peridot
• New rubies from central Tanzania
• Ruby and sapphire mining at Winza, Tanzania
• A sapphire with en echelon inclusions
• Serpentinite artifact resembling Libyan desert glass
• Star and cat’s-eye topaz from Brazil
• A new source of Persian turquoise: Kerman, Iran
• A rare faceted yellow vanadinite

SYNTHETICS AND SIMULANTS

• Experimental CVD synthetic diamonds from LIMHP
• Unusual glass imitation of rubellite
• Tourmalines and their imitations obtained in Kandahar, Afghanistan

CONFERENCE REPORTS

• Sinkankas Garnet Symposium
• 2008 Scottish Gemmological Association conference