Figure 1. The GIA 7 Pearl Value Factors system classifies pearls according to size, shape, color, luster, surface, nacre, and matching. Composite photo by GIA staff. Prized by many cultures throughout ...

Figure 1. Pinctada maculata pearls alongside a Pinctada maculata mollusk valve with an attached blister pearl. The pearls range from 2.20 mm to 6.49 × 4.83 × 4.49 mm, and the shell measures ...

Below is the list of recognized holidays when GIA locations will be closed.View the holiday schedule for all GIA locations worldwide.

A new opal deposit was discovered in 2008 near the village of Wegel Tena, in volcanic rocks of Ethiopia’s Wollo Province. Unlike previous Ethiopian opals, the new material is mostly white, with some ...

In November 2022, a parcel of 24 approximately 0.5–1.2 ct spinel crystals, described as cobalt-diffused, were obtained directly from a treater by the research team at GIA in Bangkok. Of these, seven ...

Figure 1. Sapphires from Madagascar: a beautiful 3.29 ct untreated faceted stone and an assortment of rough in the background. Madagascar has produced many high-quality stones in the last few years ...

Figure 1. The De Beers SYNTHdetect, an instrument designed for screening of colorless to near-colorless diamonds of all cuts mounted in jewelry. Loose stones can also be screened with no lower size ...

Gem-quality synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds are more available in today’s jewelry marketplace than ever before, causing both interest and concern about lab-grown diamonds and whether ...

Diamonds are known for their hardness – their ability to resist scratches and abrasions. But diamonds are not impervious to damage, since their hardness is uneven along different crystal directions.

North America has a long history of natural pearling owing in part to its very diverse and rich freshwater mussel resources. After the Civil War pearl jewelry gained greater popularity in the United ...

A parcel of sapphire and chrysoberyl from the Ilakaka-Sakaraha deposit in southern Madagascar. Photo by Vincent Pardieu, © GIA. Introduction In July-August 2010 and ...

This raspberry-and mint-colored tourmaline—nicknamed the “Steamboat”—is one of the world’s finest and most valuable mineral specimens. Photo by Duncan Pay ...