Gemstone Buying Guide: How to Evaluate, Identify, Select & Care for Colored Gems

This full-color guide to colored gems provides information on quality evaluation, price comparison, gem identification, cutting styles, treatments, fake stones, gem care and geographic sources. There are 323 new color photos and several new gem species and varieties in this updated edition. Written for consumers and professionals, the Gemstone Buying Guide is a practical, well-illustrated resource for buying, identifying and caring for colored gems.

How this book differs from other full-color gem books:

Other full-color books on gems like Schumann's Gemstones of the World are identification and field guides or history and museum books, not gemstone evaluation guides. The Gemstone Buying Guide is quite different from these field guides and museum books and is a complement to them because it contains:

Guidelines on evaluation gem quality.

General Pricing information and guidelines on comparing prices

Details on treatments used to enhance the color and clarity of gems.

The latest information on gems, cutting styles and gem sources

Tips on gem care

Creative photos by some of the world's best gem photographers

Jewelry-mounted gemstone photos. Many of the pieces are unique designer creations with unusual gems. Other gem books usually concentrate on loose, unmounted stones. The numbers jewelry photos in this book help broaden the audience and increase interest in the book. It's simply more fun to see gems set in jewelry.