Jewelry & Gemstones

The pearl anniversary marks 30 years of marriage, and pearls are the traditional gift for the milestone.

Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and fluorite are among the gemstones that glow under UV light, each producing its own fluorescent color and pattern.

White sapphire is worth $50 to $1,500 per carat depending mainly on clarity and cut, well below what a comparable diamond costs.

White turquoise is almost always dyed howlite or magnesite, not genuine turquoise, with White Buffalo turquoise the one real exception.

A diamond seed is made of pure carbon, a thin slice or shard that is natural or synthetic, and lab-grown diamonds grow from it over days to weeks.

Magnesite turquoise is dyed magnesium carbonate sold as a convincing but very different substitute for real turquoise.

Pearl white is a pale off-white (#F8F6F0) with subtle warm undertones, used for pearl body color, car paint finishes and interior design.

A seed pearl is a natural pearl under 2 millimeters wide, the tiny gem Victorian and Edwardian jewelers sewed onto silk and horsehair by the hundred.

Kingman turquoise is a sky blue Arizona stone with a water web matrix, mined at Mineral Park and mostly sold stabilized rather than natural.

Mabe pearls are half-pearls grown against the inside of an oyster shell, then cut out, filled with resin, and backed with shell. Here is how it works.