Colored Stones

Specialists from Christie’s Sotheby’s and Philips share the stories behind these record- breaking stones. With their breath-taking crimson hue and mystical origins, rubies have captivated humans for centuries....

Opal is perhaps one of the most popular phenomenal gemstones that shows the phenomena play-of-color. And this phenomena can only be used to describe natural opals and synthetic opals. Play-of-color...

Bright spot flashes like small gold flecks when viewed under an incandescent light is the mark of a cut sunstone. This phenomena is known as Aventurescence.

Have you seen a Morpho butterfly with its flash of blue iridescence color?  These blue flashes of color are created by an optical effect, example, interference, refraction or diffraction of light, and not by...

The following poems were purported to be written in 1889 by an “Unattributed Author”. These poems are quite amusing and fun.

Have you ever witness the Aurora Borealis in the Norwegian Artic? Perhaps you may have come across it in video clips and still life photography. The billowing clouds of bluish, whitish...

The Orient phenomena is also a form of iridescence. With pearls there is a delicate, shifting iridescent color layer that is quite distinct from the main body color. The luster as well as the orient...

A peacock’s train (a peacock’s tail) fanning out its elongated upper tail coverts with its shimmering blue or green plumage is perhaps one of the most dazzling sights.

Chatoyancy, is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French word "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye," chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material or from fibrous inclusions...

Another type of Phenomenal Gems is the Color-Change Gemstone.  These are gemstones that display different colors according to changes in lighting condition.  This is almost like the Chameleon monitor lizard, which changes the color...