Glittering Stones

Welcome to GlitteringStones.com, this is an amazing site for those who are studying gemology. A gem or gemstone is also called precious or semi-precious stone which is a small piece of precious mineral that is polished and then used in making jewellery such as necklaces, bracelets and rings. However some rocks like lapis-lazuli and organic materials like jet and amber are not minerals, but they are also used in jewelry, and therefore they are also considered as gemstones.

Most gemstones are rock hard but there are some soft minerals that are used in jewelry due to their shine and other physical properties as they have aesthetic values. A gemologist uses the chemical composition to identify a gemstone. For example, diamonds and rubies are made of carbon and aluminium oxide respectively. Those gems in the form of crystals are classified by their crystallite system such as monoclinic, trigonal and cubic. Another phrase used is the ‘habit’, the form the gem is habitually found in. For instance diamonds have cubic crystal systems that are often found as octahedrons.

Our Gems Library offers extensive information about gemstone collections. And for the students of gemology can make use of Precious Stones and Semi-precious Stones section, it will help you identify and study in detail about these precious glittering stones! If you are interested in jewellery design then the Gems Jewellery section will tell you A to Z on how stones are used in jewels.

If you excited to know how gems are used in jewellery? Then check out our Gems Gallery section to see all those colorful pictures which is sure to make you crazy about gemstones! Similarly the Crystal section is also a must visit! Don’t forget to visit the ‘Choose Gems for U’ section that will tell you what kind of birthstone suitable for you.

We hope that this website GlitteringStones.com will be very enlightening for those who want to know more about these tiny precious stones. Don’t forget to bookmark this website and keep visiting our Glittering Stones News section which will keep you updated.

Gemstone list

There are over 130 species of minerals that have been cut into gems with 50 species in common use. These include:

Minerals that infrequently occur in gem quality form:

Andalusite
Axinite
Benitoite
Bixbyte (Red beryl)
Cassiterite
Clinohumite
Iolite
Kornerupine
Natural moissanite
Zeolite (Thomsonite)

Artificial or synthetic materials used as gems include:

High-lead glass
Synthetic cubic zirconia
Synthetic corundum
Synthetic spinel
Synthetic moissanite