Gem Identification Made Easy, 4th Edition
A Hands-On Guide to More Confident Buying & Selling
6 x 9, 384 pp, Over 150 photographs
and illustrations, 75 in full color;
index
Hardcover, ISBN-13: 978-0-943763-59-0, ISBN-10:
0-943763-59-2
Enjoy learning the tools of the gem trade
from two experts.
As in Jewelry & Gems: The Buying
Guide, Matlins and Bonanno
make gem identification fun and interesting rather than
“tedious”—even for those without a scientific
inclination!
Gem Identification Made Easy is the first and only book that explains
in non-technical terms how to identify diamonds and colored
gems, and how to separate natural gems from imitations, treated
stones, synthetics, and look-alikes. The book’s approach
is direct and practical, and its style easy to understand. In
fact, with this highly accessible guide, anyone can begin to
master gem identification.
Using a simple, step-by-step system, the
authors explain how to properly use essential but uncomplicated
instruments to identify stones, what to look for gemstone by
gemstone, and how to set up a basic lab at modest cost. Three
of the instruments are inexpensive, portable, pocket
instruments that, when used together, can identify almost 85%
of all precious and popular stones.
The key to avoiding costly mistakes and
recognizing profitable opportunities is knowing both what to look for and what to
look out for.
Gem Identification Made Easy will help you:
• Open your eyes to the types of
treatments, imitations, synthetics, look-alikes, and fakes in
the gem market today.
• Learn how to tell the difference
between them. Quickly spot:
• Synthetics,
including synthetic emeralds and diamonds
• Filled
diamonds
• Diffused
“blue” sapphires and “red” rubies
• HPHT-treated
diamonds
• … and
much more!
• Learn how to identify recently
discovered gems such as “Mandarin” garnet, red
“emerald,” and North Carolina’s chromium-rich
emeralds.
• Discover new treatments such as
surface coatings to create “fancy color” diamonds
and improve or change the color of many gemstones.
• Know when to seek help from a
professional gemologist or lab.
• Become more professional in your
business or hobby.
“The book you can’t do without
… all the information you need, in no-nonsense
language.”
—Rapaport
Diamond Report
“Great book … ‘Real
life’ gemology.”
—Ian
Mercer, director of education,
Gemmological Association of Great Britain
