Cream colored gemstones: names, shades and jewelry choices
Cream colored gemstones are gems with pale, warm body colors. Pearl, cream moonstone, some white jade and light chalcedony are familiar examples; opal and jasper...
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Carat vs. Karat: What Do They Actually Mean?
Carat measures the weight of a diamond or other gemstone. Karat measures the purity of gold on a scale of 24. That is the main...
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Colorful Gemstones: The Hidden Stories Behind Their Colors
Colorful gemstones include red ruby, blue sapphire, green emerald, purple amethyst, and pink rose quartz. Some stones show several colors at once, such as ametrine...
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Quartz for Jewelry: Types, Value, Formation and Care
Quartz is used in rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, with clear, colored, and patterned varieties offering very different looks. When choosing quartz for jewelry, consider...
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Pink Gemstones: 12 Names, Colors and Jewelry Uses
Pink gemstones include rose quartz, morganite, pink sapphire, tourmaline, spinel, kunzite, and several opaque or patterned stones. Their color can be almost white, peachy, raspberry,...
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Moss Agate: What Makes Those Green Patterns?
Moss agate is a variety of chalcedony with mineral inclusions that resemble moss, fine branches, or wisps of foliage. The green is inside the stone;...
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Jasper Stone Color: Shades, Patterns, and What to Check
Jasper stone color can be red, brown, yellow, green, cream, gray, black, or a mixture of several shades. There is no single color that identifies...
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Black Jasper: What to Know Before You Buy
Black jasper is a dark, opaque, quartz-rich stone used in beads, polished cabochons and carvings. It can look almost black or show charcoal tones and...
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Semi-Precious Stone Beads: Real, Fake, or Treated?
Semi-precious stone beads are pieces of materials such as agate, jasper, amethyst, and howlite that have been shaped and drilled for jewelry. If you're comparing...
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Tiger Eye Stone: What Makes Its Golden Glow Move?
Learn what tiger’s eye stone is, why it shimmers, how its colors form, and what to look for in its quality, treatments and jewelry care.
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Yellow Gemstones: 14 Names, Colors & How to Choose
Learn the names of yellow gemstones and crystals, compare citrine, topaz and sapphire, and choose stones by color, care needs and jewelry use.
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Rare Gemstones: 12 of the Rarest Gems in the World
Meet 12 rare gemstones, including painite, red beryl, and alexandrite. Learn what makes them scarce, what affects value, and how they suit jewelry.
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What Is Murano Glass? The Detail Most Buyers Miss
What is Murano glass? It is glass made on Murano, the island near Venice known for its glass workshops. The name tells you where a...
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Millefiori Glass: The Art Behind a Thousand Flowers
Millefiori glass is glass decorated with cross-sections of patterned canes, often arranged to resemble a field of small flowers. The maker builds a design through...
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Why Shoushan Stone Is Unlike Most Gemstones
Shoushan stone is a traditional group of fine-grained carving stones associated with the Shoushan area near Fuzhou in Fujian Province, China. It is best known...
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Blue Jasper: Why Does It Look So Different?
Blue jasper is an opaque variety of jasper that can appear in muted blue, gray-blue, slate, denim, and darker blue tones. Natural blue material exists,...
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Jasper Stone: Meaning, Colors, Types, Properties & Uses
Jasper stone is a usually opaque, fine-grained silica material made mainly of microscopic quartz. Other minerals create its colors and patterns, from solid brick red...
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Orange Gemstones: 16 Stones Worth Knowing
Orange gemstones are gem materials chosen for colors that run from pale apricot to vivid mandarin, red-orange, and warm brown. They do not belong to...
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Rhodonite: Meaning, Properties, Colors and Care
Rhodonite is a pink-to-red manganese silicate used for beads, cabochons, carvings, and decorative objects. Much of the stone sold for jewelry has dark manganese-oxide markings,...
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Agate Meaning: So, What Actually Is Agate?
Agate meaning starts with the material itself: agate is a patterned form of chalcedony, a fine-grained quartz material known for bands, curved layers and cloudlike...
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White Gemstones: 18 Stones You’ll Want to Know
White gemstones are natural or manufactured gem materials chosen for a white, near-white, silvery, or colorless appearance. They may be minerals, rocks, organic materials, glass,...
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Brown Gemstones: 20 Stones I Think You Should Know
Brown gemstones are gem materials whose main visible color is brown, from pale honey and smoky gray-brown to rust, cognac, chocolate, and near-black. The group...
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Blue Gemstone Names: 20 Stones You’ll Want to Know
Blue gemstone names cover far more than sapphire. Aquamarine, turquoise, lapis lazuli, blue topaz, tanzanite, and iolite all belong on the list, but “blue gemstone”...
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Purple Gemstones: 8 Stones I Think You Should Know
Amethyst is the best-known of the purple gemstones, but it is only one possible answer to “What gemstone is purple?” Sapphire, spinel, tanzanite, fluorite, charoite,...
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Green Stones Found on the Beach: How to Read the Clues
Green stones found on a beach are usually natural rock, weathered manufactured glass, or industrial slag. A wet surface can make all three look richer...
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Blue Green Gemstones: 16 Stones I Think You’ll Love
Compare 16 blue-green gemstones by color, hardness, care, treatments, price, and jewelry use. See which are teal and which genuinely change color under light.
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Green Stones Identification: How to Tell What Stone You Have
Green stones identification starts with color, transparency, luster and pattern. Learn safe visual checks, common look-alikes and when to ask a gemologist.
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Green Gemstones: 28 Types, Colors and Everyday Jewelry Uses
Compare 28 green gemstones by color, hardness, toughness, treatments, price and jewelry use, with practical advice for bracelets, rings, necklaces and care.
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Real Tiger Eye or Fake? Here’s How to Tell
Learn how to identify real Tiger Eye, recognize treatments and imitations, and check a stone or bracelet without damaging it.
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Sterling Silver or Stainless Steel? Here’s What I’d Choose
Compare stainless steel and sterling silver by durability, appearance, tarnish, water resistance, skin sensitivity, price, care, and everyday wear.
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Red Gemstones: Names, Pictures & How to Tell Them Apart
Learn the main red gemstone names, how clear, translucent, opaque, and patterned red stones differ, and how those differences appear in bracelets.
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Is Sterling Silver Real Silver? What 925 Means
Yes, sterling silver is real silver. Learn what 925 means, how it differs from pure and plated silver, and which checks can help you spot...
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White Gold vs Silver: Which Would You Actually Wear?
Compare white gold and sterling silver by composition, color, strength, tarnish, care, price, and skin sensitivity before choosing a men’s bracelet.
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How to Clean Mother of Pearl: Water, Showering, and Everyday Care
Learn how to clean mother of pearl safely, whether it can get wet, and why showering, swimming, chemicals, and heat are best avoided.
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Is Mother of Pearl Expensive? Value, Authenticity, and What to Check
Is mother of pearl valuable or expensive? Learn what affects its price, how it differs from imitation pearloid, and what to check before buying.
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Mother of Pearl vs. Abalone: What’s the Difference?
Mother of pearl and abalone are not the same thing. Abalone is a type of marine snail, while mother of pearl is the smooth, iridescent...
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Mother of Pearl: What It Is, Where It Comes From, and How It’s Used
Mother of pearl is the smooth, light-reflecting material found on the inside of certain mollusk shells. This guide explains what it is, what it is...
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What Is Blue Sandstone? How It’s Made, What It Looks Like, and How to Wear It
Learn what blue sandstone is, how it is made, how to wear it with everyday outfits, and what to consider before choosing a bracelet.
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Genuine Turquoise Bracelet: How to Tell if It Is Real
Learn how to evaluate a genuine turquoise bracelet, read treatment disclosures, avoid damaging home tests, and compare listings with confidence.
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Black Jade Bracelet: Meaning, Value & Is It Real?
Black jade is not one single, uniform stone type. In jewelry, the name can describe dark jadeite or nephrite, but it is also used loosely...
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Black Gemstones: 12 Names, Pictures and Identification Tips
Compare 12 black gemstones with names, pictures, hardness and identification tips. Explore onyx, obsidian, spinel, tourmaline and more for jewelry.
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Jadeite vs Nephrite: What Is the Difference?
Jadeite vs nephrite explained in plain English. Compare color, durability, value, and what to ask before buying jade jewelry.
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Jade Bracelet Beads: Are You Choosing the Right Size and Material?
Jade bracelet beads are easiest to compare by four things: bead diameter, bracelet fit, material disclosure, and finish. Once you understand those details, you can...
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White Jade Bracelet Price: What Are You Really Paying For?
Learn what affects white jade bracelet price, including jade type, treatment, bead quality, craftsmanship, and silver or gold details.
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Gray Stones Names: More Than Just Fifty Shades of Gray
This guide covers common gray stones names, how gray gemstones, also spelled grey gemstones, differ, and which gray stones are often used in jewelry. You...
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Zebra Jasper: Colors, Patterns, Properties and Care
Zebra jasper is known for contrasting stripes, bands, and patches, often in black, white, gray, cream, or brown. The name describes a stone’s appearance, but...
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Picture Jasper: Properties, Patterns, Value and Care
Picture jasper is an opaque, patterned variety of jasper whose earthy bands and markings can resemble hills, deserts or distant mountain ranges. A picture jasper...
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What Is Sea Sediment Jasper?
Sea sediment jasper is one of those stones that sparks a genuine debate every time someone looks it up. Forums call it fake. Crystal sites...
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Real vs Fake Jasper: How to Tell the Difference
Real vs Fake Jasper is not always about spotting a cheap imitation. Most jasper on the market is genuine because jasper is common, durable, and...
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Best Stones for Men’s Bracelets
For an everyday men's bracelet, start with tiger eye for warm brown and gold, jasper for earthy color, or agate for varied patterns. The best...
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