It seemed a little crazy that there was nothing in gemmological literature characterizing faceted phenakite from the region formerly known as Volodarsk-Volynski (‘Khoroshiv’ since 2015). This was a little ironic since the region is the type-locality for phenakite. At the behest of the Journal of Gemmology’s editor, Brendan Laurs, I set about rectifying this.
Continue reading “Characterizing Faceted Phenakite, a Gemstone from Ukraine”
More than 50 years have passed since the gemstone Aeschynite emerged from Afghanistan. Since then, no further examples have ever come to the market and that makes this a very unique and rare gemstone. It was certainly worth a closer look.
Continue reading “Hot Rocks in a Pig Box”
It is not often that a gemmologist gets to see something from Antarctica, a continent that still enjoys the protection of the 1961 international treaty intended to protect and preserve the untapped uniqueness of the biosphere from the rapacious consumption of mankind. This Gem Note, featured in the Journal of Gemmology, covers an exciting opportunity that presented itself when faceted samples from a research trip to Mount Erebus reached the laboratory. I could get the graphs and numbers from the battery of laboratory equipment, but it was Nathan Renfro’s brilliant photomicrography that captured the essence of these samples.
Continue reading “Rare Opportunity: Gemstones from Antarctica”
