Turquoise Ancient and yet always at the height of current fashion: that is Turquoise for you. Its brilliant sky-blue belongs to the all-time favorite trend colors in the world of fashion and jewelry. Turquoise is a copper aluminum phosphate achieving hardness six, thus considerably softer than quartz. It occurs naturally in all shades ranging from sky-blue to grey-green, usually in such locations where copper is hidden in the soil in high concentrations. However, only the best quality Turquoises shows the real turquoise color, which in ordinary stones is normally rather pale, blue-green or greenish. The blue color is caused by copper, while the green color is caused by iron or chromium. Often the material is veined or shows spots, which depending on the respective occurrence are brown, light grey or even black. These vivid, more or less regular patterns are called the spider web. The micro-crystals are really tiny and almost not discernible with the bare eye. Usually turquoise occurs as encrustation, in veins or as nodules or nuggets. The most famous occurrences are situated in the USA, Mexico, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan and China. The most beautiful of Turquoises in wonderful light blue are found in Northern Iran. Turquoise is only rarely facetted. Usually it is shaped as cabochons or as beads, or even given a fancy cut. Coral Corals are produced by tiniest life forms, which settled in the depths of warm seas in vast colonies, long before our time. The Coral cnidarian is covered by a fleshy skin and secretes a calcareous substance, from which there are built the branchlike structures of the of the Coral stems. They can grow up to 40 cm in height, the thickness of the branches, however, hardly ever amounts to more than four cm. Only at the forks the structures are a little thicker. And from these parts the valuable raw material is gained which will then be turned into pieces of jeweler, large Coral balls or carved objects. The fragile Coral trees are traditionally brought to the light of day from the depths of seas by means of dragnets. Since first class Coral, however, has become rather rare, today a more environment conscious approach is generally applied and divers will collect the fragile Coral branches. In the next step, the pieces are cleaned, sorted, and treated with saws, files and drills. Coral is hardly ever cut like other gemstones. When unfinished, Coral appears dull and matted. Only after polishing it receives its beautiful gloss. Often Coral is porous, sometimes with fissures and thus of lower quality. To some extent, such qualities can be improved by application of colored wax, which enhances the optical impression. Good quality Coral shows an even coloring and has no fissures, spots, bands or cavities. Since genuine untreated Coral is rare, the price it achieves is quite high.  Lapis Lazuli A deep blue gemstone with a long history, Lapis Lazuli was one of the first stones ever to be used and worn in jewelry. Around the Mediterranean, excavations have provided archeologists with examples of lapis jewelry in the form of necklaces and other objects discovered in tombs, placed there to accompany the deceased into the hereafter. Lapis Lazuli was cherished thousands of years ago by the peoples of Mesopotamia (where the blue stone symbolized the heavens and was used to decorate the ceilings of temples), Persia, Greece and Rome. In Egypt, it was used to adorn statues of the gods. Lapis was first mined 6,000 years ago. In those days, the stones were mined in what is now Afghanistan. In other cultures, Lapis Lazuli was also worshipped as a holy stone. In far Eastern countries, Lapis was considered to be a gemstone with magical powers. Numerous seals, rings, scarabs and objects were crafted from the blue stone. Lapis lazuli is an opaque stone consisting mainly of Diopside and Lazurite, and was created millions of years ago in the course of the metamorphic process of turning chalk into marble stone. Unpolished, Lapis lazuli seems dull and dark blue, often with golden inclusions and whitish veins from marble. Contrary to former theories, however, the small twinkling and shining inclusions are not gold but Pyrite, and caused by iron. The blue color is caused by the sulfuric contents of Lazurite. It is not considered a hard gemstone in comparison to others.  Amber Amber is one of the organic gemstones, being the time-hardened fossilized resin of pine trees, the now extinct pinus succinifera, and others. As such it varies from about 20 to 60 million years old, according to different sources. It appears surprisingly light and warm to the touch, and readily produces static electricity when rubbed. Indeed it was known to the ancient Greeks as elektron, and it is from this that we have obtained the word electron for the negatively charged particle, and also the word electricity. The metal electrum was so called because of its similarity in colour to amber. Amber is known in German as bernstein because in the middle ages, powdered amber was burnt as an aromatic incense. Amber is most usually similar colours to honey, varying from golden yellow, through rich orange and red to brown, but some can be white, dark brown almost to black, blue or green.  Spiny Oyster Shell Spiney Oyster Shell is derived from the shell of Spondylus princeps mollusk. The mollusks attach themselves to rocks. The key characteristic of the genus is that the two parts of the shells are hinged together with a ball and socket type of hinge, rather than a toothed hinge like most bivalves. Spondylus have multiple eyes around the edge. The shell is found off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. The shell comes in three different colors: red; orange and purple. Yellow and white are rare. Essentially, the darker the color of the shell, the deeper it resided. Therefore, orange will come from a shallower depth than red, which is shallower than purple.Spiny Oyster shell has been found in archaeological sites of the Anasazi, Mogollon and Hohokam peoples. It has also been found in eastern mound groups along with turquoise, indicating its importance as a trade item as well as a jewelry object.  Gaspeite Tourmaline Tourmalines are precious stones displaying a unique splendor of colors. According to an ancient Egyptian legend this is the result of the fact that on the long way from the Earth’s heart up towards the sun, Tourmaline traveled along a rainbow. And on its way it collected all the colors of the rainbow. This is why nowadays it is called the "Rainbow gemstone”. Tourmalines are mixed crystals of complex aluminum-borosilicate varying in their composition. This gemstone is excellently suited for wearing and is uncomplicated to care for, since all Tourmalines show a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale. Tourmalines are mined everywhere in the world. There are important occurrences in Brazil, in Sri Lanka and South and Southwest Africa. Other occurrences are situated in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Tourmalines are also found in the USA, first of all in Maine and Utah. But although there are rich occurrences of Tourmalines all over the world, good qualities and fine colors are only rarely offered on the market. Therefore, then, the price range achieved by Tourmaline almost matches its wide range of colors. Opal Nature’s entire splendor seems to be reflected in the manifold opulence of fine Opals: fire and lightning, all the colors of the rainbow and the soft shine of far seas. Australia is the classical country of origin. Almost ninety-five per cent of all fine opals come from the dry and remote outback deserts. The group of fine Opals includes quite a number of wonderful gemstones, which share one characteristic: they shine and sparkle in a continually changing play of colors full of fantasy, which experts describe as “opalizing”. Depending on the kind, place of occurrence, and color of the main body, we differentiate Dark or Black Opal, White or Light Opal, Milk or Crystal Opal, Boulder Opal, Opal Matrix, Yowah Nuts from Queensland – the so-called “picture stones“, and also Mexican and Fire Opal. Opal variations are practically unlimited. They all show in their own special way that unique play of colors – except for Fire Opal, which due to its transparency, however, is nevertheless also considered a Fine Opal specimen. If Opals are lacking the typical play of colors, they are simply named “Common Opal”. Australia is the classical Opal country and today is the worldwide most important supplier of Fine Opals. Almost 95 per cent of all Opals come from Australian mines. The remaining five per cent are mined in Mexico, and in Brazil’s north, also in the US states of Idaho and Nevada, but recently the stones have also been found in Ethiopia and in the West African country of Mali. Due to the differing percentage of water, Opals may easily become brittle. They always contain water – usually between 2 and 6 per cent, but sometimes even more. Therefore, Opal jewelry should be worn as often as possible, for then the gemstone will receive the needed humidity from the air and from the skin of its wearer.