Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; The geological origin & occurrence of gemstones and their localities; The chemical composition of gemstones; Crystallography; Cleavage, parting and fracture; Hardness; Specific gravity, density and relative density; Colour Lustre & sheen; Reflection & refraction; Polarization & pleochroism; Spectroscopy; Luminescent, electrical & thermal properties of gemstones; The hand lens, microscope & Chelsea filter; Gemstone enhancement; Synthetic gemstones & gemstone simulants; Identifying inorganic gemstones & gemstone simulants; Identifying inorganic gemstone simulants; Identifying organic gem materials & their simulants; The fashioning of gemstones; Practical gemstone identification, Appendices; Index

Reviews

About the second edition: "... this is the book I have been waiting for. It is an affordable, excellent reference book with every diagram and chart necessary for the identification of gemstones and gem material." Jewellery Time About the first edition 'Gemmology is a most welcome update and expansion of his 'Beginner's Guide to Gemmology...It fills a gap in practical gemmological literature' - Gemmological Newsletter '...it is clearly well-written, factually sound, well illustrated, and combines the virtues (and fortunately avoids the mistakes) of its acknowledged predecessors such as Webster's 'Gems', Anderson's 'Gem Testing', and the GAGB's teaching notes...Well done Peter. This book is a most useful contribution to the literature and can only assist Australian student of gemmology' The Australian Gemmologist About the third edition "Read's classic work is a thorough, authoritative, and updated resource on gemstones, their characteristics, procedures of determination, and methods of fashioning into gems.The book is thoroughly illustrated with diagrams, photographs, and color plates; it has an ample index and a modern bibliography. Recommended for libraries serving mineral collectors and for all libraries supporting earth-science students in geology and mineralogy. Choice