The SGJ Journal

Gemstone Cuts and Shapes: How Faceting Changes Light, Beauty and Value

Learn how gemstone shape, facet arrangement and cutting quality affect a stone’s sparkle, colour, durability and value—and what to look for when buying jewellery.

Turquoise: How It Forms, Where It Comes From and How to Care for It

Explore turquoise’s copper-rich geology, its place in ancient cultures, famous sources from Iran to the American Southwest, and practical tips for choosing and caring for turquoise jewellery.

Citrine Is Yellow Quartz. Much of It Was Once Amethyst.

Natural yellow quartz exists. A great deal of shop citrine is amethyst heated until it turns gold. Neither one deposits wealth.

The Glow in Moonstone Comes from Layers, Not Moonbeams

Moonstone is a feldspar. The blue-white sheen is adularescence. Old stories about solidified moonlight are legends.

Larimar Is Blue Pectolite, Not a Stone from Atlantis

The blue and white stone is pectolite from the Dominican Republic. The Atlantis story is a modern tale. The mineral is real.

Charoite Comes from One Place in Siberia

The purple swirl is a real mineral from the Chara River region. Rarity is geological. It is not a medical property.

Rose Quartz Is Pink Quartz, Not a Medicine

The pink is a variety of quartz. Hardness is about 7. Love and healing lines on a card are a tradition, not a treatment.

Pyrite Looks Like Gold. It Is Not Gold.

Pyrite is iron sulfide. The shine is real. The metal is not gold, and a bead of it does not bring a bank result.

Amethyst Through History: Quartz Geology, Ancient Beliefs, Colour and Care

Explore how amethyst forms, why quartz turns purple, what ancient traditions believed about it, and how to choose and care for amethyst jewellery.

Cat’s-Eye Chrysoberyl: How Chatoyancy Forms and How to Judge Quality

Learn what creates the moving eye in cat’s-eye chrysoberyl, where the gem forms, and what to inspect before buying one.

Hessonite Garnet: Colour, Geology, History and Traditional Beliefs

Discover what gives hessonite garnet its warm cinnamon colour, how it forms, what to look for when buying it, and how its traditional astrological associations differ from scientific evidence.

Red Coral: Marine Origins, History, Identification and Care

Discover how red coral forms in the sea, why it has been prized in jewellery, how to assess it responsibly and how to care for this delicate organic gem.

Navratna: The History and Meaning of the Nine Traditional Gemstones

Discover the nine gems in traditional Navratna jewellery, their mineral identities, cultural associations and practical buying and care considerations.

Pearl History and Formation: Natural, Cultured, Ocean and River Pearls

Discover how pearls form in marine and freshwater molluscs, how natural and cultured pearls differ, and how to care for these delicate organic gems.

Diamond History, Geology and Durability: From Ancient India to Today

Explore how diamonds formed deep within Earth, why ancient India became central to their early trade, and what their famous hardness does—and does not—mean for jewellery care.

Yellow Sapphire and Jupiter: Gemstone Facts, Astrology and Buying Advice

Learn what yellow sapphire is, how it gets its colour and what it means in Jupiter traditions—while keeping mineral science separate from astrological belief.

Sapphire History and Origins: Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Colour and Treatments

Explore the history of Kashmir and Sri Lankan sapphires, how sapphire colour forms, which treatments may be used, and what a gem report can tell you.

Emerald History, Geology and Buying Guide: From Ancient Mines to Modern Jewellery

Discover how emeralds formed, why their inclusions are so familiar, how ancient cultures valued them and what to check before buying emerald jewellery.

Gemstone Guides

Ruby Through the Ages: Ancient Trade, Cultural Meaning and How to Evaluate a Natural Ruby

Discover how ruby travelled through ancient trade, what it has symbolised across cultures, and which qualities matter when evaluating a natural ruby today.

Care Guide

Looking After Jewellery at Home

A few habits that protect metal and stones, and the cleaning shortcuts that are not safe for every piece.

Buying Guide

What a Diamond Report Usually Covers

The few lines on a diamond report that are worth reading, and the claims those lines do not make.

Natural Stone, Synthetic Stone, and a Simulant

Three different things that are often sold under one word, and the question that separates them before you talk about price.

Buying Guide

How to Read a Gold Hallmark

What a hallmark is trying to say about fineness, and which other words on a bill still matter after you have seen the stamp.

Jewellery Making

Silver, Copper and Brass: How Those Metals Are Worked

What the three metals are, why they tarnish, and how a workshop raises, stamps and polishes them into objects you can use.

Red Coral Is a Skeleton, Not a Crystal

Why red coral belongs in a jewellery box and still is not a mineral gem, how to tell a branch from a pressed powder, and what to ask about origin.

Emerald: The Garden Inside the Stone

Why emeralds show inner marks, how the green gets there, and why oil in a fissure should be written down rather than whispered.

Jewellery Making

How a Gemstone Is Cut

From a rough crystal to a faceted stone: sawing, shaping and polish, and why the cut changes light without changing the mineral.

Myth and History

Gemstone Myths, and the Stone Under the Story

Serpents, stars, curses and royal gems. How to enjoy the myth and still identify the mineral, the treatment and the report.

Jewellery History

Ancient Indian Jewellery: What We Can Say, and What Is Only a Story

Beads from the Indus cities, later gold work, and the gem lists in Sanskrit tradition. A careful line between objects we have and legends we retell.

How a Pearl Is Built, Layer by Layer

A pearl is not cut from a crystal. A mollusc deposits nacre around an irritant. Here is how that works, and how natural pearls differ from cultured ones.

Jewellery Making

How a Gold Ornament Is Made, from Melt to Polish

What actually happens in a jewellery workshop: melting, alloying, forming, setting and polishing, and which details a buyer can ask to see.

How Gemstones Form Deep Inside the Earth: Heat, Pressure and Time

Discover how minerals crystallise in Earth’s mantle and crust, why heat and pressure matter, and how geological forces bring gemstones closer to the surface.