GEMSTONES

 Emerald is the green to greenish blue variety of beryl, a mineral species that also includes aquamarine as well as beryls in other colors  

  Ruby is the most valuable variety of the corundum mineral species, which also includes sapphire. Rubies can command the highest per-carat price of any colored stone. This makes ruby one of the most important gems in the colored stone market.  

 Blue sapphire belongs to the mineral species corundum. It can be a pure blue but ranges from greenish blue to violetish blue. The name “sapphire” can also apply to any corundum that’s not red and doesn’t qualify as ruby, another corundum variety.  

Tourmalines come in a wide variety of exciting colors. In fact, tourmaline has one of the widest color ranges of any gem species, occurring in various shades of virtually every hue.  

The most popular tourmaline is watermelon tourmaline, which is pink in the center and green around the outside. Crystals of this material are typically cut in slices to display this special arrangement.

 Tanzanite is the violet blue to blue violet variety of the mineral Zoisite. It is mined commercially only in one area of the world: the Merelani Hills of Tanzania, which is where it gets its name.  Tanzanite's appearance is influenced greatly by its pleochroism, which is the ability of a gemstone to show different colors when viewed in different crystal directions. 

Garnets are a set of closely related minerals that form a group, resulting in gemstones in almost every color. Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. 

Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems