CARLSBAD, Calif. – June 2, 2025 – Beginning later this year, GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) will start using descriptive terms to characterize the quality of laboratory-grown diamonds and ...

This large Australian light opal cabochon weighs 117.85 carats. Small play-of-color flashes of orange and green predominate in a pinfire pattern, with spots of a more muted blue over a grayish ...

View the holiday schedule for all GIA locations worldwide.

Practice the same time-tested procedures and identification skills used by the Institute’s renowned gemological experts. Tools used include a microscope, a refractometer with polarizing filter and a ...

Figure 1. The bright red faceted ruby in this gold ring is from the large and potentially productive Snezhnoe deposit in Tajikistan. Photo by Zamoniddin Z. Nasriddinov. Discovered during the late ...

For the first time ever, the famous Hope diamond was graded by a widely recognized system. Although the 45.52-ct weight was confirmed, the GIA Gem Trade Laboratory graders found the clarity—recently ...

Diamond color is usually the result of selective absorption of incident white light. The unabsorbed portion of this light is transmitted through the diamond and is interpreted by the human vision ...

GIA programs and courses are offered year-round on a rolling basis at GIA campuses around the globe. This enables students to jumpstart their gem and jewelry career studies at the soonest, most ...

Descending into Peshawar for the first time, a foreign tourist might be surprised to learn that amid the clutter of buildings in this historical city lies an important gem trading center. This market ...

Figure 1. Sapphires from Madagascar: a beautiful 3.29 ct untreated faceted stone and an assortment of rough in the background. Madagascar has produced many high-quality stones in the last few years ...

Diamonds are the most amazing of gems. Just as amazing, however, is how natural diamonds reach Earth’s surface. Diamonds are formed 150 to 700 km deep in Earth, and are then carried upward in a rare ...

Diamonds have a long history as a premier gemstone—a natural consequence of their beauty, rarity, and superlative physical properties such as extreme hardness. Diamonds that are mined for use as ...