The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones: A Complete Guide to Appraising and Using Precious Stones From Cut and Color to Shape and Settings (Hardcover)

by Judith Crowe (Author)
Key Phrases: irregular color distribution, color zoning, noble coral, United States, Sri Lanka, South Africa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
An invaluable resource.... Libraries will find this holds wide appeal for a range of gem crafters. (Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review 200707)

For jewelers, but it is just as well suited for buyers and wearers of gemstone jewelry. (Lori D.Kranz American Reference Books Annual 2007)

A beautiful tabletop book for those who adore jewelry and an excellent education resource for consumers. (Tanya Enberg Toronto 24 Hours 200707)

A valuable tool for understanding and using gemstones... an important investment for those devoted to fine gems. (Kathleen Webb Tacoma Way News Tribune 20061216)

Even those of us who do not buy gems can learn much from this work. (Bob Jones Rock and Gem 200703)

A welcome book for anyone in the craft. (Annie Boulanger The Record (New Westminster, BC) )

A reasonably thorough, convenient resource... Extremely useful, and I strongly recommend it. (Art Jewelry Magazine )

The lavish full-color photographs are well balanced with the text, making this book a feast for the eye. (Lori D. Kranz Bloomsbury Review )

Product Description
For goldsmiths, collectors, jewelry-makers, investors, retailers and consumers.

The trade of gemstones is a highly specialized and often secretive business. Using The Jeweler's Directory of Gemstones, written by an expert gemstone dealer and designer, will provide any consumer with the insider knowledge needed to make accurate judgments of gemstones, to recognize low- and high-quality stones, and to make a good buy rather than a bad one.

Each full-color spread is packed with concise text, annotated drawings and beautiful photographs, including a showcase of virtuoso jewelry designs. Great for informed consumers, the book includes:

- Sources and grading
- Traditional and modern settings
- Cutting and faceting
- Designing a special setting
- Gemstone groups
- Appraising, buying and handling gemstones
- Diamond types and pearls
- Spotting synthetics and fakes.

Here is a sampling of the practical insider information in this book:

- Using a loupe to examine a stone
- Understanding laser cutting and carving
- Identifying synthetic diamonds
- Buying at gem fairs and from dealers
- Cleaning and storing stones.

No other book has this kind expert advice -- up-to-date, clearly presented and fully illustrated -- on evaluating and using gemstones.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (October 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554071666
• ISBN-13: 978-1554071661
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,117 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources > Rocks & Minerals
  #10 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Jewelry
  #22 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY! , November 19, 2006

By	Ann-Marie Keene "I am TOO a mermaid!" (Portland, ME USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'd been looking for a book like this for what seemed like FOR-EV-ARRRR!!!

As a jewelry artist, I've always wanted to add some gemstone books to my huge jewelry-related book collection, but all I could ever find were ones that seemed to be written only for gemstone collectors & science nerds--not that there's ANYTHING bad about stone collectors OR science nerds--it was just that these books never really focused much (if at all) on the jewelry-related aspect of gemstones!!
This book definitely fills that huge (and what you'd think would be obvious) void that all those other books seem to have missed.

I am hoping the book will be revised in the future to include more stones, and maybe fix a few things that were left out..
For example: in the list of U.S. locations where Tourmaline mines exist, Maine was left out!! :-o
But the flaws I see in this book are very minor--overall I am very satisfied with it, and I am very thankful to Judith Crowe for finally making the book that I was searching for!! :-)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book! , January 4, 2007

By	Chew Ban Seng "B S Chew" (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A beautiful book with plenty of colorful photographs of stones and jewelery pieces. Very well illustrated and easy to follow. Author offers some useful advice on how to set gemstones to bring out the best color. However, I believe that the table showing on Carat weights for genuine stones (Page 29) is not correct. Nevertheless, overall rating is still a 5!!!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All in all, a good and useful book, March 28, 2007

By	Megan Jeche - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

All in all, this is a good book. It covers all the gemstone families, and the stones in each. It starts with a general overview of the creation of gemstones, their history, how they are mined and cut. It then describes the stones. A very handy section is where they discus treatments and immitations. Another good point is the plentiful pictures of 99% of the stones that they mention. The last section reviews working with and apprasing gemstones.
My only complaint is this: The overview at the beginning is general and simple/easy to understand. They don't go to deep into the science or use some of the terms they use later in the descriptions of them gems. Its a bit anoying to have to figure out or look up scientific words. The good thing is that it didnt happen often.