Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones (Paperback)

~ Simon & Schuster (Author), Kennie Lyman (Editor) "A precious stone is a small, rare, hard stone which has inherited from Nature the name of beautiful..." (more)
Key Phrases: noble spinel, adularia moonstone, secondary gems, United States, Sri Lanka, Soviet Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones provides both the connoisseur and the casual collector with a compact, easy-to-use volume describing more than 100 rare varieties of minerals whose beauty and mystery have possessed our imaginations from time immemorial. More than 450 brilliant photographs accompany profiles of each gem, covering such aspects as appearance, physical properties -- density, hardness, refraction -- occurrence, and how to judge quality and value. Additional sections describe the process of cutting gemstones and the techniques professional gemologists use to evaluate a stone's weight and optical properties.

Detailed and comprehensive, this book is essential for anyone interested in the study of gems and precious stones.

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (March 13, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671604309
• ISBN-13: 978-0671604301
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #173,089 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but lacking variety, January 7, 2003

By	Bob "Tea Drinker" (North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

Went to a gem show and saw that many folks had this book. Made a mistake and bought it here. I had a MUCH MUCH better book titled Gemstones by Cally Hall. The Simon and Schuster book has fascinating sections on how artificial gems are made and such like info (Doesn't include Moissanite.). However, it does not have any info on many many gemstones readily available today, such as Sphene, Sunstone (state gem of Oregon I'm told)and many others. (You can find these in the Simon and Schuster Rocks and Minerals book). If you are only interested in the mainstream gemstones, this book has them. However, as compared to the Cally Hall book, the info is not as well organized nor are the pictures (though mostly very nice) as useful. I will use this as a backup reference book.

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, December 5, 1999

By	Ralph Blom "IndoReader" (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've had this book ever since it was published and found it enormously valuable in identifying gems that I was unfamiliar with. Between this book and the accompanying "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks & Minerals" one has a complete guide to nature's precious gifts of gems. My only critique is that the book needs an update to reflect some of the new semi-precious stones in the market place.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great starter and refresher book, October 18, 1999

By	"gilbertefarah" - See all my reviews

If you're working in the retail field, as I do selling jewellery, it's a straightforward, exciting, easy to understand guide with gorgeous photos. Also tells you how to spot a lower grade version of a gem. Some great museum photos of organic gems such as coral, ivory, etc. and semi-precious stone sculptures that make you appreciate the beauty of the gems. A standard for salespeople and a perfect reference for shopowners.