Gemstones

Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colours: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems. But not all garnets are as abundant as the red ones. A green garnet, tsavorite, is rarer and needs rarer rock chemistries and conditions to form. Garnet stones can be found in countries such as�Brazil,�Botswana, Tanzania, Ke…

After a very busy SafeGuard Valuation Event Day and an Understanding Diamonds training course, preparations began for tomorrows AnchorCert Gem Lab Open Day. The Open Day includes a tour of the Lab and the chance to view a small exhibition including laser inscribed stones, lab grown diamonds and treated diamonds and gems. Tomorrows Open Day is now fully booked but if you would like to attend our next event please email your name, and contact details to gem@theassayoffice.co.uk and we will…

     Senior Gemmologist Anu Manchanda and Marketing Manager Penny Parkes will represent AnchorCert Gem Lab and are looking forward to learning about diverse subjects from Kashmir sapphires to Antique Scottish Silver with technical workshops in between. Anu is also determined to find more gold after her success at gold panning last year. Her Ceilidh skills will have much improved too!  

BLUE STONES Stephen Webster Tanzanite Ring Blue Sapphire Blue sapphire is a member of the mineral species ‘corundum’, a sister to ruby. Historically sapphires were sourced in Kashmir, Myanmar and Sri Lanka but in recent decades Madagascar, Eastern Africa, Australia, Thailand and Cambodia have also become important sources. Sapphires occur naturally in a rainbow of colours, including much rarer pinks and yellows but the most common is blue with the colour being created by var…