Status
Available
Call number
Description
"The Gemstones Handbook is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the world of precious gems and ornamental stones. Features over 200 mineral gems, organics and synthetics. Clear, concise, and user-friendly. Includes background information on crystal structures and rock types. Stunning photos and precise diagrams allow for easy identification. Each entry features an easy-reference table of properties, which includes hardness, cleavage, and fracture."--Page 4 of cover
Publication
New Holland Publishers, UK (2008), 256 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member CollectorOfAshes
This book has tons of information about gems, with the high points being the classification of gems, and the final chapters dealing with the industry and being a collector. The vast majority of the book is devoted to describing particular gems, and though this is informative, the gems are not
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organized in any scheme that makes them easy to find. That reduces the value of this book as a reference book quite a bit. Still, the pictures are more than adequate and the amount of information make this book useful, just not as useful as it should have been. Show Less
Language
Physical description
256 p.; 8.7 inches
ISBN
0760794383 / 9780760794388