Thanks to a descriptive non exhaustive chart, and a few explanations on terminology, we can help you discover and understand better what gemmology is.

It is most often used with commercial purpose, in order to help gem traders recognize counterfeiting. Highly sophisticated process have been reached and it is more and more difficult to detect fraud.


The beauty of a gem can be characterized by the following properties:

• Transparency, which determines the quantity of light going through the gem,
• Brightness, which is a surface effect,
• Brilliancy, which is the quantity of light reflected to the observer's eye,
• Dispersion is the degree of ventilation of chromatic beams,
• Sparkling (or twinkling) is the variation of light intensity reflected by the gem when in movement.

The "life" of a gem is the sum of all these properties.