So you want a padparadscha sapphire. Join the club of confused shoppers. These sunset stones are pretty, rare, and pricey. They’re also the most argued-about gem on the planet. What counts as real padparadscha? Nobody knows for sure. Here’s how to buy one without getting ripped off. The Color Fight That Never Ends Everyone fights

So you want to buy taaffeite. Good luck with that. I’m not trying to be mean. It’s just that buying one of the world’s rarest gems is like finding a needle in a haystack. Except the haystack is full of fakes and the needle costs more than your car. Let’s talk about how to not

You know that feeling when something looks familiar but just doesn’t sit right? Like when you see an old friend from behind, but something’s off about their walk? That’s exactly what happened to Count Edward Charles Richard Taaffe back in 1945. He was sorting through gems in Dublin when one stone made him pause. It

Back in 1952, gem labs in Sri Lanka tested a brown crystal long thought to be spinel. For years, dealers had sold these stones without much thought. They were pretty, sure, but nothing unusual. The test results told a different story. It wasn’t spinel at all. It was something new. That mistake changed gem history.