A new year brings many things to the forefront, including the January birthstone: garnet. The striking beauty of this stone is equaled by its centuries-long popularity. As archaeological and literary research reveals, red garnet was among the most common stone of jewelry worn by ancient Egyptian pharaohs and members of royalty, and in ancient Rome, red garnets were highly sought-after in the trade market. As if that isn’t enough fascinating reasons to showcase garnet, Jim Perkins, the man behind Faceting
Focus, reports receiving many requests about a garnet cut pattern he created. Perkins aptly named the pattern, Fire Engine Garnet.
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Filling an Empty Space and Enhancing a Cabochon
I often look for a special feature within a slab when choosing the shape to cut into a cab.
Pterodactyls No Longer Birds of a Feather?
For a couple of decades now, feathered dinosaurs have been all the rage.
The Saga of COLORADO GOLD - 53 Million Troy Ounces and Counting
Colorado has been mining gold even before the region became a territory and is still mining it today.
SPECTACULAR NATIVE SILVER - Rarer Than Gold in Specimen Form
When it comes to naturally occurring precious metal specimens on Earth, finding native silver is not as easy as finding native gold.
PEARL OF THE PACIFIC - San Diego's Pacific Rim Park
Did you know, the Pearl of the Pacific was created in 1998 as a symbol of friendship and unity between the United States, Mexico, China and Russia?
POPULAR PSEUDOMORPHS - More Common Varieties Enhance Any Collection
In part one of this two-part series, which appeared in the December 2020 issue of Rock & Gem, we explained pseudomorphs as minerals whose normal form has changed, so they may look like the original but are now another mineral.
New Era Gems - CARVING A PATH AND CREATING A LEGACY
Think back to your 20th birthday; what were you doing? How did you celebrate?
DIAMONDS - A Luxury Gem Steeped in Fact & Fable
The diamond is one fabled gemstone! For example, google “Hope Diamond” to see all the legends associated with just this one stone said to bring misfortune to its owners.
Cleaning Without Chemicals
Do you have specimens like desert roses, quartz crystal clusters, or geode halves that sat for eons in the open before being collected?
Black Ilmenite and “Titanium White”
The bright-white color that we see in everything from highway lines, donut icing, and tooth-paste to paint, paper, plastics, and ceramics comes mostly from titanium dioxide, the world’s most widely used pigment.
The man who built the foundation
Perkins will always be remembered for ending the dark era
EMPIRE OF SIN
A new boss is in town to take over the forgotten gangster sim genre
MODERN-DAY OLYMPIA ANABOLIC STACK VS. THE ‘90S
Purists wish to trace modern-day bodybuilding to the sport’s roots of the 1960s, but it could easily be argued that modern bodybuilding branched away from classic bodybuilding in the 1990s, deviating to extremes in size and form that bring to mind caricatures or comic book drawings.
Paleoracism
With the nation and much of the western world contending with the fallout of the chronic problem of racism, this is as good a time as any to take a look at the issue within the world of vertebrate paleontology.
From Italy to New York
2 flights and 5 angels got me home
RESISTING ROME
How a Celtic tribe fought to defend their Iberian homeland against the emperor’s legions
SCOUTING THE ROAD TO DIESEL POWER
TWO SURVIVING PROTOTYPE SCOUT DIESELS
A rebate meant to lift Italy's economy widens a class divide
The pandemic worsened global inequality. Now some measures meant to help are widening the gulf
A Plague is an Apocalypse But It Can Bring a New World
The meaning of this one is in our hands.
HOW WE'LL FRANCHISE
As the pandemic has unfolded, questions have swirled around franchising. Can food service, its biggest category, survive in a time of social distancing? Will people continue to buy franchises in uncertain times? And can brands make large, expensive changes across hundreds or thousands of units? So far, the answer seems to be: Yes! The pandemic has shown just how resilient and adaptable franchising can be. Here’s what comes next.