Renee Newman

The author provides a wealth of information for the public, on types and colors of faceted stones, and some other materials found in jewelry stores, such as jade, pearls, agate and some other carvings.

The table of contents and very god index allows the reader to find a particular interest.
There is a lot of color photographs by contributors. This is very good since the gems come in many colors and the color plays an important role in value and in identification.

The discussion on the "four Cs" is very good and covered in detail for each gem mineral.
Occurrences of each color of each mineral are usually covered by locality and quality and sometimes history.mentioned .

This is the 3rd edition of the book. The author has kept the book up to date since 1998. This is the 2016 version.

The author coves details of each mineral and cut stone including imperfections, unique colors, zoning, fracture prevalence, imitations, synthetic versions, heat and radiation treating, and wear-ability in jewelry.

There are tables in the back listing the minerals' various properties such as refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, hardness, and the type of treating if any to expect.

This is a good book for those who want to know more about gems than they will hear when buying stones or carvings.… (mer)

Professional to Layman...Newman Does It Again!,March 3, 2010
By Reading It All "Reading It All - Robyn"
Renee Newman knocks it out of the park again!!!! In her latest book Exotic Gems: How to Identify and Buy Tanzanite, Ammolite, Rhodochrosite, Zultanite, Sunstone, Moonstone & Other Feldspars (Newman Exotic Gem Series) Ms. Newman opens the world of the exotic to her loyal fans.

The great thing about any Renee Newman guide is that she writes for everyone - the professional jeweler, gemologist and hobbyist will all be able to glean important information and inspiration from her books.

In the first volume of her Exotic Gems series Newman looks specifically at Tanzanite, Ammolite, Rhodocrosite, Zultanite and several of the Felspar family of gems (Moonstone, Labradorite, Spectrolite, Sunstone and more).

In words that everyone can understand she walks you through the chemical, physical and optical qualities and then she takes you to the mines, shows you what it takes to cut some of these exotics and then finishes up with some of the most gorgeous photos of faceted gems, carved gems and gems in jewelry...and she even talks about the Metaphysical Lore of the gem.

The popularity of the television shopping networks has opened up a new era in gems in jewelry - there was a day when gem Rhodocrosite was considered to soft for jewelry and it was only found in mineral collections - those days are gone and Renee Newman's book give us the information we need to make decisions about using these materials in jewelry and for those looking to purchase them.

This book is worth buying just for the "eye candy" value - delightful to see such a great range from bridge to fine jewelry - cutters to carvers. Thanks Renee - I am looking forward to volume two!… (mer)