A 320 page hardcover book that includes 1,900 colorful photo's of gems in rough and polished states, precious and semiprecious stones, complete physical properties and characteristics, finding, mining, and cutting. Newly revised fifth edition by Walter Schumann. This book covers everything from the romance and history of more than 1,800 gemstones to their geographic locations, scientific, physical, and color properties, and the way they are formed, structured, and mined. It also includes the optical features of gems from light and color, to luminescence, refraction, and inclusions, along with the key information about the densities and chemical elements of each stone with fascinating details on different cuts, polishing, gems, hardness, cleavage, classification, trade names, rarity, and more.