gems-inclusions

Welcome!

We created this site as a place to share our passion about inclusions in gems and minerals. It is oriented mostly to gemologists and collectors of rare gems. We will talk about the types of inclusions in gems, their formation, the information they can provide to gemologists and the methods used to study them, but also about their beauty as a unique creation of Nature!

Twenty two years of inclusions studies and photomicrography passed between these two shots made by the author of this website, Egor Gavrilenko. From 1994 to 2016, and continuing!… Find the description of these inclusions in other sections on our site!

 

Collectors who share our passion for inclusions can also find samples to buy on this site, stones specially selected or faceted for observation of inclusions of various types, classified by different parameters to make the search easy.

Besides its scientific value, the observation and photomicrography of inclusions is a fascinating hobby. Looking inside the stones under microscope, one can find awesome worlds resembling natural landscapes, fantastic scenes or abstract paintings, which converts the photomicrography of inclusions in gems into a kind of spectacular artistic experience.

We are planning this site as a long term project that will grow gradually, maybe also with your help! If today you find some sections not quite completed yet, it means that we are still working on them!

Enjoy our site, as much as we enjoy observing and collecting these unique stones and pictures!

 

Introduction

Most kinds of gems are minerals. Minerals are composed by ions ordered to form crystal structures. But natural crystals are never perfect. They always have some “imperfections”: local crystal structure disordering, substitution of some ions by others, microscopic or macroscopic inclusions and mechanical defects.

Inclusions are strange materials of different types found inside minerals. They can be very different in their phase filling, time of formation, size, orientation and other characteristics. In the following sections of our site we describe different types of inclusions in more detail.

Inclusions are very important in mineralogy and gemology. Let’s see some reasons why it can be good that crystals have some inclusions:

• Color of some gems is caused by inclusions of other minerals (e.g. colored chalcedony and agate varieties).
• Many special optical phenomena in gems are caused by inclusions (aventurescence, asterism and chatoyancy, among others).
• The study of inclusions is one of the most powerful methods for distinguishing between natural gemstones and their synthetic analogues.
• Since some inclusions are very characteristic for a particular gem, a quick observation with loupe allows us to identify the gem with no need for other methods.
• Inclusions are very important for determination of geographical origin of natural gems.
• More detailed analytical study of inclusions provides information about the conditions of minerals’ formation in the deposit, regarding pressure, temperature, depth of formation and origin of mineralization.
• And finally, some inclusions are really beautiful and make each crystal unique and different from millions of similar crystals of the same mineral! Indeed, there are thousands of totally equal polished diamonds but it is totally impossible to find two equal rutilated quartzes!

 
Taking into account all these points, it’s not strange that inclusions themselves have become a very desirable object for collecting, microscope observation and photomicrography for many gemologists. Search our site, maybe we have some stones waiting for you!

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We will publish there new contents updates and new samples available.

Let’s raise the curtain and enter the fascinating world of inclusions!
(Agate from Indonesia, field of view 24 mm).