Gemmology
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Colour in gemstones

001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012
013 014 015 016 017 018
019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030
031 032 033 034 035 036
037 038 039 040 041 042
043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054
055 056 057 058 059 060
061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072
073 074 075 076 077 078
079 080 081 082 083 084 085 086 087 088 089 090
091 092 093 094 095 096 097 098 099 100 101 102
103 104 105 106 107 108
109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120
121 122 123 124 125 126
127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138
139 140 141 142 143 144
145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156
157 158 159 160 161 162
163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174
175 176 177 178 179 180
181 182 183 184 185 186
187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198
199 200 201 202 203 204
205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216
217 218 219 220 221 222
223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

The colour (or the lack of it) is one of the main characteristics of gemstones and perhaps the most important. Here we use the above colour scheme for classification of coloured stones. It was developed by Gemval. In section 'Repository' you will find a simplified version using only primary colours (here column 7), plus colourless and black.
Strongly purplish red colour in pyrope-almandine series [rhodolite] — specimen 0001
Strongly purplish red colour in pyrope-almandine series [rhodolite] — specimen 0001, photo © NMNHS