Sidebar: Listing Gem Identifications on Your Worksheet

For most of the identifications that make up the practical work for this course, you fill in the Gem Identification Worksheet as you perform the necessary gemological tests. In the final box, you write the gem’s species and, when required, the variety. You note variety on the top line and species underneath, along with the group name, if it applies.

For the purpose of completing your worksheet, manmade materials like glass and synthetic moissanite and organic gems like amber and cultured pearl are considered species.

There are also some important treatments that you’ll be asked to identify. When you detect one of them, note it on the same line where you note the gem’s variety.

There’s a complete list of the gem species, varieties, and treatments you’re expected to identify for this course in your Gem Identification Lab Manual.