The most famous jewelry stones are described: diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, aquamarine, etc.; organogenic jewelry stones - pearls, amber, coral, gagat. For each stone, a mineralogical description, composition, properties, history of discovery of the deposit and their types are given. Information on synthetic analogues of natural stones is given. Second edition (1st ed. - 1982) supplemented by a description of new non-traditional jewelry stones. Methods of diagnostics of jewellery stones and their synthetic analogues are described.