Forever Brilliant : The Aurora Collection of Colored Diamonds

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning photos and easy-to-read text
Review: Mr. Hofer's book is wonderful to read or actually wonderful to look at. The photos are absolutely stunning and the text of this catalogue is fairly easy to read (compared to his masterpiece "Collecting and Classifying Coloured Diamonds"). The so-called "common names" for the coloured diamonds are sometimes quite funny and I wonder whether they are recognised the gemworld over. But the book/catalogue is superbly written and a big compliment to the photographer, who has done a fantastic job! (it explains in great detail how the diamonds were photographed). All in all, a gem of a book!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning photos and easy-to-read text
Review: Mr. Hofer's book is wonderful to read or actually wonderful to look at. The photos are absolutely stunning and the text of this catalogue is fairly easy to read (compared to his masterpiece "Collecting and Classifying Coloured Diamonds"). The so-called "common names" for the coloured diamonds are sometimes quite funny and I wonder whether they are recognised the gemworld over. But the book/catalogue is superbly written and a big compliment to the photographer, who has done a fantastic job! (it explains in great detail how the diamonds were photographed). All in all, a gem of a book!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Uninspired photos of colored diamonds
Review: This is a rather thin, over-sized, hardcover book. My first impression was "This is it? This is all there is?" The text is intersting but I was looking for good photos of the individual or groups of diamonds. What you get are pages of uninspired face-on photos (256 in all, I think) of the diamonds in the collection, cropped to the shapes of the stones, with nothing else to make them look remotely interesting. Next to each small (less than an inch) photo is a brief description. The book is mainly a catalog color names with an occasional colorful description or story about a particular diamond. Two stars because it is somewhat interesting to read and the pictures and descriptions are somewhat informative. But if you are looking for nice photos, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Uninspired photos of colored diamonds
Review: This is a rather thin, over-sized, hardcover book. My first impression was "This is it? This is all there is?" The text is intersting but I was looking for good photos of the individual or groups of diamonds. What you get are pages of uninspired face-on photos (256 in all, I think) of the diamonds in the collection, cropped to the shapes of the stones, with nothing else to make them look remotely interesting. Next to each small (less than an inch) photo is a brief description. The book is mainly a catalog color names with an occasional colorful description or story about a particular diamond. Two stars because it is somewhat interesting to read and the pictures and descriptions are somewhat informative. But if you are looking for nice photos, look elsewhere.