title: Corfu

text: The metope of the temple was probably decorated, since remnants of reliefs featuring Achilles and Memnon were found in the ancient ruins. The temple has been described as a milestone of Ancient Greek architecture and one of 150 masterpieces of Western architecture. The Corfu temple architecture may have influenced the design of an archaic sanctuary structure found at St. Omobono in Italy, near Tiber in Ancient Rome, at the time of the Etruscans, which incorporates similar design elements. If still in use by the 4th-century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting non-Christian worship. Kaiser Wilhelm II, while vacationing at his summer palace of Achilleion in Corfu and while Europe was preparing for war, was involved in excavations at the site of the ancient temple.


title: Corfu

text: The Temple of Hera or Heraion is an archaic temple in Corfu, built around 610 BC in the ancient city of Korkyra (or Corcyra), in what is known today as "Palaiopolis", and lies within the ground of the Mon Repos estate. The sanctuary of Hera at Mon Repos is considered a major temple, and one of the earliest examples of archaic Greek architecture.


title: Corfu

text: Large terracotta figures such as lions, gorgoneions, and Daidala maidens, created and painted in vivid colour by artisans, who were inspired by myth traditions across the Mediterranean, decorated the roof of the temple, making it one of the most intricately adorned temples of Archaic Greece and the most ambitious roof construction project of its time. Built at the top of Analipsis Hill, Hera's sanctuary was highly visible to ships approaching the waterfront of the ancient city of Korkyra.


title: Corfu

text: The "Digital Archaic Heraion Project at Mon Repos" is a project that has undertaken the task of digitising the architectural fragments found at the Corfu Heraion with the aim to reconstruct in 3D the Temple at Palaiopolis in virtual space.


title: Corfu

text: The Tomb of Menecrates or Monument of Menecrates is an Archaic cenotaph in Corfu, built around 600 BC in the ancient city of Korkyra (or Corcyra). The tomb and the funerary sculpture of a lion were discovered in 1843 during demolition works by the British Army who were demolishing a Venetian fortress in the location of Garitsa hill in Corfu. The tomb is dated to the 6th century BC.


title: Corfu

text: The lion is dated at the end of the 7th century BC and it is one of the earliest funerary lions ever found. The tomb and the lion were found in an area which was part of the necropolis of ancient Korkyra, which was discovered by the British army at the time. According to an Ancient Greek inscription found on the grave, the tomb was a monument built by the ancient Korkyreans in honour of their proxenos (ambassador) Menecrates, son of Tlasios, from Oeiantheia. Menecrates was the ambassador of ancient Korkyra to Oeiantheia, modern day Galaxidi or Ozolian Locris, and he was lost at sea. In the inscription it is also mentioned that the brother of Menecrates, Praximenes, had arrived from Oeiantheia to assist the people of Korkyra in building the monument to his brother.


title: Corfu

text: In Cassiope, the only other city of ancient importance, its name is still preserved by the village of Kassiopi, and there are some rude remains of building on the site; but the temple of Zeus Cassius for which it was celebrated has totally disappeared.


title: Corfu

text: The castles of Corfu, located at strategic points on the island helped defend the island from many invaders and they were instrumental in repulsing repeated Turkish invasions, making Corfu one of the few places in Greece never to be conquered by the Ottomans.


title: Corfu

text: The "old citadel" (in Greek "Palaio Frourio" (Παλαιό Φρούριο) is an old Venetian fortress built on an artificial islet with fortifications surrounding its entire perimeter, although some sections, particularly on the east side, are slowly being eroded and falling into the sea. Nonetheless, the interior has been restored and is in use for cultural events, such as concerts (συναυλίες) and Sound and Light Productions (Ηχος και Φως), when historical events are recreated using sound and light special effects. These events take place amidst the ancient fortifications, with the Ionian sea in the background. The central high point of the citadel rises like a giant natural obelisk complete with a military observation post at the top, with a giant cross at its apex; at the foot of the observatory lies St. George's church, in a classical style punctuated by six Doric columns, as opposed to the Byzantine architectural style of the greater part of Greek Orthodox churches.


title: Corfu

text: The "new citadel" or "Neo Frourio" (Νέο Φρούριο, "New Fortress") is a huge complex of fortifications built by the British during their rule of the island (1815–63) dominating the northeastern part of the city. The huge walls of the fortress loom over the landscape as one travels from "Neo Limani" (Νέο Λιμάνι, "New Port") to the city, taking the road that passes through the fishmarket (ψαραγορά). The new citadel was until recently a restricted area due to the presence of a naval garrison, but old restrictions have been lifted and it is now open to the public, with tours possible through the maze of medieval corridors and fortifications. The winged Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice, can be seen at regular intervals adorning the fortifications.


title: Corfu

text: Angelokastro ( (Castle of Angelos or Castle of the Angel); ) is a Byzantine castle on the island of Corfu, Greece. It is located at the top of the highest peak of the island's shoreline in the northwest coast near Palaiokastritsa and built on particularly precipitous and rocky terrain. It stands on a steep cliff above the sea and surveys the City of Corfu and the mountains of mainland Greece to the southeast and a wide area of Corfu toward the northeast and northwest.


title: Corfu

text: Angelokastro is one of the most important fortified complexes of Corfu. It was an acropolis which surveyed the region all the way to the southern Adriatic and presented a formidable strategic vantage point to the occupant of the castle.


title: Corfu

text: Angelokastro formed a defensive triangle with the castles of Gardiki and Kassiopi, which covered Corfu's defences to the south, northwest and northeast. The castle never fell, despite frequent sieges and attempts at conquering it through the centuries, and played a decisive role in defending the island against pirate incursions and during three sieges of Corfu by the Ottomans, significantly contributing to their defeat. During invasions it helped shelter the local peasant population. The villagers also fought against the invaders playing an active role in the defence of the castle. Angelokastro, located at the western frontier of the Empire, was instrumental in repulsing the Ottomans during the first great siege of Corfu in 1537, in the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716 causing the Ottomans to fail at penetrating the defences of Corfu in the North. Consequently the Turks were never able to create a beachhead and to occupy the island.


title: Corfu

text: Gardiki Castle () is a 13th-century Byzantine castle on the southwestern coast of Corfu and the only surviving medieval fortress on the southern part of the island. It was built by a ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, and was one of three castles which defended the island before the Venetian era (1401–1797).


title: Corfu

text: The location of Gardiki at the narrow southwest flank of Corfu provided protection to the fields and the southern lowlands of Corfu and in combination with Kassiopi Castle on the northeastern coast of the island and Byzantine Angelokastro protecting the northwestern shore of Corfu, formed a triangular line of defence which protected Corfu during the pre-Venetian era.


title: Corfu

text: Kassiopi Castle () is a castle on the northeastern coast of Corfu overseeing the fishing village of Kassiopi. It was one of three Byzantine-period castles that defended the island before the Venetian era (1386–1797). The castles formed a defensive triangle, with Gardiki guarding the island's south, Kassiopi the northeast and Angelokastro the northwest.


title: Corfu

text: Its position at the northeastern coast of Corfu overseeing the Corfu Channel that separates the island from the mainland gave the castle an important vantage point and an elevated strategic significance.


title: Corfu

text: Kassiopi Castle is considered one of the most imposing architectural remains in the Ionian Islands, along with Angelokastro, Gardiki Castle and the two Venetian Fortresses of Corfu City, the Citadel and the New Fort.


title: Corfu

text: Since the castle was abandoned for a long time, its structure is in a state of ruin. The eastern side of the fort has disappeared and only a few traces of it remain. There are indications that castle stones have been used as building material for houses in the area. Access to the fortress is mainly from the southeast through a narrow walkway which includes passage from homes and backyards, since the castle is at the centre of the densely built area of the small village of Kassiopi.


title: Corfu

text: The three present municipalities of Corfu and Diapontia Islands were formed in the 2019 local government reform from the former municipality Corfu.


title: Corfu

text: The Ionian Academy was an institution that maintained the tradition of Greek education while the rest of Greece was still under Ottoman rule. The academy was established by the French during their administration of the island as the "département" of Corcyre, and became a university during the British administration, through the actions of Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford in 1824. It is also considered the precursor of the Ionian University. It had Philological, Law, and Medical Schools.


title: Corfu

text: The Ionian University was established in 1984, in recognition, by the administration of Andreas Papandreou, of Corfu's contribution to Education in Greece, as the seat of the first Greek university in modern times, the Ionian Academy. The university opened its doors to students in 1985 and today comprises three Schools and six Departments offering undergraduate and post-graduate degree programmes and summer schools.


title: Corfu

text: In the modern era, beginning with its massive student protests during World War II against fascist occupation, and continuing in the fight against the dictatorship of Georgios Papadopoulos (1967–1974), students in Corfu have played a vanguard role in protesting for freedom and democracy in Greece, against both internal and external oppression. For Corfiotes a recent example of such heroism is that of geology student Kostas Georgakis, who set himself ablaze in Genoa, Italy on 19 September 1970, in a protest against the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.


title: Corfu

text: Corfu has a long musical, theatrical, and operatic tradition. The operas performed in Corfu were at par with their European counterparts. The phrase "applaudito in Corfu" (applauded in Corfu) was a measure of high accolade for an opera performed on the island. The Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù was the first theatre and opera house of modern Greece and the place where the first Greek opera, Spyridon Xyndas' "The Parliamentary Candidate" (based on an exclusively Greek libretto) was performed.


title: Corfu

text: Saint Spyridon the Thaumaturgist (Miracle-worker, Θαυματουργός) is the patron saint (πολιούχος) of the city and the island. St. Spyridon is revered for the miracle of expelling the plague (πανώλη) from the island, among many other miracles attributed to him. It is believed by the faithful that on its way from the island the plague scratched one of the fortification stones of the old citadel to indicate its fury at being expelled; to St. Spyridon is also attributed the role of saving the island at the second great siege of Corfu in 1716. The legend says that the sight of St. Spyridon approaching Ottoman forces bearing a flaming torch in one hand and a cross in the other caused panic. The legend also states that the Saint caused a tempest which was partly responsible for repulsing the Ottomans. This victory over the Ottomans, therefore, was attributed not only to the leadership of Count Schulenburg who commanded the stubborn defence of the island against Ottoman forces, but also to the miraculous intervention of St. Spyridon. Venice honoured von der Schulenburg and the Corfiots for successfully defending the island. Recognizing St. Spyridon's role in the defence of the island Venice legislated the establishment of the litany (λιτανεία) of St Spyridon on 11 August as a commemoration of the miraculous event, inaugurating a tradition that continues to this day. In 1716 Antonio Vivaldi, on commission by the republic of Venice, composed the oratorio Juditha triumphans to commemorate this great event. "Juditha triumphans" was first performed in November 1716 in Venice by the orchestra and choir of the Ospedale della Pietà and is described as Vivaldi's first great oratorio.


title: Corfu

text: While much of present-day Greece was under Ottoman rule, the Ionian Islands enjoyed a Golden Age in music and opera. Corfu was the capital city of a Venetian protectorate and it benefited from a unique musical and theatrical heritage. Then in the 19th century, as a British Protectorate, Corfu developed a musical heritage of its own and which constitutes the nucleus of modern Greek musical history. Until the early 18th century, musical life took place in city and village squares, with performances of straight or musical comedies – known as Momaries or Bobaries. From 1720, Corfu became the possessor of the first theatre in post-1452 Greece. It was the Teatro San Giacomo (now the City Hall) named after the nearby Roman Catholic cathedral (completed in 1691).


title: Corfu

text: The island was also the center of the Ionian School of music, the musical production of a group of Heptanesian composers, whose heyday was from the early 19th century till approximately the 1950s. It was the first school of classical music in Greece and it was a heavy influence for the later Greek music scene, after the independence.


title: Corfu

text: Corfu's Philharmonic Societies provide free instruction in music, and continue to attract young recruits. There are nineteen such marching wind bands throughout the island. Corfu city is home to the three most prestigious bands – in order of seniority:


title: Corfu

text: All three maintain two major bands each, the main marching bands that can field up to 200 musicians on grand occasions, and the 60-strong student "bandinas" meant for lighter fare and on-the-job training.


title: Corfu

text: The bands give regular summer weekend promenade concerts at the Spianada Green ""pálko"", and have a prominent part in the yearly Holy Week ceremonies.


title: Corfu

text: Since the early 1990s a music department has been established at the Ionian University. Aside from its academic activities, concerts in Corfu and abroad, and musicological research in the field of Neo-Hellenic Music, the Department organizes an international music academy every summer, which gathers together both international students and professors specialising in brass, strings, singing, jazz and musicology.


title: Corfu

text: Under Venetian rule, the Corfiotes developed a fervent appreciation of Italian opera, which was the real source of the extraordinary (given conditions in the mainland of Greece) musical development of the island during this era. The opera house of Corfu during the 18th and 19th centuries was the Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo, named after the neighbouring Catholic cathedral; it was later converted into the City Hall. It was both the first theatre and first opera house of Greece in modern times and the place where the first Greek opera (based on an exclusively Greek libretto), Spyridon Xyndas' "The Parliamentary Candidate" was performed. A long series of local composers, such as Nikolaos Mantzaros, Spyridon Xyndas, Antonio Liberali, Domenico Padovani, the Zakynthian Pavlos Carrer, the Lambelet family, Spyridon Samaras, and others, all developed careers intertwined with the theatre. San Giacomo's place was taken by the Municipal Theatre in 1902, which maintained the operatic tradition vividly until its destruction during German air raid in 1943.


title: Corfu

text: The first opera to be performed in the San Giacomo was in 1733 ("Gerone, tiranno di Siracusa"), and for almost two hundred years, between 1771 and 1943, nearly every major opera from the Italian tradition, as well as many others from Greek and French composers, were performed on the stage of the San Giacomo; this tradition continues to be reflected in Corfiote operatic history, a fixture in famous opera singers' itineraries.


title: Corfu

text: The Municipal Theatre of Corfu () was the main theatre and opera house in Corfu. Opened in 1902, the theatre was the successor of Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù which became the Corfu city hall. It was destroyed during a Luftwaffe aerial bombardment in 1943.


title: Corfu

text: During its 41-year history, it was one of the premier theatres and opera houses in Greece, and as the first theatre in Southeastern Europe, it contributed to the arts and to the history of the Balkans and of Europe. The archives of the theatre, including the historical San Giacomo archives, all valuables and art were destroyed in the Luftwaffe bombing with the sole exception of the stage curtain, which was not in the premises the night of the bombing and thus escaped harm; among the losses are believed to have been numerous manuscripts of the work of Spyridon Xyndas, composer of the first opera in Greek.


title: Corfu

text: On Good Friday, from the early afternoon onward, the bands of the three Philharmonic Societies, separated into squads, accompany the Epitaph processions of the city churches. Late in the afternoon, the squads come together to form one band in order to accompany the Epitaph procession of the cathedral, while the funeral marches that the bands play differ depending on the band; the Old Philharmonic play Albinoni's "Adagio", the Mantzaros play Verdi's "Marcia Funebre" from Don Carlo, and the Capodistria play Chopin's "Funeral March" and Mariani's "Sventura".


title: Corfu

text: On Holy Saturday morning, the three city bands again take part in the Epitaph processions of St. Spyridon Cathedral in procession with the Saint's relics. At this point the bands play different funeral marches, with the Mantzaros playing Miccheli's "Calde Lacrime", the Palia playing "Marcia Funebre" from Faccio's "Amleto", and the Capodistria playing the "Funeral March" from Beethoven's "Eroica". This custom dates from the 19th century, when colonial administrators banned the participation of the British garrison band in the traditional Holy Friday funeral cortege. The defiant Corfiotes held the litany the following morning, and paraded the relics of St. Spyridon too, so that the administrators would not dare intervene.


title: Corfu

text: The litany is followed by the celebration of the "Early Resurrection"; balconies in the old city are decked in bright red cloth, and Corfiotes throw down large clay pots (the "bótides", μπότηδες) full of water to smash on the street pavement, especially in wider areas of and in an organised fashion. This is enacted in anticipation of the Resurrection of Jesus, which is to be celebrated that same night, and to commemorate King David's phrase: "Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psalm 2:9).


title: Corfu

text: Once the "bótides" commotion is over, the three bands parade the clay-strewn streets playing the famous ""Graikoí"" festive march. The march, which functions as the anthem of the island, was composed during the period of Venetian rule, and its lyrics include: "Greeks, never fear, we are all enslaved: you to the Turks, we to the Venetians, but one day we shall all be free".


title: Corfu

text: Another venerable Corfu tradition is known as the Carnival or "Ta Karnavalia". Venetian in origin, festivities include a parade featuring the main attraction of "Karnavalos", a rather grotesque figure with a large head and smiling face, leading a diverse procession of colourful floats. Corfiots, young and old, dress up in colourful costumes and follow the parade, spilling out into the area's narrow streets () and spreading the festivities across the city, dancing and socialising. At night, dance and costume parties are traditional.


title: Corfu

text: Corfu is one of the locations in the legend of Simon and Milo, where Simon falls in love temporarily. It is the setting of the 1998 song "Mediterranean Lady" by Prozzak. The island is alluded to several times in David Foster Wallace's 1987 novel, "The Broom of the System". Drake mentions Corfu in a song.


title: Corfu

text: Corfiotes have a long history of hospitality to foreign residents and visitors, typified in the 20th century by Gerald Durrell's childhood reminiscence "My Family and Other Animals". The north east coast has largely been developed by a few British holiday companies, with large expensive holiday villas. Package holiday resorts exist on the north, east and southwest coasts.


title: Corfu

text: St George South to the west boasts the largest sandy beach on the island coupled with a selection of all-inclusive package hotels and traditional corfiot villas and flats. The Korission lake nature reserve also provides a stopover for European birds migrating south.


title: Corfu

text: Up until the early 20th century, it was mainly visited by the European royals and elites, including Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and Empress Elisabeth of Austria; today it is also widely visited by middle class families (primarily from the UK, Scandinavia and Germany). With the advent of the jet airliner bringing these groups relatively affordable 'package holidays', Corfu was one of the primary destinations for this new form of mass tourism It is still popular with the ultra-wealthy however, and in the island's northeast the homeowners include members of the Rothschild family and Russian oligarchs.


title: Corfu

text: Corfu has ferry services both by traditional ferries to Gaios in the island of Paxoi and as far as Patras and both traditional ferries and advanced retractable airfoil, hydrodynamic-flow, high-speed ferries called "Flying Dolphins" to Igoumenitsa and Sarandë in neighbouring Albania. The small port of Lefkimmi is also to be found at the southernmost tip of the island on Cape Kavos, offering a ferry service to the mainland.


title: Corfu

text: The Ioannis Kapodistrias International Airport, named after Ioannis Kapodistrias, a Corfiot and European diplomat, and the first governor of the independent Greek state, is located around three kilometres south of Kerkyra, just half a kilometre north of Pontikonisi. The approach and landing, in a northeasterly direction, afford passengers aerial views of "Pontikonisi" and Vlaheraina Monastery, also taking in the hills of "Kanoni", as the runway employed for landing lies a few hundred metres from these local landmarks. The airport offers domestic flights from Olympic Airlines (OA 600, 602 and 606), and Aegean Airlines (A3 402, 404 and 406). Seaplanes, Air Sea Lines, a Greek seaplane operator, offers scheduled flights from Corfu to Paxoi, Lefkada, Ithaki, Kefalonia, Ioannina, Patras and Brindisi in Italy.


title: Corfu

text: The buses to the main places on the island run about six times a day between the city and Glyfada, Sidari, Paleokastritsa, Roda and Acharavi, Lefkimmi, Lefkimmi and Piri. Other coaches drive up to twice a day to Athens and Thessaloniki. City buses run through the city to the Airport, Achilleion, Gouvia, Afra, Pelekas and some other places of interest.


title: Corfu

text: The Diapontia Islands are accessible by boat with regular services from Corfu port and Agios Stefanos Avliotes and by ferry from Corfu city port.


title: Corfu

text: Corfu is mostly planted with olive groves and vineyards and has been producing olive oil and wine since antiquity. The main wine grape varietals found in Corfu are the indigenous white "Kakotrýgēs" and red "Petrokóritho", the Cefalonian white "Robóla", the Aegean "Moscháto" (white muscat), the Achaean "Mavrodáphnē" and others.


title: Corfu

text: Modern times have seen the introduction of specialist cultivation supported by the mild climate, like the kumquat and bergamot oranges, which are extensively used in making spoon sweets and liqueurs. Corfu also produces local animal products, such as Corfiote "graviéra" (a variant of gruyere) and ""Corfu"" cheese (a variant of Grana); "Corfu butter" ("Boútyro Kerkýras"), an intensely flavored cooking and baking butter made of ewe's milk; and the "noúmboulo" salami made of pork and lard and flavored with orange peel, oregano, thyme and other aromatic herbs, which are also burned for smoking.


title: Corfu

text: Local culinary specialties include "sofrito" (a veal rump roast of Venetian origin), "pastitsáda" (bucatini pasta served with diced veal cooked in a tomato sauce), "bourdétto" (cod cooked in a peppery sauce), "mándoles" (caramelized almonds), "pastéli" (honey bars made with sesame, almonds or pistachios), "mandoláto" (a "pastéli" made of crushed almonds, sugar, honey and vanilla), and "tzitzibíra", the local ginger beer, a remnant of the British era. There are three breweries in Corfu and one bed layers factory.


title: Corfu

text: The island has again become an important port of call and has a considerable trade in olive oil. In earlier times there was a great export of citron, which was cultivated here, including for ritual use in the Jewish community during the Sukkot holiday.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996. They form the King Air line together with the King Air Model 90 and 100 series.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Beechcraft currently offers the 250 (design. B200GT) and the larger 350i (B300) models. The 350ER (B300CER) is available to government, military and commercial customers for special mission operations such as aerial survey, air ambulance, flight inspection and surveillance. The Beechcraft 1900 regional airliner was derived from the Model B200 King Air.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Super King Air family has been in continuous production since 1974, the longest production run of any civilian turboprop aircraft in its class. It outlasted all of its previous competitors; the only other pressurized multi engine turboprop utility aircraft now in production is the Piaggio P.180 Avanti.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Model 200 was originally conceived as the Model 101 in 1969, and was a development of the Model 100 King Air. The Model 200 had essentially the same fuselage as the Model 100, with changes to the rear fuselage to accommodate a new T-tail (in place of the 100's conventional tail with all-moving trimmable horizontal stabilizer) and structural changes to allow higher maximum pressurization. Apart from the T-tail, other changes included Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-41 engines rated at instead of the engines of the Model A100 then in production, and a wing of increased span and extra fuel capacity. Overall, the 200 was 3 ft 10 in (1.17 m) longer than the A100, with wingspan 4 ft 3 in (1.29 m) greater, containing more fuel. Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) was increased by 1,000 lb (450 kg). After protracted development including extensive wind tunnel testing of the design (especially of the T-tail which was tunnel-tested for 375 hours), the first prototype flew for the first time on October 27, 1972; a second prototype took to the air on December 15 the same year. Three production aircraft were also built in 1972 and delivered to the U.S. Army; these three were designated Model A100-1s by Beechcraft and were given the military designation RU-21J; the first of some 400 T-tail King Airs to be ordered by the U.S. armed forces. The 200 received civil certification in December 1973 and the first civil delivery took place in February 1974.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: In 1976, Beechcraft developed the Model 200T, a version configured for aerial surveying or reconnaissance. The prototype was created by modifying a Model 200 aircraft, constructor's number (c/no.) BB-186; the modifications included changes to the belly aft of the wing to allow photography with a vertical camera, provision for a surveillance radar in a pod under the fuselage, dome-shaped windows on the sides of the rear fuselage to allow observation directly below the aircraft by occupants, and a usable capacity fuel tank on each wingtip to increase the aircraft's range. Customers could specify any combination of these modifications when ordering a 200T; all 200Ts were Model 200s modified at the factory and given new constructor's numbers.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The next model to appear was the Model 200C in 1979; this version had a large cargo door on the LH side of the rear fuselage with an airstair door similar to the Model 200's door built into it. The door opening was 4 ft 4 in (1.33 m) high and 4 ft 4 in (1.33 m) wide, allowing a large range of items to be loaded into the cabin. The Model 200C found favour with many operators who fitted them out internally as Air Ambulances. The 200C was built from scratch rather than as a modification of the Model 200. The Model A200C military version was developed concurrently. In 1981, a Model 200C (c/no. BL-24) was modified as the Model 200CT, fitted with the same wingtip fuel tanks as installed on Model 200Ts; there was only one 200CT, but it led to other aircraft after an updated version of the Model 200 entered production.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: This updated and improved version was the Model B200, which entered production in 1981. It was fitted with PT6A-42 engines, still rated at , but with improvements that resulted in greater aircraft performance. Other changes included increased maximum pressurization to differential and changes to the cockpit layout. The Model 200C gave way to the Model B200C the same year, with the first Model B200T and Model B200CT being modified from a B200 and B200C respectively, the following year. Commencing in 1984 the B200, B200C and their derivatives were fitted with a revised landing gear retraction mechanism, actuated by hydraulic rams powered by an electric pump installed in the LH wing. This replaced the earlier electro-mechanical retraction system of gearboxes, driveshafts and chains and sprockets that was a throwback to the Twin Bonanza. At the same time the propellers fitted were changed from 3-bladed Hartzells to 3-bladed McCauleys. Forty-seven B200Cs built that year were delivered to the U.S. military, with dozens more of a similar standard ordered in subsequent years, but not given official civil model designations.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: A total of 14 B200s were produced in 1989 and 1990 in a 13-seat high density configuration with a belly cargo pod; these were marketed by Beechcraft as a commuter airliner under the designation Model 1300. Customers for this version included Mesa Airlines. The propeller installation changed again in 1992, when Beechcraft started offering the option of having 4-bladed Hartzell or McCauley propellers, or 3-bladed Hartzell propellers; the 3-bladed McCauley propellers were no longer available. From October 1995 Beechcraft offered an updated B200 with Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) avionics, this was marketed as the "B200SE Super King Air" (for Special Edition). The following year the "Super" name was dropped from all marketing and advertising. In October 2003, Beechcraft announced another avionics upgrade for the B200, the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 suite.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The B200 remains in production, with a total of 13 built in 2009. The B200C is available for order; in January 2009 two B200Cs were delivered to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS). The two B200Cs were the first examples delivered in about three years (the most recent B200Cs prior to this were two delivered in early 2006 for use as air ambulances in Scotland). On May 21, 2007, during the 7th Annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva, Hawker Beechcraft (as the company was now known) introduced the Model B200GT updated version of the B200. The B200GT is fitted with a new model of PT6 engine developed specifically for it by Pratt & Whitney Canada; while still rated at the new PT6A-52 develops maximum power to an even higher altitude than the −42 it replaces, thus further improving aircraft performance. The B200GT and B200CGT with large cargo door were certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 16, 2007 and by the end of 2009, 97 B200GTs had been delivered. Hawker Beechcraft has elected to use new constructor's number prefixes for the B200GT and B200CGT; B200GTs are being built with the prefix "BY" and B200CGTs with the prefix "BZ".


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: In 2014 Beechcraft announced the availability of an option (available at manufacture and for existing aircraft) to increase the MTOW of the B200GT from to , marketed as the King Air 250EP (for "E"xtra "P"ayload). The upgrade puts the 250EP into the same weight class as the King Air 350, necessitating various system changes to meet certification requirements and a special rating for pilots.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: On December 2, 2020, Textron updated the King Air 200 series with the 260, with deliveries expected in early 2021. The model has an improved autothrottle, a Multi-Scan weather radar, a range of and a top cruise speed of with up to nine passengers. The type was FAA certified in March 2021, and European Aviation Safety Agency type certified in September 2021.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have all flown versions of the Super King Air 200. As noted above some have been "off-the-shelf" civil versions, but the majority have been purpose-built for the military and were treated by Beechcraft and the FAA as a separate series, the A200 series. A significant minority of military versions are known purely by their military designations, with no FAA model designations being assigned to them, although they do have basically equivalent civilian model counterparts. The military designation varies from service to service, but most are called C-12 Huron or UC-12. These are used for personnel transport. The Army also operates the RC-12 Guardrail series of aircraft for military intelligence missions.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Canadian Forces Air Command took delivery of two second-hand early-production Model 200 Super King Airs leased from Awood Air in 1990. These were given the designation CT-145 under the CF's identification system and were used as multi-engine trainers, replacing Douglas C-47s. One was subsequently returned to the lessor and a third Model 200 placed into service in order that the two aircraft used would have the same cockpit layout. The two aircraft were replaced by eight civilian-operated 90 Model King Airs in 1995.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The King Air B200 entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 2004 as a multi-engine trainer, replacing the Jetstream T1.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Royal Malaysian Air Force operates four B200T variants equipped with tactical command system, master search radar and forward looking infrared system.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Beechcraft considered a jet-powered version in the mid-1970s. The first prototype King Air 200 was re-engined with Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D turbofans in overwing nacelles. Given the designation PD 290 (for Preliminary Design), the aircraft was flown in this configuration for the first time on March 12, 1975. Beech did not pursue production, and the last flight was made on September 30, 1977.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The 200 series proved so popular that Beechcraft began work on a successor, with the Beechcraft designation Model 300 and marketed as the "Super King Air 300". The B200's airframe was "cleaned up" and more powerful engines (PT6A-60A, rated at ) were installed in redesigned cowlings (known as "pitot cowlings" due to the reshaped engine air intakes), with MTOW increased to . A Model 200 (c/no. BB-343) was modified to develop the updated systems to be used on the new model and flew in this configuration on October 6, 1981. The first flight of the prototype Model 300 took place on September 3, 1983 and deliveries commenced the following year. Because not all nations would then allow an aircraft of this type to be certified at an MTOW greater than , the Model 300LW was also developed at the same time, limited to the lower MTOW. Nineteen examples of a special version of the Model 300 were delivered to the FAA in 1987 and 1988. The first two were conversions of standard Model 300s, while the remaining 17 were purpose-built; since they were delivered the FAA has used the fleet to check the extensive network of navaids in the United States. 200 and 300 Series King Airs have been used for similar duties in several other countries or regions, including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong (a B200C used for navaid calibration was the first aircraft to land at the then-new Chek Lap Kok Airport in 1996), Norway, Sweden and Taiwan.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The King Air 350 is based on the King Air 300 with a span increase and winglets, a fuselage stretch for an over main cabin, long enough for double club seating. By 1988, Beechcraft had begun work on the replacement for the 300, it was introduced in 1990 and initially marketed as the Super King Air 350. It has two extra cabin windows on each side and MTOW was increased again to ; as the same regulatory situation that led to the development of the 300LW still existed, that model continued to be produced until 1994. Like the 200 and B200 before it, a version with a large cargo door was developed, the Model B300C marketed as the "Super King Air 350C". The first deliveries of this model also took place in 1990. In 1998, the UltraQuiet active noise canceling system, made by Elliott Aviation, was added as standard equipment on all B300s. In October 2003, Beechcraft announced that it would deliver future B300 and B300C King Airs with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The B300 model is still in production today (now marketed simply as the "King Air 350", the "Super" being dropped in 1996 as mentioned earlier), while the B300C is available for order; four were built in 2007 and Hawker Beechcraft announced on November 11, 2007 that it would deliver five to Saudi Arabia in 2008 for use as air ambulances.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: On June 13, 2005, Beechcraft announced at the Paris Air Show that it was developing the King Air 350ER version of the B300, an equivalent to the earlier Model 200T and B200Ts of the 200 series. Changes include an increase of MTOW to 16,500 lb (7,430 kg), provision for surveillance equipment in a belly pod, the landing gear of the Beechcraft 1900 to handle the increased weight and provide ground clearance for the belly pod, and extra fuel capacity in the engine nacelles to increase range (because of the B300s winglets, it was unfeasible to fit wingtip fuel tanks as found on the 200T and B200T). On November 11, 2007, Hawker Beechcraft announced that the 350ER had been certified by the FAA.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: In October 2008, Beechcraft announced updated versions of the B300 series, the King Air 350i, with improvements to the passenger cabin. The manufacturer claims that the noise level and overall comfort of the King Air 350i, 350iER, 350iC and 350iCER are now competitive with those of light jets. The cabin of the B300 series has been updated with controllers in the passenger seat armrests that dim the LED lights, darken the windows and control an iPod dock and a high-definition video monitor. The cabin also includes Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, AC electrical receptacles and fold-out tables for each passenger in the eight seats fitted. Deliveries commenced in December 2009.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The $1.8 million Blackhawk PT6A-67A upgrade offers a TAS faster cruise and up to 60% shorter time to climb.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: At 3,600 h, the first pair of engine overhauls cost $500,000-550,000, but second overhauls can cost $800,000-1.2 million.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: By September 2019, second-hand aircraft were priced between $3 million for early models to more than $4 million for late models.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: One special Super King Air B300C variant was built for the Swiss Air Force, with a modified belly to allow for aerial photography and a large observation window in the right side aft fuselage; and given a c/no. with a different prefix to other B300Cs.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Hawker Pacific aviation company of Australia purchased eight B300s between 2003 and 2005 for lease to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which were subsequently modified as navigator trainers. Hawker Pacific later leased another three B300s to the Australian Army, replacing B200 and B200C Model King Airs. The RAAF has also utilized King Air 350 Special Mission as an interim replacement for the DHC-4 Caribou transports of No. 38 Squadron. The RAAF now operates 16 aircraft from both No. 32 Squadron and No. 38 Squadron.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force operates nine B300s, designated LR-2, in the reconnaissance and communications roles. The aircraft were delivered between 1998 and 2004 and include the last B300 built without the Pro Line 21 avionics package (c/no. FL-382).


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Beechcraft announced on March 6, 2007 that the Iraqi Air Force had ordered five King Air 350ERs for delivery commencing late in 2007. Hawker Beechcraft exhibited a King Air 350ER at the 2007 Paris Air Show; and at the Royal International Air Tattoo the following month. Photos of the aircraft, which were modified 2005-built B300, showed visual features of the King Air 350ER including a belly pod, and enlarged engine nacelles compared to the nacelles of standard B300 King Airs.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The United States Army has contracted for a number of King Air 300s to be acquired on the second-hand market and modified as ISTAR aircraft for use by Task Force ODIN in operational theaters. As of late 2010, 11 such aircraft are registered to the U.S. Army. Two Canadian-registered and owned King Air 300s, configured in the same manner have also been contracted for.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Extended range special mission version for surveillance and reconnaissance operations, introduced at the Paris Air Show in June 2005. Features engine nacelle fuel tanks, heavy duty landing gear and increased maximum take-off weight of 7,484 kg (16,500 lb). Typical mission profile involves a 100 n mile (185 km; 115 mile) flight to on-station; low-altitude surveillance sortie for 7 hours 20 minutes; and return to base with 45 minutes' fuel reserve.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: By early 2010, Hawker Beechcraft was offering structured programme of upgrades for King Air 350ERISR. Accommodation includes two pilots above an armoured floor; sensor operator at console (port, forward facing) providing on-board analysis; club-four seating in centre section with port side table, satellite telephone and refreshment centre; and lavatory at rear.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Four King Air 350CERs (Shadow R. Mk 1 in RAF service) equipped for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions over Afghanistan were originally were ordered for the RAF and later increased to six in July 2013. Four more King Air 350s replaced the Royal Navy's Jetstream T2 observer trainers in 2011 and were designated Avenger T. Mk1.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: On October 3, 2018 the US State Department approved the possible Foreign Military Sale of three King Air 350ERs to the Government of Canada for an estimated cost of US$300 million. Intended to for a manned airborne ISR (MAISR) role, the Canadian 350ERs are expected to come with customer unique post-modifications for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. Canada intends to use the aircraft to improve the ability of its Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense and the combined defense of North America and support coalition partners overseas.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The King Air 360 and 360ER have a cockpit including an avionics upgrade, digital pressurisation and an autothrottle; and a modernised cabin featuring a 10% lower altitude pressure.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: First introduced in August 2020 and with deliveries expected from the fourth quarter, the model has the same range and weight specifications. The 360 and 360ER models were both FAA type certified in October 2020, and European Aviation Safety Agency certified in September 2021.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Numerous aftermarket modifications and upgrades are available for 200 and 300 Series King Airs. One company offers a Wing Front Spar Reinforcement Kit for 200 Series aircraft and a modification to replace the electro-mechanical landing gear retraction system of early-build aircraft with an electro-hydraulic system. Raisbeck Engineering out of Seattle, WA offers Enhanced Performance Leading Edges, Nacelle Wing Lockers, Ram Air Recovery System, Quiet Turbofan Propellers, High Flotation Gear Doors and Dual Aft Body Strakes.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Another company offers a modification for the entire King Air line that entails reworking and extending the entire nose to house a baggage compartment as well as the avionics normally found in the noses of King Air aircraft; while another offers winglets, similar to those of the B300, for 200 series and other 300 series King Airs.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: In November 2019, Textron Aviation introduced a modified nose holding 12 cu.ft (0.34 m³) or 250 lb (113 kg) of cargo or aircraft equipment.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: A modification to install a forward looking infrared camera in an extended nose in B200 King Airs is available. Other modifications available are to convert standard 200 Series King Airs to configurations equivalent to the Model 1300 or Model 200C and B200C King Airs; and to modify B300s (typically delivered with an eight-seat corporate interior) to allow more passengers and baggage to be carried.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: Retired military King Airs have entered civil service with United States law enforcement and other government organizations such as State Police and Sheriff Departments; others are used by the Missionary Aviation Fellowship and subsidiary organisations.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: It was intended to be replaced by the unusually designed Beechcraft Starship but only 53 were produced, ending in 1995, while the King Air continues to sell.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: More than 1,800 King Air 200 series have been delivered during more than 40 years of production. In early 2017 a used 2011 model King Air 250 was worth US$3 million and a late 2015 to early 2016 model was worth US$5 million, with an annual utilization estimated at 240 hours and 216 cycles, while a King Air 350i is US$800,000 to US$1 million more.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: By April 2017 sales of the King Air series were in decline with just 12 examples delivered in the first quarter of the year, compared to 26 in the same period of 2016, due to a weak international market for the design. The company expected the annual sales to be about the same as 2016, though, which totaled 106 in that year.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: By December 2020, nearly 7,600 King Air had been delivered, as the fleet surpassed 62 million flight hours in 56 years.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The most widespread turboprop business aircraft in the world, over 7,300 King Airs and Super King Airs have been delivered by May 2018, surpassing 60 million flight hours in commercial, military and special mission roles. They are operated in more than 94 countries. Almost 53% of the aircraft delivered have been from the 200/300 series family.


title: Beechcraft Super King Air

text: The King Air is used by many corporate and private users, it is also popular as a light transport liaison aircraft with both government and non-government organizations. It is also used by air-taxi and air charter companies.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Philip Rosenthal (born January 27, 1960) is an American television writer and producer who is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" (1996–2005). In recent years, he has presented food and travel documentaries "I'll Have What Phil's Having" on PBS and "Somebody Feed Phil" on Netflix.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal's parents were both born in Germany; after being interned in France, his mother moved to Cuba after World War II, then to Manhattan, where she met her husband. Rosenthal was born to a Jewish family in Queens, New York, but spent most of his childhood living in New City, New York, located in Rockland County. He attended Clarkstown North High School where he became very active in the school's drama club, Cue 'N Curtain, and in theatre. Rosenthal graduated from Clarkstown North in 1977. After high school, he attended Hofstra University, from which he graduated in 1981.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: In the early 1980s, Rosenthal was an actor in New York City before shifting his focus to production work, becoming a writer and producer of such shows as "Coach" with Craig T. Nelson and the short-lived "Baby Talk".


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal's largest commercial success and longest-running project was the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond". The show was co-produced by Ray Romano, and was based in part on Romano's comedy material. Rosenthal's wife, actress Monica Horan, played the role of Amy MacDougall-Barone, the off-and-on girlfriend (wife after season 7) of Robert Barone (Brad Garrett) in the series. It was Rosenthal and Romano who decided to retire the series over the objections or reservations of the other cast members. Rosenthal wrote or co-wrote twenty-one episodes of the series.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal has occasionally acted as well, in projects such as James L. Brooks' "Spanglish", "The Simpsons Movie" (a big screen adaptation of the long-running TV series), "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "30 Rock" and Jake Kasdan's feature, "The TV Set".


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal is the author of the book "You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom," which was published on October 21, 2006. He recounts how his life led to the success of "Everybody Loves Raymond".


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal directed President Bill Clinton in a White House Correspondents' Dinner video, which was shown to wide acclaim at the April 2000 event. Rosenthal co-wrote the 9/11 telethon "", which aired on all four networks, and won a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing. Rosenthal wrote and directed a documentary film for Sony Pictures called "Exporting Raymond", which depicts his efforts to adapt "Everybody Loves Raymond" for Russian television, despite his having little knowledge of Russian culture.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: In August 2015, as one of 98 members of the Los Angeles Jewish community, he signed an open letter supporting the proposed nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers led by the United States "as being in the best interest of the United States and Israel."


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Beginning on September 28, 2015, PBS presented the six-episode television series "I'll Have What Phil's Having", in which Rosenthal goes to locations around the world to explore their food culture. After six episodes, the series was not renewed. On January 12, 2018, Netflix premiered a reworked version of the show, titled "Somebody Feed Phil".


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: Rosenthal serves on the Creative Council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.


title: Philip Rosenthal

text: He and the Rosenthal Family Foundation launched a national campaign called "Somebody Feed The People" to support organizations that provided meals to voters waiting in long lines during the 2020 United States Presidential Election, matching contributions up to $250,000.


title: Gemstone

text: A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, and obsidian) and occasionally organic materials that are not minerals (such as amber, jet, and pearl) are also used for jewelry and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity and notoriety are other characteristics that lend value to gemstones.


title: Gemstone

text: Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem expert is a gemologist, a gem maker is called a lapidarist or gemcutter; a diamond cutter is called a diamantaire.


title: Gemstone

text: The traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between "precious" and "semi-precious"; similar distinctions are made in other cultures. In modern use, the precious stones are emerald, ruby, sapphire and diamond, with all other gemstones being semi-precious. This distinction reflects the rarity of the respective stones in ancient times, as well as their quality: all are translucent with fine color in their purest forms, except for the colorless diamond, and very hard, with hardnesses of 8 to 10 on the Mohs scale. Other stones are classified by their color, translucency, and hardness. The traditional distinction does not necessarily reflect modern values; for example, while garnets are relatively inexpensive, a green garnet called tsavorite can be far more valuable than a mid-quality emerald. Another traditional term for semi-precious gemstones used in art history and archaeology is hardstone. Use of the terms 'precious' and 'semi-precious' in a commercial context is, arguably, misleading in that it suggests certain stones are more valuable than others, when this is not reflected in the actual market value.


title: Gemstone

text: In modern times gemstones are identified by gemologists, who describe gems and their characteristics using technical terminology specific to the field of gemology. The first characteristic a gemologist uses to identify a gemstone is its chemical composition. For example, diamonds are made of carbon () and rubies of aluminium oxide (). Many gems are crystals which are classified by their crystal system such as cubic or trigonal or monoclinic. Another term used is habit, the form the gem is usually found in. For example, diamonds, which have a cubic crystal system, are often found as octahedrons.


title: Gemstone

text: Gemstones are classified into different "groups", "species", and "varieties". For example, ruby is the red variety of the species corundum, while any other color of corundum is considered sapphire. Other examples are the emerald (green), aquamarine (blue), red beryl (red), goshenite (colorless), heliodor (yellow), and morganite (pink), which are all varieties of the mineral species beryl.


title: Gemstone

text: Gems are characterized in terms of refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, hardness, cleavage, fracture and luster. They may exhibit pleochroism or double refraction. They may have luminescence and a distinctive absorption spectrum.


title: Gemstone

text: Gemstones may also be classified in terms of their "water". This is a recognized grading of the gem's luster, transparency, or "brilliance". Very transparent gems are considered "first water", while "second" or "third water" gems are those of a lesser transparency.


title: Gemstone

text: Gemstones have no universally accepted grading system. Diamonds are graded using a system developed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in the early 1950s. Historically, all gemstones were graded using the naked eye. The GIA system included a major innovation: the introduction of 10x magnification as the standard for grading clarity. Other gemstones are still graded using the naked eye (assuming 20/20 vision).


title: Gemstone

text: A mnemonic device, the "four Cs" (color, cut, clarity, and carats), has been introduced to help describe the factors used to grade a diamond. With modification, these categories can be useful in understanding the grading of all gemstones. The four criteria carry different weights depending upon whether they are applied to colored gemstones or to colorless diamonds. In diamonds, the cut is the primary determinant of value, followed by clarity and color. The ideal cut diamond will sparkle, to break down light into its constituent rainbow colors (dispersion), chop it up into bright little pieces (scintillation), and deliver it to the eye (brilliance). In its rough crystalline form, a diamond will do none of these things; it requires proper fashioning and this is called "cut". In gemstones that have color, including colored diamonds, the purity, and beauty of that color is the primary determinant of quality.


title: Gemstone

text: Physical characteristics that make a colored stone valuable are color, clarity to a lesser extent (emeralds will always have a number of inclusions), cut, unusual optical phenomena within the stone such as color zoning (the uneven distribution of coloring within a gem) and asteria (star effects). Ancient Greeks, for example, greatly valued asteria gemstones, which they regarded as powerful love charms, and Helen of Troy was supposed to have worn star-corundum.


title: Gemstone

text: Aside from the diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald, the pearl (not, strictly speaking, a gemstone) and opal have also been considered to be precious. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century, amethyst was considered a "precious stone" as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last century certain stones such as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye (cymophane) have been popular and hence been regarded as precious.


title: Gemstone

text: Today the gemstone trade no longer makes such a distinction. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand-name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones.


title: Gemstone

text: Rare or unusual gemstones, generally understood to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite and red beryl.


title: Gemstone

text: Gemstone pricing and value are governed by factors and characteristics in the quality of the stone. These characteristics include clarity, rarity, freedom from defects, the beauty of the stone, as well as the demand for such stones. There are different pricing influencers for both colored gemstones, and for diamonds. The pricing on colored stones is determined by market supply-and-demand, but diamonds are more intricate. Diamond value can change based on location, time, and on the evaluations of diamond vendors.


title: Gemstone

text: Each laboratory has its own methodology to evaluate gemstones. A stone can be called "pink" by one lab while another lab calls it "padparadscha". One lab can conclude a stone is untreated, while another lab might conclude that it is heat-treated. To minimize such differences, seven of the most respected labs, AGTA-GTL (New York), CISGEM (Milano), GAAJ-ZENHOKYO (Tokyo), GIA (Carlsbad), GIT (Bangkok), Gübelin (Lucerne) and SSEF (Basel), have established the Laboratory Manual Harmonisation Committee (LMHC), for the standardization of wording reports, promotion of certain analytical methods and interpretation of results. Country of origin has sometimes been difficult to determine, due to the constant discovery of new source locations. Determining a "country of origin" is thus much more difficult than determining other aspects of a gem (such as cut, clarity, etc.).


title: Gemstone

text: Another important new gemstone that has been rising in popularity is Cuprian Elbaite Tourmaline which are also called "Paraiba Tourmaline". Paraiba tourmaline were first discovered in early 1990 and recently in 2007 in Mozambique, Africa. They are famous for their Glowing Neon Blue Color. Paraiba Tourmaline have become one of the most popular gemstones in recent times thanks to their unique color and recently considered to be one of the important gemstones after Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire according to Gübelin Gemlab. Even though it is a tourmaline, paraiba are considered to be one of the most expensive gemstones.


title: Gemstone

text: Gem dealers are aware of the differences between gem laboratories and will make use of the discrepancies to obtain the best possible certificate.


title: Gemstone

text: A few gemstones are used as gems in the crystal or other forms in which they are found. Most, however, are cut and polished for usage as jewelry. The two main classifications are stones cut as smooth, dome-shaped stones called cabochons, and stones which are cut with a faceting machine by polishing small flat windows called facets at regular intervals at exact angles.


title: Gemstone

text: Stones which are opaque or semi-opaque such as opal, turquoise, variscite, etc. are commonly cut as cabochons. These gems are designed to show the stone's color or surface properties as in opal and star sapphires. Grinding wheels and polishing agents are used to grind, shape and polish the smooth dome shape of the stones.


title: Gemstone

text: Gems that are transparent are normally faceted, a method that shows the optical properties of the stone's interior to its best advantage by maximizing reflected light which is perceived by the viewer as sparkle. There are many commonly used shapes for faceted stones. The facets must be cut at the proper angles, which varies depending on the optical properties of the gem. If the angles are too steep or too shallow, the light will pass through and not be reflected back toward the viewer. The faceting machine is used to hold the stone onto a flat lap for cutting and polishing the flat facets. Rarely, some cutters use special curved laps to cut and polish curved facets.


title: Gemstone

text: The color of any material is due to the nature of light itself. Daylight, often called white light, is all of the colors of the spectrum combined. When light strikes a material, most of the light is absorbed while a smaller amount of a particular frequency or wavelength is reflected. The part that is reflected reaches the eye as the perceived color. A ruby appears red because it absorbs all the other colors of white light while reflecting the red.


title: Gemstone

text: A material which is mostly the same can exhibit different colors. For example, ruby and sapphire have the same primary chemical composition (both are corundum) but exhibit different colors because of impurities. Even the same named gemstone can occur in many different colors: sapphires show different shades of blue and pink and "fancy sapphires" exhibit a whole range of other colors from yellow to orange-pink, the latter called "padparadscha sapphire".


title: Gemstone

text: This difference in color is based on the atomic structure of the stone. Although the different stones formally have the same chemical composition and structure, they are not exactly the same. Every now and then an atom is replaced by a completely different atom, sometimes as few as one in a million atoms. These so-called impurities are sufficient to absorb certain colors and leave the other colors unaffected.


title: Gemstone

text: For example, beryl, which is colorless in its pure mineral form, becomes emerald with chromium impurities. If manganese is added instead of chromium, beryl becomes pink morganite. With iron, it becomes aquamarine.


title: Gemstone

text: Some gemstone treatments make use of the fact that these impurities can be "manipulated", thus changing the color of the gem.


title: Gemstone

text: Gemstones are often treated to enhance the color or clarity of the stone. Depending on the type and extent of treatment, they can affect the value of the stone. Some treatments are used widely because the resulting gem is stable, while others are not accepted most commonly because the gem color is unstable and may revert to the original tone.


title: Gemstone

text: Heat can either improve or spoil gemstone color or clarity. The heating process has been well known to gem miners and cutters for centuries, and in many stone types heating is a common practice. Most citrine is made by heating amethyst, and partial heating with a strong gradient results in "ametrine" – a stone partly amethyst and partly citrine. Aquamarine is often heated to remove yellow tones, or to change green colors into the more desirable blue, or enhance its existing blue color to a deeper blue.


title: Gemstone

text: Nearly all tanzanite is heated at low temperatures to remove brown undertones and give a more desirable blue / purple color. A considerable portion of all sapphire and ruby is treated with a variety of heat treatments to improve both color and clarity.


title: Gemstone

text: When jewelry containing diamonds is heated for repairs, the diamond should be protected with boric acid; otherwise, the diamond, which is pure carbon, could be burned on the surface or even burned completely up. When jewelry containing sapphires or rubies is heated, those stones should not be coated with boric acid (which can etch the surface) or any other substance. They do not have to be protected from burning, like a diamond (although the stones do need to be protected from heat stress fracture by immersing the part of the jewelry with stones in the water when metal parts are heated).


title: Gemstone

text: Virtually all blue topaz, both the lighter and the darker blue shades such as "London" blue, has been irradiated to change the color from white to blue. Most greened quartz (Oro Verde) is also irradiated to achieve the yellow-green color. Diamonds are irradiated to produce fancy-color diamonds (which can occur naturally, though rarely in gem quality).


title: Gemstone

text: Emeralds containing natural fissures are sometimes filled with wax or oil to disguise them. This wax or oil is also colored to make the emerald appear of better color as well as clarity. Turquoise is also commonly treated in a similar manner.


title: Gemstone

text: Fracture filling has been in use with different gemstones such as diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires. In 2006 "glass-filled rubies" received publicity. Rubies over 10 carats (2 g) with large fractures were filled with lead glass, thus dramatically improving the appearance (of larger rubies in particular). Such treatments are fairly easy to detect.


title: Gemstone

text: Synthetic gems are physically, optically, and chemically identical to the natural stone, but are created in a laboratory. Imitation or simulated stones are chemically different from the natural stone, but may appear quite similar to it; they can be more easily manufactured synthetic gemstones of a different mineral (spinel), glass, plastic, resins, or other compounds.


title: Gemstone

text: Examples of simulated or imitation stones include cubic zirconia, composed of zirconium oxide, synthetic moissanite, and un-colored, synthetic corundum or spinels; all of which are diamond simulants. The simulants imitate the look and color of the real stone but possess neither their chemical nor physical characteristics. In general, all are less hard than diamond. Moissanite actually has a "higher" refractive index than diamond, and when presented beside an equivalently sized and cut diamond will show more "fire".


title: Gemstone

text: Cultured, synthetic, or "lab-created" gemstones are not imitations: The bulk mineral and trace coloring elements are the same in both. For example, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds have been manufactured in labs that possess chemical and physical characteristics identical to the naturally occurring variety. Synthetic (lab created) corundum, including ruby and sapphire, is very common and costs much less than the natural stones. Small synthetic diamonds have been manufactured in large quantities as industrial abrasives, although larger gem-quality synthetic diamonds are becoming available in multiple carats.


title: Gemstone

text: Whether a gemstone is a natural stone or synthetic, the chemical, physical, and optical characteristics are the same: They are composed of the same mineral and are colored by the same trace materials, have the same hardness and density and strength, and show the same color spectrum, refractive index, and birefringence (if any). Lab-created stones tend to have a more vivid color since impurities common in natural stones are not present in the synthetic stone. Synthetics are made free of common naturally occurring impurities that reduce gem clarity or color unless intentionally added in order to provide a more drab, natural appearance, or to deceive an assayer. On the other hand, synthetics often show flaws not seen in natural stones, such as minute particles of corroded metal from lab trays used during synthesis.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes. He is best known for his multiple tenures with WWE from 1995 to 2019 under ring name Goldust. A second generation wrestler, he is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of Cody Rhodes. He is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Between WWF/WWE and WCW, Runnels has won 23 total championships. In WCW, he was a two-time United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time Six-Man Tag Team Champion, and a two-time World Tag Team Champion. In WWF/WWE, he is a three-time Intercontinental Champion, nine-time Hardcore Champion, one-time World Tag Team Champion, and two-time WWE Tag Team Champion. Runnels has also appeared in the fourth most Royal Rumble matches, at 13. Rhodes headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF and WCW during the 1990s.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels made his professional wrestling debut on September 13, 1988, as "Dustin Rhodes", defeating Bob Cook in a match for the Tampa-based Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) promotion. The promotion was renamed the Professional Wrestling Federation in February 1989 after Runnels' father, Dusty Rhodes, began wrestling there. Runnels captured the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Al Perez on May 23, 1989, holding it for a month.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In December 1988, Runnels debuted in World Championship Wrestling. Rhodes teamed with Kendall Windham in an undercard tag team called The Texas Broncos that saw success against The Cruel Connection and The Commandos. Their first defeat came against The Original Midnight Express at a house show on December 10, 1988, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rhodes's first singles match came two days later at a television taping in Atlanta, Georgia when he defeated Trent Knight. Rhodes' initial WCW run lasted only a few months, as he exited the company two months after his father. After suffering a loss to Butch Reed during a dark match for an "NWA Main Event" taping in The Omni on February 12, 1989, Rhodes closed out his initial WCW run with a win over Trent Knight in Walterboro, South Carolina on February 24.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In March 1989, Runnels toured Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in its annual Champion Carnival, under the name Dusty Rhodes Jr. He returned to AJPW for a ten and a twenty-day tour in the spring and summer of 1990. Runnels began wrestling in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) in July 1989. There he feuded mainly with Tony Anthony for Anthony's CWA Heavyweight Championship but never won the belt. He left the USWA in the spring of 1990.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels debuted as a fan favorite in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1990, wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. His first match in the WWF (now WWE) was against Paul Diamond on WWF on MSG Network on September 21, 1990. In December 1990, Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase in a televised ten-minute challenge match. On January 19, 1991, at the Royal Rumble, Rhodes and his father Dusty lost to Ted DiBiase and Virgil in a tag team bout, and both left immediately after.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In February 1991, Runnels joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), wrestling as "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes. He feuded with Larry Zbyszko until April 1991, when he refused to join Alexandra York's York Foundation, thus beginning a feud with Foundation member Terrence Taylor.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In late 1991, Rhodes formed a tag-team with Barry Windham and began pursuing WCW Tag Team champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Zbyszko). The pair received a title shot at "Clash of the Champions XVII", but Windham was injured prior to the event. A returning Ricky Steamboat was chosen to partner Rhodes, and the makeshift duo won the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They lost the belts on January 16, 1992, to Arn Anderson and fellow Dangerous Alliance member Bobby Eaton.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On a taped edition of "WCW Saturday Night" on September 2, 1992, Rhodes teamed with Windham to defeat Steve Williams and Terry Gordy for the unified WCW World Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship (their NWA title reign is not recognized by NWA); the match would air on October 3. They held the belts for about two months before losing them to Steamboat and Shane Douglas in a memorable match on the November 18 edition of "Clash of the Champions XXI". Windham turned on Rhodes after the match when Rhodes refused to pin Steamboat after an accidental low blow.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In January 1993, Rhodes reached the final of a tournament to decide the number one contender for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. The champion Rick Rude was stripped of his title that same month, meaning the tournament final would be for the title. Rhodes faced his old partner Ricky Steamboat to win his first United States Heavyweight title. He successfully defended the title the following month at SuperBrawl III against Maxx Payne. Rude returned that April and quickly challenged Rhodes. Their first encounter resulted in a controversial double pin, with Rude initially being awarded the title. The championship was held up two weeks later.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: After a 30-minute Iron Man Match ended in a 1–1 draw at Beach Blast on July 18, a best-of-three series was set between the two on "Saturday Night"; Rhodes lost the first match on August 28, but defeated Rude twice on September 4 and 11 to claim his second United States Heavyweight Championship.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: At Fall Brawl, Rhodes teamed with Sting, Davey Boy Smith and The Shockmaster to defeat Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat in a WarGames match. Rhodes lost the title to Steve Austin in a Two out of three falls match at Starrcade, after losing both falls.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In March 1994, Rhodes started feuding with Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Robert Parker. After Parker introduced Arn Anderson and Terry Funk as adversaries for Runnels, Runnels responded by bringing his father, a former enemy of Funk, back into the ring to team with him again against Parker's Stud Stable. In December 1994, Parker introduced another opponent for Rhodes, The Blacktop Bully. At the Uncensored pay-per-view on March 19, 1995, Rhodes lost to The Blacktop Bully in the only King of the Road match in the company's history. The match, which was filmed several days earlier, resulted in both Rhodes and The Blacktop Bully being fired from the company, as the two had bladed during the match after being instructed to by one another, which was against corporate policy at the time in WCW.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In August 1995, Runnels returned to the WWF, wrestling as a then-villain Goldust, nicknamed "the Bizarre One" because of his somewhat spooky, mysterious, bashful presentation yet sexual suggestiveness turned aggressions. In communications, Goldust frequently took to comical flirtation while maintaining a bashfully deadpan and monotone delivery and presence. Using in-ring psychology to his advantage, Goldust often performed lewd and flirtatious mind games to anger, confuse, and distract his opponents. He engaged in such tactics as groping and excessive physical affection towards his opponent in the midst of delivering his onslaught. To that end, one of Goldust's trademarks was his exaggerated, suggestively breathy inhalation whilst caressing his own body; this display ended in him exhaling through a startlingly vicious biting sound directed at his adversaries (also said between his catchphrase words "You will never forget the name of" and "Goldust"). The character was portrayed as a drag queen obsessed with films and everything gold, which is a parody of the Oscars statuette. Adding to this aspect of the gimmick, Goldust often quoted or made references to classic Hollywood films during his promos. Under the gimmick, Runnels wore a predominately gold jumpsuit (with tads of other colors, such as white and black); black and gold face paint; and during entrances and promos, a glittery gold robe and a platinum blonde wig over his short platinum blonde hair.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Years later, Runnels stated that Vince McMahon called him and offered him the gimmick and mentioned "androgynous" several times; Runnels, wanting a separate identity from his father at the time, promptly accepted without knowing what the word "androgynous" meant, then promptly looked it up in the dictionary after getting off the phone with McMahon and shocked to see what it meant said to himself "What did I get myself in to?" Runnels himself admitted that the first few months of the gimmick were uncomfortable for him as it didn't match his personality at all, but decided to work with what was given to him and "run with it".


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Goldust won his debut match on October 22, 1995, against Marty Jannetty at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view. He defeated the departing Bam Bam Bigelow in Bigelow's last WWF match at the Survivor Series. He then feuded with Razor Ramon, whom he stalked and sent messages to throughout late 1995. The feud culminated at the Royal Rumble on January 21, 1996, where Goldust defeated Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship due to interference from the 1–2–3 Kid. This match also marked the debut of Goldust's valet, Marlena, portrayed by his then wife Terri. With her seductive, coolly unconcerned, mysterious character and fully gold-colored wear, Marlena complemented Goldust. Her gimmick consisted of sitting at ringside in a director's chair during Goldust's matches, advising him while smoking large brown cigars. A rematch between Goldust and Ramon at WrestleMania XII was canceled after Ramon was suspended, with Goldust instead fighting Roddy Piper in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl. At the end of the fight, Piper stripped Goldust of his ring attire to reveal him wearing women's lingerie; Runnels revealed in 2018 (while making jokes at his own butt) that it was his idea just three days before WrestleMania XII to wear a slip and thong underneath his ring attire and to have Piper strip him down, getting the approval from McMahon.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Goldust defended his Intercontinental Championship in bouts against Savio Vega and The Ultimate Warrior before losing to Ahmed Johnson at King of the Ring on June 23, 1996. In Summer 1996, Goldust briefly gained control over Mankind and feuded with The Undertaker. His attention soon turned to Marc Mero and his then wife Sable. Goldust and Marlena attempted to get Sable to join their team, but Mero won the feud and kept her by his side. He also had a ladder match with Shawn Michaels at internet pay-per-view (iPPV) Xperience for the WWF Championship but lost the match.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In December 1996, Goldust entered a feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley, when Helmsley began flirting with Goldust's valet: Marlena. This feud lead to the debut of Chyna as Helmsley's new bodyguard, who would manhandle Marlena and cause sympathy for Marlena & Goldust. This marked the first time Goldust changed into a fan favorite rather than the villainous character he was prior.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In May 1997, Goldust revealed his identity as Dustin Runnels, the son of Dusty Rhodes. In the summer and fall of that year, he joined other wrestlers in their conflict with The Hart Foundation, feuding in particular with Brian Pillman. Goldust defeated Pillman at SummerSlam in which Pillman was forced to wear a dress for a month, then Pillman challenged Goldust again to a match at , Goldust agreed that if he lost, he would lose Marlena to Pillman for 30 days, Goldust lost the match to Pillman and was forced to lose Marlena, had Goldust won, Pillman would leave the WWF. Just before the thirty days were up, Pillman died of heart disease hours before the event on October 5, 1997. In November 1997, Goldust split with Marlena and refused to cooperate with his Survivor Series teammates, which once again turned him into a heel. This led to a feud with Vader in December 1997 and the appearance of The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (a reference to Prince), managed by Luna Vachon. He began mimicking celebrities and fellow wrestlers with characters such as "Chynadust", "Dust Lovedust", "Dustydust", "Hunterdust", "Flashdust", "Marilyn Mansondust", "Sabledust", and "Vaderdust" in early 1998. Around this time, he made a legitimate push to management to get breast implants as part of the gimmick before being talked out of it by McMahon.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: By June 1998, Goldust feuded with Val Venis, who had been involved with Terri during their separation. Now going by his real name, Runnels began speaking out (mostly in taped vignettes) on the increasingly edgy WWF product and promoting alternatives to watching the show such as reading the Bible. These vignettes were sponsored by the fictional group, "Evangelists Against Television, Movies and Entertainment", the acronym for which reads "EATME" – a thinly veiled joke on the WWF's part. Runnels declared himself a born again Christian, alluding to "his" return, and walking through the crowd with signs reading "he's coming back!". While the return of Christ was clearly implied, Runnels was in fact referencing the return of the Goldust gimmick, which he reprised in October 1998 against Val Venis and then in November 1998, he began feuding with Jeff Jarrett over the attention of his manager, Debra.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In early 1999, Goldust feuded with Al Snow, upon stealing the mannequin Head, Snow's mascot, and The Blue Meanie, who had recently renamed himself "Bluedust" and adopted many of Goldust's mannerisms. After Goldust defeated Meanie at , Meanie became Goldust's apprentice. After Ryan Shamrock became Goldust's valet, Meanie and Shamrock began vying for Goldust's attention. In the same time period, Goldust won the Intercontinental Championship again from Road Dogg and then lost it to The Godfather two weeks later. He would team up with The Blue Meanie having a few matches against The Hardy Boyz until Goldust left the company in June 1999.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels returned to World Championship Wrestling on the November 8, 1999 edition of "WCW Monday Nitro", filming several vignettes for a fantastical, face-painted character named Seven. These vignettes contained ominous footage of Rhodes in full makeup standing outside a child's bedroom window. The gimmick was reported to have been based on "The Strangers" from the 1998 film noir "Dark City". The character was dropped after Turner Standards and Practices expressed concern that this gimmick could be misinterpreted as a child abductor. Upon returning to WCW television, Rhodes removed his costume and delivered a worked shoot in which he mocked unrealistic gimmicks as well as his time as Goldust in the WWF. After turning heel upon his return, Runnels began wrestling as "The American Nightmare" Dustin Rhodes, with his nickname a reference to his father's nickname, "The American Dream".


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Rhodes feuded with Jeff Jarrett before feuding with Terry Funk. He was (kayfabe) fired by Vince Russo at Spring Stampede in April 2000 for failing to prevent Terry Funk from winning the vacant Hardcore Championship, against Norman Smiley.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels returned to WCW television in January 2001, assisting his father in his feud with Jarrett and, eventually, Ric Flair. He wrestled on the final WCW pay-per-view, Greed on March 18, 2001. In March 2001, WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, but the WWF did not acquire Runnels' contract.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In July 2001, Runnels, while still under contract to AOL Time Warner, began wrestling for his father's newly created Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, winning the promotion's Heavyweight Championship.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels competed on the independent circuit, first appearing for his father's promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling. Competing as Dustin Rhodes, he captured the TCW Heavyweight Championship from Scotty Riggs on January 26, but vacated the title immediately afterwards after it was confirmed that he would be returning to WWE. Following his return to the WWE at the 2002 Royal Rumble, he made two more appearances with TCW, the first in a six-man tag team match with his father Dusty and Ron Studd against Riggs, Fake Goldust, and Jason Sugarmann, and the second in a singles victory over Steve Corino.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: In December 2001, Runnels accepted a buyout from his AOL Time Warner contract and was re-signed by the World Wrestling Federation to a two-year deal. Promos immediately began airing on WWF television advertising the return of Goldust. On January 20, 2002, he officially returned by taking part in the Royal Rumble, reprising his Goldust character. Shortly after returning, promos began airing for a few weeks of Goldust saying that there was a certain wrestler whose "star was shining brighter" than he would like. He eventually revealed the person he was talking about was Rob Van Dam by attacking him on "Raw", turning heel in the process. Van Dam defeated him in a singles match at No Way Out. After the loss, he moved on to the hardcore division, where he won the Hardcore Championship on nine occasions.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: When the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment and the roster was divided into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, Goldust was assigned to the Raw brand, where he formed a tag team with Booker T. The duo engaged in numerous comedic vignettes, on one occasion hosting a segment titled "Booker T and Goldust at the Movies" and delivering reviews of "The Scorpion King", a film starring The Rock. In May 2002, Booker joined the New World Order (nWo), with Goldust's request to join the faction rejected. In June 2002, Booker was ejected from the nWo by Shawn Michaels, sparking a feud between the nWo and Booker and Goldust. Booker and Goldust went on to compete in the tag team division, winning the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon before being forced to split up on the February 3, 2003 episode of "Raw" by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff for failing to win back the World Tag Team Championship.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Following the dissolution of the tag team, Goldust contracted a stutter and Tourette's-like symptoms, upon receiving a shock from a Round Tube during an attack at the hands of Batista and Randy Orton. Goldust appeared in character on "The Howard Stern Show" in March 2003. He appeared sporadically thereafter, forming a tag team with Lance Storm in August 2003. In fall 2003, Booker T began receiving mysterious, haunting messages for a few weeks from somebody. The messages only said "I remember". It was rumored that the messages would be from Goldust, which would have begun a feud between the two. Suddenly, the angle was never mentioned again on television and the company announced on their website that they would not be renewing Rhodes' contract. WWE allowed his contract to expire in December 2003.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Following his release from WWE in December 2003, Runnels returned to the independent circuit while concurrently competing in his first stint with TNA. He first appeared for the Japanese promotion WORLD-1, as Dusty Rhodes Jr., working three dates in early April, all singles matches and all victories. In July, Runnels returned to the United States and appeared for Full Impact Pro, tag teaming with Barry Windham and defeating the Cuban Assassin and Ryze.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels did not appear on the independent circuit for the rest of 2004 and much of 2005, until the first WrestleReunion, teaming with his father and Mike Graham against Abdullah the Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and CM Punk. After his departure from TNA, he made a few appearances with Dusty for CCW against Phi Delta Slam. Runnels also competed on the Tribute to "Starrcade" show on November 19 in a match against Terry Funk, which ended in a No-Contest.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On February 4, 2004, he debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as "The Lone Star" Dustin Rhodes, unsuccessfully challenging Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On February 18, Runnels and El Leon defeated Kevin Northcutt and Legend in a tag team bout. In December 2004, he returned to TNA, once again wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. on the January 7, 2005, episode of Impact, Rhodes and Jeff Hardy defeated Kash and Dallas. On the January 14 episode of Impact, Rhodes defeated Chris Candido. At Final Resolution, Rhodes defeated Kid Kash. on the February 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Rhodes and America's Most Wanted defeated Kid Kash, Dallas and Raven in a six-man tag team match. at Against All Odds, Rhodes lost to Raven but got payback at Destination X when he defeated Raven in a bullrope match. He then entered a feud with Bobby Roode and at Lockdown, Rhodes defeated Roode in a 2 out of 3 falls Prince of Darkness cage match. His TNA contract expired in April 2005 and he chose not to renew it, leaving TNA.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels returned to World Wrestling Entertainment on October 31, 2005, as a heel and back under the Goldust attire, as Jonathan Coachman enlisted him and Vader to attack Batista. Golddust and Vader unsuccessfully interfered in a Street Fight between Batista and Coachman on behalf of Coachman at Taboo Tuesday. Following the event, Goldust once again disappeared from television. In January 2006, Goldust took part in the Royal Rumble match and was assigned once again to the "Raw" brand until he was released from his WWE contract on June 14, 2006, for no-showing an appearance. Runnels made a short appearance at WrestleMania 22 to give Booker T advice on his match against The Boogeyman where he insinuated that the only way he could beat The Boogeyman was to put worms in his anus.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: After returning to his fourth stint with WWE, Runnels once again disappeared from the indies, but made a special appearance with Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling on March 3, 2006, as Goldust, in a match against Lawler, which he lost after Lawler hit him with a steel chain.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Runnels was released from his fourth stint with WWE on June 14. Two weeks and six days later, on July 1, he returned to WORLD-1, defeating Tully Blanchard in the main event. On October 14, he appeared with the UK promotion One Pro Wrestling, under the name Gold Dustin (the name he would use in AJPW) with a victory over Curry Man.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: While competing for AJPW in 2007, Runnels returned to CCW to feud with Phi Delta Slam, mainly in tag team matches with a variety of partners, including Kip James. In mid-2007, he made several appearances with Hermie Sadler's UWF promotion to hype his return to TNA, making his debut on March 2 with a victory over Steve Corino. He appeared with UWF throughout his second tenure with TNA, facing the likes of Scott Steiner, Sabu, David Flair, Andrew Martin, and D'Lo Brown. His tenure in UWF also saw him compete in the often-considered "cross-promotional" War Games match against Team JBL (managed by John Bradshaw Layfield, who was signed to WWE as a commentator at the time) consisting of Steve Corino, C.W. Anderson, the Latin American Xchange, and Elix Skipper. Runnels was a member of Sgt. Slaughter's Team Slaughter, along with the Steiner Brothers and the Mack Brothers. Team Slaughter won the bout. Runnels' final appearance with UWF was on September 22, 2007, where he and Abyss were on the losing end of a tag team bout against D'Lo Brown and a local football coach.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On January 28, 2007, it was announced that Rhodes would appear at the February 17, 2007, All Japan Pro Wrestling show in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. On February 15, Rhodes, identified as Gold Dustin, appeared at ringside during a match involving The Great Muta, resulting in a brawl between Rhodes and The Great Muta. On February 17, Rhodes and Jinsei Shinzaki were defeated by The Great Muta and Yoshihiro Tajiri in a tag team bout.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On July 15, 2007, Rhodes returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling at Victory Road and aligned himself with Christian Cage by helping him defeat "Wildcat" Chris Harris. In an interview on "TNA Impact!" conducted by Mike Tenay, Rhodes discussed accusations of having a split personality and stated that he was going to embrace it and let it out. TNA presented the interview as being an emotional breakdown on the part of Rhodes. On August 12 at Hard Justice, Rhodes debuted his new ring name, Black Reign, and a "new, darker and bizarre look". At Hard Justice, Harris defeated Black Reign via disqualification when Black Reign attacked several referees. The next week, the gimmick was explored even further, saying that Rhodes constantly switched between Rhodes and Black Reign. He was featured at Bound for Glory in a Monster's Ball match against Rhino, Abyss, and Raven, which he lost. Black Reign challenged Abyss to a "Shop of Horrors" match at Genesis and lost. At Genesis, Black Reign's new partner, Rellik (which is "Killer" spelled backwards), made his debut after attacking Abyss. At Turning Point, Abyss and Raven defeated Black Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks. Originally, this match was signed to be Abyss and Rhino versus Rellik and Black Reign but, due to an injury, Rhino was replaced by Raven for this match.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On "Impact!", he helped Rellik beat up Kaz. Later the same night, he appeared for an interview, as Dustin Rhodes, without his Black Reign make-up and stated that his "alter ego" has been scaring him since when he was a little kid. His interview was interrupted by the furious Kaz. This led to a match between the two at Final Resolution where Kaz won. Reign and his partner Rellik then began feuding with Eric Young and his new superhero gimmick Super Eric. At Destination X, Black Reign and Rellik faced Eric Young and Kaz in a losing effort. At Lockdown, Black Reign and Rellik competed in a Six Team Cuffed in the Cage match which was won by Kaz and Super Eric. After three months of not showing up on television, Black Reign's profile was removed from the TNA roster page and he was released from his TNA contract.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: Following his release from TNA in early 2008, Runnels briefly returned to Coastal Championship Wrestling to face the members of Phi Delta Slam (Bruno Sassi and Big Tilly) before beginning his fifth stint in WWE in October 2008.


title: Dustin Rhodes

text: On October 26, 2008, Runnels returned to the WWE at Cyber Sunday under his Goldust persona as part of the three choices (the other two being Roddy Piper and The Honky Tonk Man) that the fans could choose to face Santino Marella for the Intercontinental Championship. After Honky Tonk Man was chosen and won via disqualification, Goldust and Piper entered the ring and the three candidates fought Marella, afterwards celebrating together in the ring. The following night on "Raw", Goldust appeared again with Piper and the Honky Tonk Man as guest commentators for Marella's match with Charlie Haas. The match ended when Goldust and Piper distracted Marella so that Honky Tonk Man could smash his guitar over Marella's head.