Lightly Treated with Origin versus Untreated without Origin

[Indylady]

Would you rather have a treated stone from a particular origin, or an untreated stone from any origin? To clarify myself, I''m talking about light and fairly ''standard''/permanent/non-evasive treatments...I''m talking some heat, cedar oil, etc.
If you had the choice between a heated Ceylon pad, a heated Burmese ruby, an oiled Colombian emerald

or

an unheated African pad, an unheated Vietnamese ruby, or an un-oiled Zambian emerald, what would you pick?



I''ve heard gemologists say that the best ''Ceylon'' Sapphire they had ever seen was from Africa; I''m definitely not denying that you can find the ''top colors'' in a gem from mines around the world. However, certain colors of gems tend to be more abundant in certain areas...Burmese rubies that tend to be purple-red, Colombian emeralds that tend to be blue-green. Does this affect your decision?




To kick this off, I''m going to say that I would prefer to only buy an unheated sapphire. I would purchase a heated ruby, and possibly an oiled emerald.

 

[serenitydiamonds]

Date: 11/8/2009 1:41:07 PM
Author:szh07
Would you rather have a treated stone from a particular origin, or an untreated stone from any origin? To clarify myself, I''m talking about light and fairly ''standard''/permanent/non-evasive treatments...I''m talking some heat, cedar oil, etc.

If you had the choice between a heated Ceylon pad, a heated Burmese ruby, an oiled Colombian emerald


or


an unheated African pad, an unheated Vietnamese ruby, or an un-oiled Zambian emerald, what would you pick?




I''ve heard gemologists say that the best ''Ceylon'' Sapphire they had ever seen was from Africa; I''m definitely not denying that you can find the ''top colors'' in a gem from mines around the world. However, certain colors of gems tend to be more abundant in certain areas...Burmese rubies that tend to be purple-red, Colombian emeralds that tend to be blue-green. Does this affect your decision?





To kick this off, I''m going to say that I would prefer to only buy an unheated sapphire. I would purchase a heated ruby, and possibly an oiled emerald.

I would buy heated or oiled stones if the treatment wasn''t excessive. I prefer a beautiful stone as that''s what people are going to notice, it takes a lab to tell the rest.

Origin is very important to me unless something blew me away quality-wise.

--Joshua

 

[LD]

I would buy heated or oiled stones but NOT BE diffused, coated etc.

At the end of the day, I buy for beauty and prefer something to be as natural as possible. I''m not fussed on origin unless I''m looking for a specific high end piece. However, origin doesn''t guarantee beauty so it''s not top of my list.

 

[Indylady]

LD- Thanks for your input! I feel pretty much the same way.

Josh- Why would you say that the origin is important? Because of the influence it might have on color? On value? On ''authenticity''? (for example, some say that a true pad only comes from Ceylon, etc)

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I am indifferent to origin, given the same quality. I am also tolerant of light treatment (gentle heating, oiling), so I probably would go for lightly treated without origin

 

[bikes333]

I''m going to have to side with serenitydiamonds on this one.

I prefer the looks over the origin mostly. Granted you can get carried away if you go too far either way.

 

[chrono]

I am not fussed on origin unless it ALSO has the looks. For me, looks comes first. If it happens to come from the famed origin, then it''s a plus. As for treatment, depending on the stone, I''d prefer untreated, followed by plain heating. No fillers, no oiling and no BE diffusion. The only exception for oiling is emeralds and emeralds only.

 

[morecarats]

Origin tends to be important insofar as many fine stones of a particular variety are known to come from a particular origin. But of course there are inferior gems from the famous location, and some fine stones from other locations.

Origin can also be misleading. Just to cite one example, the finest Burmese rubies come from Mogok. But these days the production from Mogok is small and most Burmese rubies come from Mong Hsu. The Mong Hsu deposit was huge, but the rubies were of much lower quality than those of Mogok. They required subtantial treament before they looked like Burmese rubies. But the market paid high prices for them because they could be sold as Burmese.

 

[T L]

Date: 11/8/2009 1:41:07 PM
Author:szh07
Would you rather have a treated stone from a particular origin, or an untreated stone from any origin? To clarify myself, I''m talking about light and fairly ''standard''/permanent/non-evasive treatments...I''m talking some heat, cedar oil, etc.
If you had the choice between a heated Ceylon pad, a heated Burmese ruby, an oiled Colombian emerald

or

an unheated African pad, an unheated Vietnamese ruby, or an un-oiled Zambian emerald, what would you pick?



I''ve heard gemologists say that the best ''Ceylon'' Sapphire they had ever seen was from Africa; I''m definitely not denying that you can find the ''top colors'' in a gem from mines around the world. However, certain colors of gems tend to be more abundant in certain areas...Burmese rubies that tend to be purple-red, Colombian emeralds that tend to be blue-green. Does this affect your decision?




To kick this off, I''m going to say that I would prefer to only buy an unheated sapphire. I would purchase a heated ruby, and possibly an oiled emerald.

That''s a very good question. For me, the color and the lack of treatment are the two most important considerations. There are some stones that have a premium charge due to their origin, like Kashmir and Burmese sapphires, and Brazilian Paraiba tourmalines, so in that case, it would be a tough decision for me. However, if I could find a stone of remarkable color and it came from a less than desirable origin, like a super neon Mozambique "paraiba" tourmaline, I would jump on it. It might also help me save a little $$$ as well. If I was buying based on origin, it should/must come with a reputable lab report indicating the origin. I don''t know if I answered your question very well, but in the end, it probably would be origin second to the lack of treatment.

 

[ma re]

The only time I''d be interested in a particular origin would be if I''d have unlimited budget and be able to have both, great quality and a particular origin. Otherwise, origin means very little to me.

 

[morecarats]

Date: 11/9/2009 2:52:08 AM
Author: ma re
The only time I''d be interested in a particular origin would be if I''d have unlimited budget and be able to have both, great quality and a particular origin. Otherwise, origin means very little to me.

I would have to disagree. Origin is important to me and I think it is important to many gem buyers. Some examples of why origin is important:

1. I want to know if the gemstone was manufactured in a lab or came out of the ground.

2. I want to know if the gemstone was mined in a war zone.

3. I want to know what country (and if possible, what region) the gemstone was mined in. This is because I want to buy the best specimen I can from the particular location. If a ruby is from Tanzania, for example, I will apply different standards than I will in buying a Madagascar ruby.

4. If you''re an American, you want to know if a piece of ruby or jadeite is from Burma. It is currently illegal to import Burmese ruby or jadeite to the USA.

5. Knowing the origin bears on the market price. For example, Zambian emeralds tend to have a lower price than Columbian emeralds, even if for Zambian material that may be preferred by many buyers. If you don''t know the origin, you might not get a fair price.

 

[T L]

Date: 11/9/2009 7:38:12 AM
Author: morecarats

Date: 11/9/2009 2:52:08 AM
Author: ma re
The only time I''d be interested in a particular origin would be if I''d have unlimited budget and be able to have both, great quality and a particular origin. Otherwise, origin means very little to me.

I would have to disagree. Origin is important to me and I think it is important to many gem buyers. Some examples of why origin is important:

1. I want to know if the gemstone was manufactured in a lab or came out of the ground.

2. I want to know if the gemstone was mined in a war zone.

3. I want to know what country (and if possible, what region) the gemstone was mined in. This is because I want to buy the best specimen I can from the particular location. If a ruby is from Tanzania, for example, I will apply different standards than I will in buying a Madagascar ruby.

4. If you''re an American, you want to know if a piece of ruby or jadeite is from Burma. It is currently illegal to import Burmese ruby or jadeite to the USA.

5. Knowing the origin bears on the market price. For example, Zambian emeralds tend to have a lower price than Columbian emeralds, even if for Zambian material that may be preferred by many buyers. If you don''t know the origin, you might not get a fair price.

MC,
You raise excellent points. I had thought the OP was trying to understand the perspective for stones that have a premium due to their origin. In that regard, that is how I answered the question, but there are so many other things to consider when knowing about origin, as you have pointed out.

 

[Indylady]

TL, I think you understood exactly what I was asking.

MC- Thank you so much for your break down of why the origin of a stone is important. I hadn''t thought of applying different standards to a single type of gem depending on origin. Rather, I have certain preferences for colors in gems, so I would look for that specific color rather than the top color of the area I was buying from. As a collector, your point makes a lot of sense. Prized rubies from Winza look different from the top rubies from Burma, and its an interesting perspective to look for the top color from each area.

 

[haagen_dazs]

personally i would like to buy the gemstone for its wonderful colour.
if it has to come from a certain origin, so be it.
however even if the colour is great but the gemstone is from a lesser known place,that still works for me and my wallet.
however if i know that there are a lot of unethical actions that lead to a certain gemstone to be mined, i would then avoid buying the gemstone. its just not right and feeling is not good to finance wrong doing