Do you loupe your colored stone?

[chictomato]

Hi all! I was just wondering if you gals have the habit of scrutinizing your colored stones with a 10x loupe? especially after setting it? TIA

 

[chrono]

Yes. I loupe it upon first receiving the stone to be sure it is undamaged and to check for the type of inclusions (if not loupe clean). I also loupe it after it is set to make sure the stone sits well in the setting and is undamaged from the setting process.

 

[Nashville]

Yes! I think that certain inclusions are fascinating and make my stone unique. And I like to make sure that prongs and such are even on my jewelry when it's new.

 

[Kismet]

Nope. If it looks okay to my naked eye then I'm okay with that. As for prongs, I give it the hair test; if I can run my fingers through my hair without any prongs yanking my hair out then they're okay, otherwise they need to be fixed.

 

[Barrett]

all kinds of cool things you can see with a loupe..really if you like gemstones..buy them..sell them..or do anything with them you should really have a loupe..they go hand in hand with gemstones..I actually prefer my 20x over my 10x as standard now

 

[T L]

I loupe it and shine a UV light on it.

 

[soberguy]

I love inclusions so much. They can tell you so much about your gem. I have a cheapo microscope though.

 

[LD]

A really interesting question. I had to think long and hard about it. My first acid test is how it looks without a loupe (that will determine if it's pleasing to the eye). Then if I need to identify it further or just for fun, will loupe it. I've learned the hard way though that if you loupe a piece after it's been set, invariably you'll see what looks like shoddy workmanship. Actually it's "normal" workmanship and nothing to be worried about but I've seen people get so het up because of tiny scratch marks that I wonder if it's a good or bad thing to own a loupe!!!

However, what I will say is that I love looking at inclusions for fun and identification. I found this really cool inclusion in one of my gems. I have NO idea what it is but suspect copper.

 

[Barrett]

nice pic LD!

 

[StonieGrl]

Absolutely and I loupe again when I get my finished jewelry back.

Hmmmm, need better light per TL's post....

 

[Harriet]

No. I backlight it.

 

[chictomato]

Hi all! Thanks for the input!

I loupe all my stones when I receive it and after setting. Yes I do look them under UV and incandescent light too Wow its cool to look under a microscope, though I have yet to get one

That's a cool inclusion pict Lovingdiamonds

I have one to share too (courtesy from Michael E) it is found in my chrome tourmaline. According to Michael it is some sort of very clear crystal which has had it's facet junctions worn down during the crystallization of the surrounding tourmaline. I thought that kinda cool. Do share your inclusion photos too

 

[LD]

Chic what a superb photo and how special knowing that's inside your gem! Coooooool!

 

[dzop]

I have a very good quality loupe, and I actually find that when I use it on stones it allows me to judge their color more accurately my dint of the larger apparent size through the loupe. Particularly so for finding unwanted modifiers.

EDIT: Here's a pic I just took. Put the loupe next to my cellphone camera, took the pic with indirect sunlight. Took about 30 seconds.



The violetish-blue stone is a cushion tanzanite from Tan (about 0.9 ct), the pink stone is a octagon/barion hybrid tourmaline from Tan (1.3ish ct), the olive grey stone is a "blue-violet" spinel from Dan Stair (~0.9 ct). I never noticed the green modifier on the Dan Stair stone till I louped it.

 

[Indylady]

Nein!