Yesterday I found out that my supplier of square-cut detachable earring drops is switching partly to man-made, and I was not made aware. The only indication is the word "quartz." Luckily most of my six pairs of their drops are real except the indigo quartz. Since quartz occurs in nature...I never thought they weren't real. And they are listed in the Real Gems section. I'm kinda disappointed in the company. The drops used to be all real but apparently customers became very angry about any imperfections so they are switching to man-made. I do have quite a few real gemstone drops from them. They are all inexpensive, but still. I ordered some amethyst quartz drops thinking they were real amethyst like they used to supply, and they should arrive today. I don't want them and will send them back, and will also return to my local jeweler the gold hoops I bought to wear them with. Since when did the word "quartz" mean "man-made"? Quartz is a naturally occurring mineral.
This has brought up memories of other times during my fifteen-plus years of jewelry buying when I've been duped. Not often, and not for anything hugely expensive, but still. It's not a nice feeling. I have a beautiful London Blue topaz ring from Macys' set in 14k with diamonds, and some lovely light blue topaz drop earrings. When buying, I was fully aware that blue topaz is routinely irradiated and heated, and I was fine with that, but I am suspicious of those Macy's topazes in case they're coated, or made from powder or whatever. I bought them a long time ago. The ring $300 and the earrings $90.
The biggest deception a few years ago was a gorgeous opal fringe necklace that turned out to be synthetic, lab-grown opal, probably Gilson opal. So not fake, but synthetic. That set me back about $1300 because I also bought the matching earrings and a smaller pendant made of the same stones. I bought the smaller two pieces long before the fringe necklace, and the deception came to light with the fringe necklace, which cost $840. The seller wrote on the receipt "C opal" for "created opal" which gave it away. The store owner insisted that his SA would have told me when we were discussing the sale in the store, but she didn't, and neither did he when he sold me the two other pieces - but that had been about a year before. They did write it on the receipt for the fringe necklace, which is how it came to light. After basically calling me a liar, he did offer my money back on the fringe necklace. I was very flustered and didn't know what to do. I decided to keep it on the basis that it's really beautiful, and that synthetic opal is not fake, and that I couldn't have afforded an opal necklace of finely-matched opals like the gorgeous synthetic fringe one.
I have a lot of other jewelry, and can be confident it's real as it's from places like BGD, Whiteflash, Blue Nile, Pearl Paradise, and my very reputable, established local jeweler. Relative to all that I have, the instances of deception have been small and not too costly.
BUT, it's got me thinking. You just can't trust anything to be truly "virgin" except gold, silver, and diamonds from reputable places. Even pearls are routinely bleached and pinked. I have colored jewelry from sources which I consider OK but who really knows, and there's really no sure way to tell what's been done to it. I have an amethyst ring and an aqua ring, both bought from good local jewelers, but there's really no way to tell what's been done. Frankly, it's depressing. The only colored jewelry I really trust is my sapphires from Whiteflash.
My way of dealing with the less natural stones I have which is basically the topaz, the synthetic opals, and the indigo quartz drops is to put it down to experience and try to enjoy them anyway, since they are indeed beautiful. But this experience with the detachable drops has left a sour taste. It's downheartening to think that colored stones are often so unknowable. I don't think I'm going to buy any more from this point on - I have enough, and I really feel done with the whole color thing, since I'm not committed enough to hunt down the best, and don't want to spend the money on rare exceptions to the rule, anyway.
I emailed Kiki McDonough to find out what treatments their stones have, and they haven't even answered. And there is nothing on their website. I'm sure their lemon quartz drops and smoky quartz etc must be highly treated like the rest of them, but she charges a thousand dollars! At least I didn't get any of those and my drops only cost $90.
I'm really talking about the emotional side of gem-shopping here. Overall, I don't feel as if I lost my shirt, but like any jewelry enthusiast, I've had one or two less than ideal experiences. I'm trying to get over my disappointment about the detachable drops and focus on just enjoying and wearing all the more suspect items in my collection on the basis that they are indeed beautiful, and were priced fairly, just not clearly disclosed.
It's the fact that in many cases you just cannot get to the bottom of what your colored jewelry is, that I find so disappointing.
This has brought up memories of other times during my fifteen-plus years of jewelry buying when I've been duped. Not often, and not for anything hugely expensive, but still. It's not a nice feeling. I have a beautiful London Blue topaz ring from Macys' set in 14k with diamonds, and some lovely light blue topaz drop earrings. When buying, I was fully aware that blue topaz is routinely irradiated and heated, and I was fine with that, but I am suspicious of those Macy's topazes in case they're coated, or made from powder or whatever. I bought them a long time ago. The ring $300 and the earrings $90.
The biggest deception a few years ago was a gorgeous opal fringe necklace that turned out to be synthetic, lab-grown opal, probably Gilson opal. So not fake, but synthetic. That set me back about $1300 because I also bought the matching earrings and a smaller pendant made of the same stones. I bought the smaller two pieces long before the fringe necklace, and the deception came to light with the fringe necklace, which cost $840. The seller wrote on the receipt "C opal" for "created opal" which gave it away. The store owner insisted that his SA would have told me when we were discussing the sale in the store, but she didn't, and neither did he when he sold me the two other pieces - but that had been about a year before. They did write it on the receipt for the fringe necklace, which is how it came to light. After basically calling me a liar, he did offer my money back on the fringe necklace. I was very flustered and didn't know what to do. I decided to keep it on the basis that it's really beautiful, and that synthetic opal is not fake, and that I couldn't have afforded an opal necklace of finely-matched opals like the gorgeous synthetic fringe one.
I have a lot of other jewelry, and can be confident it's real as it's from places like BGD, Whiteflash, Blue Nile, Pearl Paradise, and my very reputable, established local jeweler. Relative to all that I have, the instances of deception have been small and not too costly.
BUT, it's got me thinking. You just can't trust anything to be truly "virgin" except gold, silver, and diamonds from reputable places. Even pearls are routinely bleached and pinked. I have colored jewelry from sources which I consider OK but who really knows, and there's really no sure way to tell what's been done to it. I have an amethyst ring and an aqua ring, both bought from good local jewelers, but there's really no way to tell what's been done. Frankly, it's depressing. The only colored jewelry I really trust is my sapphires from Whiteflash.
My way of dealing with the less natural stones I have which is basically the topaz, the synthetic opals, and the indigo quartz drops is to put it down to experience and try to enjoy them anyway, since they are indeed beautiful. But this experience with the detachable drops has left a sour taste. It's downheartening to think that colored stones are often so unknowable. I don't think I'm going to buy any more from this point on - I have enough, and I really feel done with the whole color thing, since I'm not committed enough to hunt down the best, and don't want to spend the money on rare exceptions to the rule, anyway.
I emailed Kiki McDonough to find out what treatments their stones have, and they haven't even answered. And there is nothing on their website. I'm sure their lemon quartz drops and smoky quartz etc must be highly treated like the rest of them, but she charges a thousand dollars! At least I didn't get any of those and my drops only cost $90.
I'm really talking about the emotional side of gem-shopping here. Overall, I don't feel as if I lost my shirt, but like any jewelry enthusiast, I've had one or two less than ideal experiences. I'm trying to get over my disappointment about the detachable drops and focus on just enjoying and wearing all the more suspect items in my collection on the basis that they are indeed beautiful, and were priced fairly, just not clearly disclosed.
It's the fact that in many cases you just cannot get to the bottom of what your colored jewelry is, that I find so disappointing.
Most stones have a beautiful high gloss that looks like a nice polish job but is some kind of treatment that wears off after use. Heck those are just the treatments I'm aware of!
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