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Help! Cleaning Blue Topaz?????

P: 1/18/2005 6:28:19 PM
Maxine Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,394 Last Post: 10/25/2009 Member Since: 12/6/2004	I have a necklace/earring set of blue topaz stones bezel set in silver. Silver was very tarnished...I asked jeweler if OK to use silver cleaner, and he said OK. Put some cleaner on silver...of course some got on stone....It looked hazy inside...under neath on stone, so I gently brushed w/jewl cleaning brush....and "blue " like PEELED of right down the middle! Did I harm th blue topaz, or was it NOT blue topaz? How should I clean earrings (now that necklace is damaged.......)..The silver is really black!
Posted: 1/18/2005 6:28:19 PM

There are 6 replies to this message. There are 6 replies on this page.

P: 1/18/2005 6:40:58 PM
valeria101 Ideal Rock Total Posts: 14,048 Last Post: 4/30/2006 Member Since: 8/29/2003	Ouch! Blue topaz does not peel... it's just blue all over, inside and out. That must be colored by some coating - I can't begin to imagine what eactly that was - there are dozens of brands of syntetics and simulants out there. Even blue topaz can be coated since there are several treatments that yield types of "blue topaz" sold under different commercial names. As long as the silver cleaner is deemed safe to handle, it shouldn't be capable to damage blue toaz which is inert to every household chemical I can think of. Sorry to hear such thing. Cleaning inside bezels is not going to work easy with brute force and no chemical aid. You can probably tell by looking at the peeled area with a loupe if there is some film adhering to the stone. Not that I have any idea how to clean the piece ! Hope someone can help... Ana "The greatest experts are only as good as the sum total of what they have seen." [Souren Melikian]
Posted: 1/18/2005 6:40:58 PM

P: 1/18/2005 6:43:34 PM
Emeraldgirl Cut Rock Total Posts: 470 Last Post: 3/29/2005 Member Since: 11/11/2004	Could this be the result of some sort of diffusionm type coating as is used for green and mystic topaz? When the doors of perception are cleansed people will see things as they truely are - Jim Morrison At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid. - Friedrich Nietzsche
Posted: 1/18/2005 6:43:34 PM

P: 1/18/2005 6:58:49 PM
Maxine Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,394 Last Post: 10/25/2009 Member Since: 12/6/2004	I have no idea....good idea to look at it through loup!!!!
Posted: 1/18/2005 6:58:49 PM

P: 1/18/2005 7:09:38 PM
Fuffi Cut Rock Total Posts: 432 Last Post: 9/17/2006 Member Since: 5/29/2003	Ouch! Colorless topaz is sometimes surface coated-- similar to the nonreflective coating on eyeglasses. This layer is microscopic and very vulnerable to aggressive cleaning. Sounds like your situation. Don't know if there is much you can do to correct it though. Fuffi, G.G., A.J.P.
Posted: 1/18/2005 7:09:38 PM

P: 1/18/2005 7:22:31 PM
Maxine Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,394 Last Post: 10/25/2009 Member Since: 12/6/2004	Don't think the coating all came back....I only cleaned one...all have like crack marks on back....almost like ther is something on ther....But they are SO dirty, also...didn't clean aggressively....Could jeweler get off tarnish w/out using chemicals?
Posted: 1/18/2005 7:22:31 PM

P: 1/18/2005 7:38:50 PM
Fuffi Cut Rock Total Posts: 432 Last Post: 9/17/2006 Member Since: 5/29/2003	It is 'supposedly' ok to put coated topaz in an ultrasonic cleaner if you have one. This should clean your silver well, but I would check with your jeweler to see what he recommends given the special circumstances. Is your jeweler a gemologist who can examine the topaz for you? Fuffi, G.G., A.J.P.
Posted: 1/18/2005 7:38:50 PM

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