an exciting experience

[distracts]

My mom and I visited a jeweler today in our quest to fix or remake her engagement ring. They had a neat gadget that was like a hand-held microscope that plugged into the computer so you could see the stuff on the monitor. I was super-excited about it and the jeweler let me play with it. My e-ring sapphire is pretty clean, and although I can see stuff under the loupe, it wasn't ever neato inclusions like in the super-magnified pictures I have seen of sapphire inclusions, where it looks like awesome geography. But with this microscope thingy! Oh! My stone was just RIDDLED with inclusions! It was weird to see, and now I feel like there are all these funny inclusions ~lurking~ unseen in my stone. To use some incredibly untechnical terms, I saw a lot of dotty stuff. There also seemed to be some very light wavy/liney stuff. I wish I had seen if the jeweler could have saved some screencaps and emailed them to me so I could post them, because my knowledge of inclusions is pretty limited and I absolutely cannot name (or even really describe) what I saw, or even find pictures of something similar on the interwebs. But trust me that it was cool. Fyi, my stone is unheated, at least theoretically... in the several months between buying the stone and me moving in, my fiance lost the paperwork so I don't know what lab and thus how reliable their testing is, and while when I bought it I knew enough to want stones with lab reports, I wasn't picky about the lab. Source of embarrassment and insecurity to me now, of course, but it's my e-ring stone and the color and sparkliness leave me breathless, so there you have it.

(I also took the opportunity to check out the pave work on the shank in even more detail than the 10x loupe provides. It held up to scrutiny.)

The jeweler said I could come back any time to look at stones under the thingy as long as it wasn't being used, but I said, shoot, I'm buying one of those suckers for my home computer! It was really super fun, and I want to see alllll of my stones that way, and my jewelry, and my iphone, and my bunny, and EVERYTHING. But especially my sapphire. I highly recommend it for all your stones. *nodnod*

 

[JewelFreak]

It was really super fun, and I want to see alllll of my stones that way, and my jewelry, and my iphone, and my bunny, and EVERYTHING.

You're adorable, Distracts. If your sapphire leaves you breathless, it's perfect, no matter what you see under a microscope -- which is an entire new world, isn't it? Now you've made me want one of those gadgets -- I'm gonna google "thingy" right away!

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

That certainly sounds like a load of fun; the gem not only provides eye candy in the usual way but also is interesting when magnified. Observing and studying inclusions has always interested me. Many have unusual shapes and colours.

 

[Starzin]

It was really super fun, and I want to see alllll of my stones that way, and my jewelry, and my iphone, and my bunny, and EVERYTHING.

You're adorable, Distracts. If your sapphire leaves you breathless, it's perfect, no matter what you see under a microscope -- which is an entire new world, isn't it? Now you've made me want one of those gadgets -- I'm gonna google "thingy" right away!

You're as mad as each other!!

Distracts you do realize don't you, that when you get the thingy you'll never buy another gem once you've viewed it with the thingy? Just think $2k for the thingy and all gem expenditure stops because none of them will ever be clean enough A lifetime of amusement for the whole family.

 

[T L]

Inclusions are very interesting, and honestly, I like some gems to have them, like spinel, which is often synthetic, but some inclusions will show that the gem is natural. I always found it so funny that people care so much about flawlessness. I think in the diamond world, it's a different story (but I wouldn't lose sleep over having a non-IF diamond), but in colored gems, they're often a good thing to have, and give the stone a unique identity, like a fingerprint. Also the color tends to hide inclusions. If you have a sapphire with inclusions, and some of those are rutile needles, they indicate either low heat or no treatment, and to me, they're a very good thing to have in corundum.

 

[VapidLapid]

To fit every budget

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Digital-Microscopes/ci/12478/N/4220238041

 

[LD]

I've got one and it's awesome. The only thing is that if you push it forward, the picture on the screen moves backwards so basically you have to learn to move the opposite way that you want to go (or maybe I've just got a weird one)!

The other issue is that the colour is washed out but the inclusions are phenomenal. You can also take still photos which is fantastic! Here's an inclusion in one of my Paraiba Tourmalines - doesn't it look like a metal castle?

I bought mine from Ebay and you can pick them up very cheaply.

 

[Starzin]

Wow. That really does look a little like a castle or even an "ice scape".