beryllium treatment

[thirdrock]

Hi,

I’ve been lurking here for a while and have a question regarding yellow sapphires.

If a stone is looked at by a few appraisers, and they all say that it may not have been heated or it could have had a little low heat treatment but they can’t tell. (One inclusion was unaffected by heat the other is questionable.) Does that rule out the possibility of lattice diffusion/beryllium treatment?

 

[T L]

No. Some be treatment cannot be detected with standard gemological equipment. The best labs have access to a mass spectrometer, the best way to detect be treatment.

I have two sapphires that I sent to AGL, the head gemologist was able to detect just standard heat treatment only in one of them with only his standard equipment. The other one he sent to a facility with a mass spectrometer, as he could not rule out be treatment with his tools. It was then determined that stone also was only heated, nothing else.

The gemologists you’re describing seem a bit unsure and I wouldn’t trust them to make the definitive decision. You’re much better off sending it to a lab that had access to a mass spectrometer.

I hope that answers your question.

 

[thirdrock]

Thanks for responding.

Isn’t beryllium treatment a high heat process? The two gemologist with a lot of experience were certain it was only low heat, if anything. The third one couldn’t even identify that it was real sapphire at first. Then she said that I would have to send it to a lab to determine if the diamonds were real. But she also said that it had one inclusion not affected by heat and one that she couldn’t tell. The other gemologists said she must be very inexperienced and I’m sure she was by the way she was acting. I don’t have time to send it to a lab. I need to make a decision within a couple of days. The gemological references that I’ve read state that evidence of low heat rules out beryllium treatment but I thought I’d double check here.

 

[T L]

Thanks for responding.

Isn’t beryllium treatment a high heat process? The two gemologist with a lot of experience were certain it was only low heat, if anything. The third one couldn’t even identify that it was real sapphire at first. Then she said that I would have to send it to a lab to determine if the diamonds were real. But she also said that it had one inclusion not affected by heat and one that she couldn’t tell. The other gemologists said she must be very inexperienced and I’m sure she was by the way she was acting. I don’t have time to send it to a lab. I need to make a decision within a couple of days. The gemological references that I’ve read state that evidence of low heat rules out beryllium treatment but I thought I’d double check here.

Unfortunately, you’re taking a huge risk if you don’t send it to a highly equipped and reputable lab. If the stone is pricey, I would insist on a reputable lab report with full trreatment disclosure (“heated” is insufficient), with a refund if it’s not what it was advertised as. You should not be rushed into a pricey decision. If the stone isn’t expensive, then it might be worth the risk. If these dealers are trying to rush you, I would run.

ETA: I would not reference gemological references if they came from online gem retail sites. I would only refer to very current literature from gemological lab sites like GIA or AGL. Since all three gemologists cannot agree, how can you possibly be certain? I personally trust gemologists with a solid reputation in the trade, like Chris Smith of AGL, when it comes to corundum.

 

[thirdrock]

They all 3 agreed that the stone either wasn’t heated or had low or very little heat treatment. There wasn’t any discrepancy on that.

My only question is...does anyone know of any beryllium diffusion treatment that uses low heat?

 

[Frost]

Long story short, absolutely no. No way for beryllium to penetrate the crystal lattice, even on the surface itself, without truly extreme temperatures.

The caveat - don't trust a microscopical examination to tell you 'no heat' for sure, you need both positive microscope signs and an FTIR readout consistent with unheated to be sure. And while perhaps it may not have been Be heated, it could still have had some low heat applied to it and that definitely does impact its value. High heat and low heat don't really have a significant price difference (assuming no Be in high heat). But unheated and 'low heated' certainly do.

To make it all even more fun, some unheated sapphires from Madagascar and Australia can naturally contain beryllium - and again, while it's not something one is likely to encounter, it's a remote possibility (so in theory, you can have an unheated beryllium-bearing sapphire; they are distinguished from heated beryllium diffused ones by other trace elements being naturally present in those origins that aren't there in treated ones - GIA had an article on it a while ago).

 

[thirdrock]

Thanks for your response Frost. The information about natural beryllium is very interesting.

Fortunately, I was able to find an expert to look at the ring and put my worries to rest. I understand to find out if it’s heated or not, I’ll have to send the sapphire to a lab. I’ll probably do that if I reset the stone to make sure it’s insured for the correct amount. Any heat treatment wouldn’t have affected my decision to keep it, as I knew that was a possibility when I purchased it. I also knew that beryllium treatment would be unlikely because of the age of the ring. I just needed some expert opinions in case anything was misrepresented.

Thanks also to TL for the advice about the lab report.

 

[T L]

Thanks for your response Frost. The information about natural beryllium is very interesting.

Fortunately, I was able to find an expert to look at the ring and put my worries to rest. I understand to find out if it’s heated or not, I’ll have to send the sapphire to a lab. I’ll probably do that if I reset the stone to make sure it’s insured for the correct amount. Any heat treatment wouldn’t have affected my decision to keep it, as I knew that was a possibility when I purchased it. I also knew that beryllium treatment would be unlikely because of the age of the ring. I just needed some expert opinions in case anything was misrepresented.

Thanks also to TL for the advice about the lab report.

You’re welcome. I’m also glad Frost was able to provide more specifics.

Just a side note, jewelers often switch out old stones with new ones in some old settings, so an older setting is not a guarantee of the stone not having more modern treatments.