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Confusion over pink stones

isaku5

Ideal_Rock
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Aug 15, 2005
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A couple of years ago I bought a few morganites and kunzites. All but three were labelled so I took those to our local jewellery store where I was told they were all amethysts :confused:

I know that both kunzites and morganites are beryls, but amethysts are part of the quartz family.

Should I try another jeweller??
 

Lisa Loves Shiny

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Are you trying to find out if your jeweler's description is accurate? If so find a good GIA graduate appraiser who will test your stones. My appraiser will spend an hour testing stones for $40. If I want a written appraisal with pics then she charges slightly more.
 

Pandora II

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isaku5|1315702514|3014733 said:
A couple of years ago I bought a few morganites and kunzites. All but three were labelled so I took those to our local jewellery store where I was told they were all amethysts :confused:

I know that both kunzites and morganites are beryls, but amethysts are part of the quartz family.

Should I try another jeweller??

Kunzite is a spodumene, morganite is a beryl.

Establishing if a stone is a quartz (amethyst) takes a minute with a polariscope and conoscope. Did the guy use that or a refractometer or anything? You're probably better finding someone who is a GG or FGA to look at them for you. A lot of jewellers wouldn't even know what a kunzite was...
 

LD

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It's very easy to separate the three. The RI of Morganite is (1.572-1.600), Kunzite (1.660-1.676) and Amethyst (1.544 - 1.553). This test can be done very quickly by most appraisers/jewellers.
 

isaku5

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Pandora|1315703586|3014741 said:
isaku5|1315702514|3014733 said:
A couple of years ago I bought a few morganites and kunzites. All but three were labelled so I took those to our local jewellery store where I was told they were all amethysts :confused:

I know that both kunzites and morganites are beryls, but amethysts are part of the quartz family.

Should I try another jeweller??

Kunzite is a spodumene, morganite is a beryl.

Establishing if a stone is a quartz (amethyst) takes a minute with a polariscope and conoscope. Did the guy use that or a refractometer or anything? You're probably better finding someone who is a GG or FGA to look at them for you. A lot of jewellers wouldn't even know what a kunzite was...


Thanks for the correction, Pandora. :bigsmile:

All this guy did was use a loupe on all three loose stones. I will check with a GG to find out the RI of all three. Thanks so much LovingDiamonds. :appl: :wavey:
 

FrekeChild

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Dec 14, 2007
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Yup. Odds are they have no idea what kunzite or morganite are!
 

chrono

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Yikes, I wouldn't dare eyeball a stone with a loupe and state what it is. Please have somebody with a refractometer take a look at it.
 

davi_el_mejor

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Mar 8, 2010
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1,947
If you have a black light, your kunzite might fluoresce a nifty orange color. (It depends on its origins and treatments)

I don't think that morganite or quartz fluoresce. I could be wrong though and I'm sure someone will correct me :D
 

isaku5

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 15, 2005
Messages
3,296
Thanks Davi and Chrono. I'm almost certain this guy doesn't have a clue about either morganite or kunzite. The jeweller I should have taken it to is closed Mondays, but I left a message on his voice mail. Hopefully, we'll be able to have them assessed tomorrow. :wavey:
 
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