My stone has a splinter... What is this inclusion?

[GemFever]

Dear PSers,

Over the holidays I impulsively bought a small (5mm) pink spinel at a minerals store. I didn't see this inclusion at the store, or even for a couple days afterwards. When I pulled it out to ogle it yesterday, I noticed something that looks like a splinter in the stone. It does come to the surface, I just tried poking it with a needle, and bits come off. It almost looks like a strip of metal. Is this a normal occurrence? I'll include a pic, the best I could do to capture it. One of the pics is overexposed to make the inclusion more visible.

- Anya

 

[Michael_E]

I noticed something that looks like a splinter in the stone. It does come to the surface, I just tried poking it with a needle, and bits come off. It almost looks like a strip of metal. Is this a normal occurrence?

Yes, it is a normal occurance. It appears to be a "negative crystal", which occurs when the spinel crystal grows around a pre-existing crystal of some other species, with the original dissappearing, leaving a hollow shape behind. Most gems have some sort of inclusions in them and those which are totally clean and clear make up much less than 1% of all of the crystals mined. I think that it's neat looking, (it looks like the original crystal might have been a scepter), and as long as it isn't obvious from the top shouldn't affect it's use in a piece of jewelry.

 

[GemFever]

Michael, thanks for your response. It doesn't affect the appearance, luckily. The only problem is that it looks so much like a splinter, I have an instinctual reaction to want to take it out. I'll get over it, I'm sure
Thanks again!

Anya