New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Garnet

[chrono]

This was released in 2011 but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it. The ramifications are very disturbing and I don't know if this can translate into something that can be done cheaply and quickly by the gem treaters.

http://www.jewelersethicsassociation.com/docs/JEA%20News_Themelis%20Did%20It.html

 

[digdeep]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

Thanks for posting this........Everything in the article was straight up and I'm sure Ted and Angelo do give out cards with their treated stones....but how long do those cards stay with those gems? And they sold out in 2011 so where are those gems now? (I know I'm a skeptic, but not everyone is 'ethical'.....) If they can't be recognized as heat treated consistently....then we all lose when we want to verify a stone's authenticity. UGH! What a difference a day makes........

 

[cm366]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

Something fishy about it, though - even the authors now only teach and work on treating corundum, and the example given in the story is of a ruby being submitted to multiple labs with differing results, not a garnet or spinel. I wouldn't call the example pics "reminiscent of fine rubies, without a brownish tinge", either. If they have a consistent method for cooking garnet and spinel, why would they speak about it at a conference and then bury it?

 

[OTL]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

FYI

A friend got a spinel, turns out like this

@eos

 

[texaskj]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

Is nothing sacred?
I know the answer, but still...

 

[RedSpinel]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

This was released in 2011 but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about it. The ramifications are very disturbing and I don't know if this can translate into something that can be done cheaply and quickly by the gem treaters.

http://www.jewelersethicsassociation.com/docs/JEA%20News_Themelis%20Did%20It.html

Not good news...

In the OP's article link, they talk about this new diffusion treatment of spinels and garnets as good news. Huh? Really, its good news that there is now a new way to make two of the last untreatable gemstones treatable, so that in the future, there will be dealers selling treated spinels and garnets without documenting said treatment? Its not a question of whether unscrupulous dealers will sell treated stones as natural, its a question of how soon will this new 'recipe' will become available to them so that they can sell treated stones as natural. I'd bet that most treated gems are sold to the public without their knowledge. Most average gemstone buyers arent necessarily very knowledgeable about gems, and they dont know about the various treatments used to 'improve' gems.

I liked it better when the experts in the gem world still thought that spinels and garnets were untreatable. Hopefully, like with treated sapphires, the 'new' colors created by treating spinels and garnets will be easy to pick out. I wouldnt want to think that these things will be so close in appearance to natural stones that they will easily fool us.

 

[digdeep]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

FYI

A friend got a spinel, turns out like this

@eos

I wish gem identification centers (those offering inspection and certificates) would use the phrase "created" transparency and "created" clarity when they are referring to manmade interventions rather than phrases like: to improve the overall transparency and clarity which obviously both were "impaired"...............grrrr.........

 

[cm366]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

Sorry to hear about your friend's stone, OTL! Oiling is nothing new, though, and can be done to any material. Heating for colour and crystal 'healing' is another ball game entirely.

 

[JewelFreak]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

So this was in 2011 & stones were submitted to Bangkok labs. Has there been any follow-up since then? Has he or anyone sent stones he treated to other labs, say, AGL? Do we know if this guy is using or has sold his "recipe?" Any word of treated garnets & spinels turning up in the market?

Treatment & its detection is a vicious circle: if there's a treatment, a way will be found to detect it -- if enough stones show up to justify the expense of research & equipment. So I wonder if there's any volume or how much, in the past 3 years.

--- Laurie

 

[chrono]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

I wish I knew where to look for the answers to your questions and not knowing bothers me. It is only a matter of time for us to see more treated garnets and spinels in the market as the treaters discover the recipes. The problem is that most labs do not research the detection until there is a flood of high quality gems at low cost which prompts buyers/vendors at the lower end of the chain to submit these for testing or at least cause suspicion. Yes, a way will be found but it could take several years before they are detected and in the mean time, many more of these undisclosed treated stones will have been sold as untreated. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious and pessimistic but it is better be aware of the possibility.

 

[minousbijoux]

Re: New Colour + Clarity Enhancement for Spinel, Ruby and Ga

I wondered the same as CM366 and poked around on Ted Themelis's website and lab pages, but couldn't find one iota of info on this. Interesting that it has been so completely buried. I guess if I were really diligent, I would try and contact him.