Justlearning
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2013
- Messages
- 3
Hi,
Before I begin, I want to put this little disclaimer in about what you are going to read, I am not naive, I appreciate you get what you pay for, I am, and never have been under the illusion that buying online, especially at auction sites, is a truely and utterly russian roulette with 5 bullets instead of 1.
Ok that is out of the way. If you are still reading, many thanks.
So I recently got engaged, and during that process I ended up purchasing a Fancy Greenish Yellow Diamond ring, it was a unusual stone as in sometimes it looked pale yellow, sometimes green, and sometimes chocolate. Anyway, I suddendly grew this passion for shiney things and have been reading, researching, going online, getting gemstone books from library etc etc.
After reading, and reading, oh and reading, especially here, was a lurker I decided to buy a very cheap lot of gemstones from ebay, once again, I was under no illusion of what I was buying, poor stones, poor cuts, poor colour, in the most, but some had some pretty colours and cuts and had some interesting stuff to view under loupe and microscope, I wanted it for the purpose of trying to educate myself on stones and inclusions etc etc.
Once I received and looked at these, I wanted something different, and during an offchance, and a love I have for the history of a sapphire, I once again purchased some very cheap 'pink sapphires' from ebay, the cost of shipping was actually more than the 2 stones, the description said natural, feedback was good, so I figured, whats the worst that could happen, I lose $10 ? I spend more on a coffee and a sandwich. To be honest I expected very crudely cut heavily infused stones or glass, but once again, I did this for the purpose of educating myself, I find its cheaper to educate on what I shouldnt get before I begin to spend money that actually counts.
Anyway, once I received them, I was suprised at the apparent quality to my very amatuer eye, I had access to a 60-100x microscope, and reviewed them, and as expected, I thought I saw bubbles, lots of them, but then something strange appeared, it looked like silk, lots of examples on this site regarding inclusions etc, but then when looking at the stone in certain lights, the colour on the backside seemed paler, so I thought, was this a doublet? So I was confused and then realised I needed a professional to educate me!
So off I went into the city, and sought an opinion of a gemologist, trained with GIA (so his website and certificate on the wall indicated, and he got upset when I kept calling them Gia as in the name and not G.I.A hehe)
He reviewed the stones, I told him about what I saw under the microscope, I assumed I saw, but on hindsight from what he said, I am guessing the things I saw had actually been dirt on the outside, because he said, under review, the stones are incrediably clean.
He did a refractometer and some other tests and confirmed it came out as a sapphire, yet once again he was still suspicious because of the colour was very vivid, infact at first he thought it was a hot pink tourmaline, anyway, to cut a long story short, he officially diagnosed the stone as a synthetic sapphire, probably flame fusion, explaining this was the cheaper kind of synthetic instead of the type made by chatham. He came to this conclusion from comparing a pink sapphire he had to mine via ultraviolet test? He also did some sort of test with liquid ?
So, now my education, from everything I have read, I thought all cheap synthetics would have bubbles, so I am confused to how this one does not? And if it has no visable inclusions under a microscope, how does one know, what type of synethic it is from an ultraviolet, I read about growth bands, but nothing about using ultraviolet. Is there anyone, who in laymans terms, (some papers ive read get sooo technical) who can explain to me what ultraviolet tests and how a synethic can be properly be identified ?
If you are here, at this point thank you, if you reply, thank you and thank you for this amazing website, gold mine of information, I hope to make a big purchase one day for a 1 year annivesary some probably close to 2 years time. I want to educate myself, and also would possibly consider this a potential hobby so I will probably be posting really long posts in the future!
Sorry !
Before I begin, I want to put this little disclaimer in about what you are going to read, I am not naive, I appreciate you get what you pay for, I am, and never have been under the illusion that buying online, especially at auction sites, is a truely and utterly russian roulette with 5 bullets instead of 1.
Ok that is out of the way. If you are still reading, many thanks.
So I recently got engaged, and during that process I ended up purchasing a Fancy Greenish Yellow Diamond ring, it was a unusual stone as in sometimes it looked pale yellow, sometimes green, and sometimes chocolate. Anyway, I suddendly grew this passion for shiney things and have been reading, researching, going online, getting gemstone books from library etc etc.
After reading, and reading, oh and reading, especially here, was a lurker I decided to buy a very cheap lot of gemstones from ebay, once again, I was under no illusion of what I was buying, poor stones, poor cuts, poor colour, in the most, but some had some pretty colours and cuts and had some interesting stuff to view under loupe and microscope, I wanted it for the purpose of trying to educate myself on stones and inclusions etc etc.
Once I received and looked at these, I wanted something different, and during an offchance, and a love I have for the history of a sapphire, I once again purchased some very cheap 'pink sapphires' from ebay, the cost of shipping was actually more than the 2 stones, the description said natural, feedback was good, so I figured, whats the worst that could happen, I lose $10 ? I spend more on a coffee and a sandwich. To be honest I expected very crudely cut heavily infused stones or glass, but once again, I did this for the purpose of educating myself, I find its cheaper to educate on what I shouldnt get before I begin to spend money that actually counts.
Anyway, once I received them, I was suprised at the apparent quality to my very amatuer eye, I had access to a 60-100x microscope, and reviewed them, and as expected, I thought I saw bubbles, lots of them, but then something strange appeared, it looked like silk, lots of examples on this site regarding inclusions etc, but then when looking at the stone in certain lights, the colour on the backside seemed paler, so I thought, was this a doublet? So I was confused and then realised I needed a professional to educate me!
So off I went into the city, and sought an opinion of a gemologist, trained with GIA (so his website and certificate on the wall indicated, and he got upset when I kept calling them Gia as in the name and not G.I.A hehe)
He reviewed the stones, I told him about what I saw under the microscope, I assumed I saw, but on hindsight from what he said, I am guessing the things I saw had actually been dirt on the outside, because he said, under review, the stones are incrediably clean.
He did a refractometer and some other tests and confirmed it came out as a sapphire, yet once again he was still suspicious because of the colour was very vivid, infact at first he thought it was a hot pink tourmaline, anyway, to cut a long story short, he officially diagnosed the stone as a synthetic sapphire, probably flame fusion, explaining this was the cheaper kind of synthetic instead of the type made by chatham. He came to this conclusion from comparing a pink sapphire he had to mine via ultraviolet test? He also did some sort of test with liquid ?
So, now my education, from everything I have read, I thought all cheap synthetics would have bubbles, so I am confused to how this one does not? And if it has no visable inclusions under a microscope, how does one know, what type of synethic it is from an ultraviolet, I read about growth bands, but nothing about using ultraviolet. Is there anyone, who in laymans terms, (some papers ive read get sooo technical) who can explain to me what ultraviolet tests and how a synethic can be properly be identified ?
If you are here, at this point thank you, if you reply, thank you and thank you for this amazing website, gold mine of information, I hope to make a big purchase one day for a 1 year annivesary some probably close to 2 years time. I want to educate myself, and also would possibly consider this a potential hobby so I will probably be posting really long posts in the future!
Sorry !
There are many types of synthetics; some are very clean, some have certain tell tale inclusions (depending on the synthetic gem type), and some are made purposely with inclusion that mimic a natural stone. There is no single one test as you've experienced. It requires several tests to come to an accurate conclusion. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to share any links with you as I have to attend a several hours long meeting shortly.
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