Slightly included...what''s it look like?

[Davey Wavy]

I am looking at buying some loose gems from Multicolour.com. One of the ones I am looking at is listed as being "slightly included", meaning there are imperfections somewhat visible to the naked eye. Being new to gems, I am unsure as to what a "slightly included" gem looks like. Are there going to be specks of dirt inside the gem, or scratches, or some other trype of imperfection? Will they be so noticeable as to jump out at you, or be visible only under scrutiny? Thanks very much in advance for your time and help.

Dave

 

[innerkitten]

Sounds like you need to read the tutorial on diamonds thats available on this website.

 

[Kristina]

Slightly Included means SI1 or 2. Usually you will have to us a loop to find these inclusions.. There could be a air bubble, feather line or carbon spots. But with a trained eye you could see them without the loop.. They will not jump out at you like and I1 or 2 will, but they might be noticable if it is a low SI2.

 

[mike04456]

Don't mix up diamond and colored stone clarity grading--the two are not the same. Under the GIA system, which multicolour uses, the highest grade is "eye-clean." A "slightly included" colored stone is one with a few eye-visible inclusions.




As far as what they might be, I can't answer that without knowing what kind of gem it is.

 

[DiamondExpert]

LG makes an important point...also, your expectations for the level of inclusions should be different for different types of gemstones...e.g., an SI emerald is more the norm, but you shouldn't have to accept this other types of beryl like an aquamarine.

 

[elmo]

Not only are the GIA diamond and colored stone clarity grading systems not the same, I think there are three stone 'types' that have to be considered when interpreting a colored stone grade - type I stones are "typically" clean and include things like tanzanite; type II stones such as corundum and spinel are typically more included; type III includes emerald and usually contains eye-visible inclusions. As a result, a type III VS clarity stone will be more included than a type II VS stone which will be more included than a type I VS clarity stone, speaking in absolute terms.




I think that AGL uses a uniform grading scale regardless of material, and that the "texture" comments are an additional material-specific clarity description.

 

[Davey Wavy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. The particular stone that I am looking at is an iolite, 2.9 or so carats.

 

[mike04456]

Iolites are neat stones, especially when cut to showcase their strong pleochroism (different colors when viewed from different angles). They are "type II" gems under the GIA system, which means that they typically have some visible inclusions. "Slightly included" for such a stone means "minor inclusions that are somewhat easy to see."




The inclusions are probably small feathers and included crystals, thought that's just a guess. If you're concerned, why not just email Multicolour and ask? They have good customer service.

 

[valeria101]

There are a couple of good sugestions above: including the one 'Call Multicolor' - they have been pretty good answering my questions!

Other thing to consider should really be the appearance of the gem (this is the major point about clarity grading for colored gems, and there are no different clarity grades which appear the same to the eye, asis the case ofdiamonds from FL to SI1

). The picture of the stone is greately magnified, so you should expect that some innclusions visible in the picture will not be visible to the eye, and only the largest ones (try to evaluate size relative to the size of the stone) might be visible. Iolites are rarely all that brilliant (althroug I have seen some delightlful exceptions), so I do not believe that 'slight inclusions' would affect the appearance of the stone too much. However, it should not really be hell to find a clean iolite in that size. Try places like awesomegems.com and lapilia.com. Multicolor is an excelent source, but if they hapen not to have what you want...