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Yellowish Chrysoberyl, Treatments?

babydoll_mini

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
261
Hi experts, quick question, can I buy yellow chrysoberyl with the assumption that it is untreated?

Thank you~~!
 
I'm not 100% sure on this (and sorry, am not an expert!). Had you asked 5 years ago, I would have said yes but I believe that Chrysoberyl may be filled and/or irradiated now. The only reason I say that is I saw a reference to it by a seller who was selling Alexandrite (and if it's done with that, then it's probably fair to assume that Chrysoberyl is too). However, I can't vouch for the quality of this information but it was enough to get me thinking. I'm afraid the number of gemstones being left untouched is diminishing. :(sad
 
Discounting cobalt-60 irradiation commonly done to cat’s eye chrysoberyls, it seems rather a rather uncommon treatment for faceted chrysoberyl. My only concern is that this treatment is currently not detectable. Also, while I do not know how prevalent diffusion of chromium (Cr3+) into chrysoberyl is at the moment, it has been successfully done in labs. At this point in time though, I believe the risks are small, so it can still be safely presumed that most faceted chrysoberyls are untreated.

ETA,
I see from LD's post that irradiation of faceted chrysoberyl is a strong possibility these days. :((
 
I would say that you are reasonably safe - from what I know, the irradiation was being used only for cymophane and in an attempt to create alexandrite.
 
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