Guest Author - Susan Dorling

Announcing 9th Anniversary Sale at Artistic Colored Stones – 30% Off!

As collectors we are always on the lookout for that special piece of jewelry or gemstone to enhance our collection. As collectors we need to buy from sources that are either known to us, or who are universally accepted as being reputable. Sources that are traditionally known for offering only the highest quality stones are your best choice. Sources like Artistic Colored Stones, whose images of gorgeous gemstones and gemstone jewelry add color and pizzazz to this article.

The pieces shown here are representative of the premium calibre of inventory available at ACS. We are pleased to announce their 9th Anniversary Sale is now in progress offering you 30% off everything! There's over 800 items at once-a-year low prices. We wish to extend our congratulations to this fabulous online gemstone shop which offers a vast selection of exquisite one-of-a-kind faceted gems, designer cabochons, carvings, collector gems and gemstone jewelry! Click on any image to visit Artistic Colored Stones, and remember these gemstones go quickly, especially when they are so greatly reduced in price. Our announcement has been timed to allow our visitors to be among the first to take advantage of these dramatic savings, and the sale lasts all month long.


We should always stick with sources we trust implicitly like Artistic Colored Stones. It’s one thing to set out wanting to purchase a synthetic gemstone, and quite another to purchase one when under the assumption it is the ‘real thing’, and to pay substantially more than the synthetic stone is worth.


Value is not only in the eye of the beholder, but a truism when dealing with gemstones. Synthetic stones look beautiful but they are not genuine stones dug out of the Earth, thus not rare and ‘valuable’. These great pretenders simulate their real counterpart’s characteristics very closely in many cases. But getting ripped off is never pretty, and it’s so easy to be fooled.

Advice and Commentary from ‘Our Gemology Expert’ Barbara W. Smigel, PhD. Graduate Gemologist, GIA

We asked the Jewelry Collecting site’s gemology expert, Barbara W. Smigel, PhD. Graduate Gemologist, GIA, how to tell the difference between real and synthetic stones. “This is the one question which I get most often in one form or another and I am not being flippant to say that answering it is what the majority of the training involved in becoming a graduate gemologist is all about. There are two answers below, both are true and I could write a third far more detailed.


#1 you can't. (Not even a gemologist can make a "sight" identification with accuracy). Tests and equipment are required that the average person without training does not have. The best way to avoid getting burned is to stick with well established firms or deal with individuals with credentials from well known institutions -- and who have a money-back guarantee for the authenticity of their goods.



#2 There are three tasks in gem identification:
a) What is it?
b) Is it natural or synthetic?
c) What type of enhancement (if any) has it had?







To illustrate. We see a red transparent stone, let's say a round brilliant, that is very sparkly and has no eye-visible inclusions:

a) What is it? This is the easiest of all for a gemologist to answer, as red glass, natural red spinel, natural red garnet, natural ruby, synthetic ruby, and many other gems can look like this, but they will differ in optical, physical and chemical properties such as refractive index, optic character, density, fluorescence, pleochroism, hardness, etc. So we test it and rule out all the major possibilities except ruby. Great. But is it natural or synthetic -- we don't know yet as a synthetic ruby IS ruby and has all the same readings as a natural one. On to question two:

b) Natural or synthetic? There are many types of synthetic rubies and some are relatively easy to spot with a trained eye and the right equipment (a gemological microscope with immersion liquids and/or diffused lighting). For example, if we see internal structures under magnification called "curved striae" -- end of story, the stone is a synthetic ruby. If we see a microscopic inclusion of a sort called a "fingerprint" -- we have a natural stone. But, what if the stone is flawless or if the inclusions are ambiguous -- can be seen in either natural or synthetic (very commonly this is the case). At that point a big gem lab with expensive high tech equipment may be the only way to get an accurate ID

c) Is it enhanced? Let's say we determine that we have a ruby of natural origin. It still may have been enhanced by heat, diffusion, coating, filling or other methods to improve its clarity and color. Again, some of these treatments are easy to spot if you have the equipment and knowledge, some are not. For example, an inclusion called a stress fracture is indicative of heating and a fine and intact network of rutile fibers indicates no heat, but there is a great middle ground here too, where it can be very difficult to determine the enhancement status of a gem.



Quite literally there is an arms race going on between gem synthesizers and treaters who are seeking to make more and more realistic looking synthetics and simulants (either for honorable or dishonorable reasons), and the gemologists who are trying to find ways to detect each new treatment or synthetic.





Now, in specific regard to CZ -vs- diamond -- #1 still applies for the average consumer, but jewelers have a simple tool (costs @ $100 that tests the thermal conductivity of the stone with a metal probe and reads either diamond or not diamond. (Pawn shop owners use these too, as do those dealing in vintage and antique jewelry). The recent introduction of a new diamond simulant, Moissanite, has necessitated a new generation of "diamond testers" as it will pass the thermal test as a diamond -- this one uses electrical conductivity and easily separates diamond which doesn't conduct from Moissanite which does.”
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We appreciate Barbara’s comprehensive information about identification of genuine gemstones, and hope that her expert guidelines will become a handy reference tool helping to make your jewelry and gemstone collecting experience a truly rewarding one.