[Jewelry making - Article 00859] - Re: [Orchid] In praise of Mohs' scale

[riccardo accurso]

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    Reply to Ron at MillsGem 

    Your expertise in stones is evident and there was much in your post
    about stone durability that was useful. 

    Perhaps you would like to make a stab at a stone durability rating,
    informal though it may be, that would give us your opinion of the
    practical durability  of various stones. It would be good if you were
    to include reference to toughness, as well as hardness, in the same
    rating. 

    Personally, I would be interested in your comments about the harder
    stones like corundum, beryl, spinel, and chrysoberyl. 

    One minor quibble about your comments is that I get the impression
    that you are of the opinion that stones which can't hold a high polish
    have demerits attached to them due to that.  I get that impression
    from your comments about jade in particular.  If true, I think this
    reveals a bias on your part that stones must be able to keep a high
    polish in order to be judged durable.  I would disagree with that
    opinion, at least in certain cases, and here's why. 

    I saw a client wearing a jade wedding band that had been on his finger
    for some 25 years or so.  The finish, by wearing it steadily all that
    time, was in my opinion aesthetically insuperable, aside from the fact
    (and maybe because of the fact) that it was very finely abraded all
    about.  The finish that the ring had acquired was intimately his, and
    the softness of that finish was really beautiful. 

    So in this case, the toughness of jade was amply demonstrated, and the
    fact that it was subject to abrasion is not a defect, but in fact an
    asset, at least in my opinion. 

    As long as we are on the topic of surface finish, allow me to extend
    the point to finish on metal as well.  Surface finish can vary from
    matte to mirror, and there is no intrinsic reason to value one over
    the other.  Finish is an aesthetic choice basically. 

    Even so, I notice a predilection toward high polish in the great
    majority of cases in this culture at this time.   It wasn't always so,
    and it doesn't necessarily have to be that way now.  I would like to
    remind people to be sensitive about surface and to think about the
    range of choices that are available before blindly committing to the
    highest polish that they can achieve. 

    By the way, I am aware that high polish results in more sales. Even
    so, in my view that is not a compelling reason to use it all the time. 

    Riccardo  

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