[Jewelry making - Article 00415] - Re: [Orchid] Yellow Turquoise

[The Doctor]

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>         So far I've been told that yellow jasper is actually yellow
>     jade, 

    Yellow jasper is yellow jasper, period. I've typed it here before
    and I'll type it here again, people will buy yellow "jade" before
    they will buy yellow jasper (note the "jade" in quotes). Fire
    Mountain Gems is not alone in their misnomer labeling, but they do a
    decent job of telling you what it actually is on their website, if
    not their catalog. 

>         The other thing I questioned them on was "red malachite".  Now
>     I'm not a mineralogic expert by any stretch of the imagination, but
>     every reference I can find  - including the one Fire Mountain Gems
>     sent me in answer to my question, "what is this stuff you're
>     calling "red" malachite?" - CLEARLY and SPECIFICALLY and DEFINITELY
>     states that malachite is SOME shade of GREEN, occasionally shading
>     so dark as to be black, but nevertheless GREEN and not red. 

    A direct cut-and-paste from Fire Mountain Gems' website on one of
    these items is: 

    "Red 'malachite' is the common trade name for this banded jasper." 

    See? Even they use quotes with their misnomers. Look for them. In
    this case, they are selling banded jasper under a misnomer. 

>         So referring me to a link that describes malachite as a "green
>     stone" doesn't help much to identify a red banded stone that's
>     identified in their sales literature as "red malachite". 

    Nope, it won't. What will, though, is education. If you really want
    to know what all this stuff is that is being sold under names you
    aren't familiar with, you should make a study of gemology. Doubtless
    there will be those who have in the past touted their incredible
    gemological acumen, learned through 40-odd years of buying and
    selling gems in the business, but that doesn't get you the knowledge
    you want and need NOW. 

    I don't know where you live, Zen Sojourner, but there must be
    classes available somewhere. Yes, GIA's tuition is considerable (my
    wallet will probably never recover), but they're not the only fish
    in that particular sea (although they are still considered the
    world's foremost). Someone recently mentioned IGS as much more
    affordable. Since you can type, I'm sure you can also read. There
    are plenty of books available on the subject. GIA's website has a
    bookstore with plenty of titles. There are also scholarships
    available with GIA. One person in Miami's diamond district used to
    offer a G.G. program for practically nothing, if you could get a
    group together. It wasn't accredited, but the knowledge is worth
    more than the degree for many people's purposes. I won't keep
    posting the same gemology links over and over as I doubt a lot of
    people are interested and just want an easy answer. If you are
    interested, there's always Google. 

    I constantly rail at the subject of imitations, simulants and
    misnomers. Unfortunately for the industry, they will not go away. I
    don't mind using them so much as a sub-listing, but gemstones should
    at least be listed as what they actually are first. Even more
    unfortunate is the fact that you'll have to spend some learning time
    if you want to really KNOW. Until you do, consider yourself
    "misnomer prey." 

James in SoFl

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