[Jewelry making - Article 00099] - Re: [Orchid] Synthetic & Simulant Gem Nomenclature

[richard hart]

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Greg,

    What I was trying to point out was that G.I.A. did not seem to focus
    on the color change difference between syn. corundum and nat.
    alexexandrite as being so significant as to eliminate syn. corundum
    as a simulant, subsitute, or imitation for alexandrite, and actually
    appears as if the reason it appears in the list is because of enough
    similarity to cause confusion. I believe I have synthetic corundum
    that is more like natural alexandrite than what you have seen. I
    might be able to take a picture of it and e-mail it to you when I
    have a chance. Because of the low price, I believe it is
    syn.corundum, not syn. alexandrite. And by the way, I just realized
    that I have customers who come in asking if their
    grandfathers-grandmothers alexandrite is real. So I believe if my
    customers are presenting syn color change corundum represented as
    alexandrite, to be identified, we seem to have to deal with the
    acceptance by the public of color change syn. corundum as an simulant
    for alexandrite as a practical matter. 

    I have never shown a color change synthetic corundum to a customer
    and had them tell me that it did not have the same color change as a
    real alexandrite, however I have shown synthetic corundum and had it
    reject solely on the fact that it was not natural. Just as a
    practical matter, if a customer comes in and asks for an alexandrite,
    and I show them a synthetic and ask them if this is what they mean,
    and they say yes, I am not breaking moral or ethical, or gemmological
    law, because I am giving them what they have seen, and what they
    want. Disclosure does not mean that I make them aware of what the
    difference is in color change between synthetic color change corundum
    and natural alexandrite. Regardless of all the ands, ifs, or buts,
    it's what they have seen, and what they want, regardless of what I
    call it. Or what you call it, or what it is, or is not. And I believe
    that providing a service to my customer is as importantas being
    scrupulously crosses t's and dotted i's right. 

Richard Hart


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