[Jewelry making - Article 00170] - Re: [Orchid] [4Sale] Chatham Emeralds

[jlh/nlh]

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>     Cubic zirconia as calcium-stabilized zirconium oxide has no
>     counterpart in nature. 

    Since we seem to be in the hair splitting mode here Wayne, let me
    split the hair finer. According to Liddecoat, (Handbookof Gem
    Identification, p.109, Twelfth edition) "cubic zirconia usually
    appears as the mineral baddelyte". He states further however that it
    "has been found in nature " but "only as inclusions". He refers to it
    on the following page as "synthetic cubic zirconia".. In other
    references in the same volume Liddecoat again refers to it as
    synthetic cubic zirconia, p.255 for example. That's good enough for
    me and I am sure it would be for most of the folks of diverse
    backgrounds to whom you refer. 

    I suppose I could have used synthetic spinel as a better example. It
    is certainly recognized by the trade as a synthetic and it also
    certainly is used as a simulant of a number of natural gems. It could
    be argued by a real purist I suppose that because there is a slight
    difference in the chemical composition between the natural and the
    synthetic forms of spinel that the material which is called synthetic
    spinel is not a true synthetic either, but a simulant. From a
    practical standpoint however I don't see the benefit of making that
    distinction. It doesn't help the gem dealer, jeweler or layman to
    understand these minute distinctions a bit. My opinion. I have a lot
    of those. ;-) 

Jerry in Kodiak
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