[Jewelry making - Article 00352] - Re: [Orchid] Red amethyst?

[nicholas p g sturman]

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>     There is no gemological test which would definitely separate
>     natural amethyst from lab-grown. Sometimes, if amethyst has
>     characteristic inclusions which can be linked to a particular
>     geographical location, than maybe. But it is far above the ability
>     of the run of mill appraiser. However, since amethysts are
>     generally clean, it is a remote possibility. You need to find a
>     gemologist with a lot of experience in amethysts which is probably
>     rarer than the stone itself. 

    Leonid - Not sure gemmological laboratories would appreciate your
    first sentence. There are ways to test natural v. synthetic
    amethyst. Not always easy granted, but inclusions in some stones
    (nail-heads, colour zoning, Brazil-law twinning and ultimately FTIR
    spectrometery will usually get most these days. Worth checking out
    amethyst + FTIR on some searches and in some gemmological journals.
    Stefanos Karampelas a Phd student at Nantes university has also done
    some excellent work on this very subject.
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