[Jewelry making - Article 01005] - Re: [Orchid] Whitish points appeared in a ruby

[Daniel R. Spirer]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

Laura,

    Testing a stone with only a Presidium gem tester is equivalent to
    trying the guess the type of car by the sound of its engine. When
    it's a souped up V8 you might get it right but the rest of the time
    it's wrong. I have a similar piece of equipment and the thing, at
    best, is barely able to test for diamonds accurately. Assuming that
    it's a ruby because the needle points in that direction is just not
    accurate. Proper testing is done with refractometers, microscopes,
    dichroscopes, SG liquids and if necessary a spectroscope. In today's
    marketplace with all the treatments out there even that isn't enough
    and the more sophisticated equipment of a fully equipped gem lab is
    critical. And incidentally, your Presidium gem tester will NOT
    distinguish between synthetic and natural ruby. 

    That being said, the African ruby material that is out there (which
    incidentally was initially offered in this country as "red sapphire"
    because the color was so different from what was considered to be
    "good" ruby color---although we had a piece looked at by the GIA and
    the cert came back as ruby), while often pretty, is not considered to
    be a good ruby color. Invariably it has either a brown overtone, or
    some other color overtones that take it out of the fine ruby
    classification. Additionally I was recently shown some treated
    African ruby material (and forgive me but my memory isn't allowing me
    to recall the specific treatment used--but when I see my dealer again
    I'll make an inquiry and let you know what it was) that, while quite
    lovely, was treated in a non permanent fashion, which when sold
    without disclosure is only going to lead to more problems in the
    field. 

    Of course, since it sounds like there was no disclosure on your
    stone at all at the time of purchase, this is another good reason to
    do your shopping in Tucson at the AGTA show where the dealers are
    OBLIGATED to disclose treatments at all times. (Oh and by the way the
    name is Daniel, but that's ok because about 10% of my customers call
    me David too---to which I respond---and only the older, hippie
    jewelers on list are going to get this---Dave's not here man!) 

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
www.spirerjewelers.com
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________