What is the Consensus on Stone Treatments?

[ACE]

Pros Cons -whats acceptable whats not?

For Instance anyone have any opinion on the new Ruby treatments

Interested in hearing from John Q Public on this one

[panachegems]

Would you elaborate on which treatment(s) you are refering too?
AC:)

[Quinn]

Is it difficul to find a ruby with NO treatments of any kind? Does this boost the price? Or are they all treated?

Quinn

[Joselyn]

Yes, it's VERY difficult to find a Ruby with no treatments at all, but it is doable. Yes, the price will be considerably higher than a treated ruby. Most colored stones are treated in some respect...although you can find untreated stones if you look long and hard enough. Their prices will be higher than the treated materials.

[Bearman]

Is it difficul to find a ruby with NO treatments of any kind? Does this boost the price? Or are they all treated?

Quinn

Many colored stones are heat treated to enhance their color. Rubies and Sapphires can be found with treatment and the nice ones can be pretty pricey.

I think Tanzanite comes out of the ground greenish or brownish or both and turns a pretty blue after the treatment.

[Quinn]

What type of treatment does Tanzanite get?

[Joselyn]

Tanzanite gets heated, basically they bake it to a certain temperature, then let it cool slowly. Heating is a permanent process that doesn't fade and basically makes Tanzanite (and some other gems) saleable (sp?). Tanzanite does normally come out of the ground brown, although there is, or was in the beginning some rough that came out of the ground the color we admire in cut stones today.

[GGJoe]

Ahhhhhhhh yes. The can of worms gets opened! I love this debate over stone treatments, what "is and is not acceptable." What's a good treatment vs. what's a bad treatment. Which treatment lowers the value of a gemstone vs. which treatment actually increases the value of a gemstone, and better yet, some proudly claim "we guarantee our gemstone has not been treated," while at the same time some treatments are undetectable!

Reminds me of when I was trying to climb the big corporate ladder after college in the flat glass business. Some insulated units were filled with this gas called LowE. An odorless; invisible gas. Some glass glasers put a lifetime guarantee on their LowE units. What I found so amusing, is glass companies didn't make insulated LowE units. They all ordered them from the glass manufacturer I sold for! How are ya gonna know if an invisible gas has leaked out of a window unit?

Question: Isn't faceting a gemstone a form of enhancing it? :D

Since I concentrate on estate, antique, and vintage jewelry, I'm asked many times to be the jewelry specialist "verbal appraiser" on TV shows like on PBS and HGTV. Many many times I see a piece and the client continually apologizes over and over because how crusty and dirty her ring is. I like seeing crusty and dirty jewelry. Tells me she's wearing it and enjoying it. That's exactly what jewelry is supposed to be. A part of life for us to enjoy while we're here. Other times I see spotless pieces. I mean mint. Wonderful Tiffany & Co pieces, VC&A, Cartier, ect ect ect. I know good and well it's not being worn; it's just sitting in some security box somewhere. Many times I hear "I'm too scared to wear it." I don't say it, but many times I think "turn the thing into cash! Whoever left it to you couldn't take it with them now did they?" What I'm getting at is this issue is an absolute can of worms. Disclosure, in my opinion, is way more important than the treatment. I mean really, when we buy a car with red seats, should the process of how the seat get red be a major issue? :rolleyes:

Perhaps I shouldn't be a respected member of the jewelry industry considering how much amusement it gives me in my life!!!

On more of a serious note, there are treatments that are trouble. Like fracture filling. Lets say you buy a "CE" fracture filled diamond that has not been disclosed (and they're out there). Lets say you sell this diamond ring to someone through the paper. Lets say this person decides to get a prong re-tipped by his or her jeweler. Diamonds usually can handle the heat of a torch, given it's been properly cleaned. Problem is, this material that's been injected in the cavity can't take the heat at all, and either burns into a black mess (in the diamond) or completely explodes and breaks the diamond. All the sudden, this honest jeweler becomes the victim and is expected to pay for this problem. So no, I don't laugh at all enhancements whatsoever.

I'd laugh more at the owner of a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who's considered more an artist than an architect, who'd allow a broken window to remain broken instead of get the dern thing fixed from being a purist. LMAO

[Kelly]

Are there gemstones which NEVER get treated? If so which ones?

[Quinn]

I found this listing of gemstone treatments at www.cigem.ca

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Gemstone Enhancement Information Chart Glossary
Defined below are the specific enhancement codes and designations used in the GEMSTONE ENHANCEMENT INFORMATION CHART.

B
Bleaching:
The use of chemicals or other agents to lighten or remove a gemstone's color.

C
Coating:
The use of such surface enhancements as lacquering, enameling, inking, foiling, or sputtering of films to improve appearance, provide color or add other special effects.

D
Dyeing:
The introduction of coloring matter into a gemstone to give it new color, intensify present color or improve color uniformity.

F
Filling:
As a by-product of heat enhancement, the presence of solidified borax or similar colorless substances which are visable under properly illuminated 10X magnification.

G
Gamma/Electron Irradiation:
The use of gamma and/or electron bombardment to alter a gemstone's color; may be followed by a heating process.

H
Heating:
The use of heat to effect desired alteration of color, clarity, and/or phenomena. (Residue of foreign substance in open fractures is not visable under properly illuminated 10X magnification.)

I*
Infilling:
The intentional filling of surface breaking cavities or fractures usually with glass, plastic, opticon with hardeners and/or other hardened foreign substances to improve durability, appearance and/or add weight.

L
Lasering:
The use of a laser and chemicals to reach and alter inclusion in diamond.

O
Oiling/Resin Infusioin:
The intentional filling of surface breaking cavities of a colorless oil, wax, natural resin, or unhardened man-made material into fissured transparent/translucent gemstones to improve appearance. (i.e., oil, man-made resin, cedar wood oil, Canadian balsam, paraffin, etc.)

R
Irradiation:
The use of neutron, requiring an environmental safety release from the Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC), with the combination of any other bombardment and/or heat treatment to alter a gemstone's color.

S*
Bonding:
The use of colorless bonding agent (commonly plastic) within a porous gemstone to give it durability and improve appearance.

U
Diffusion:
The use of chemicals in conjunction with high temperatures to produce color and/or asterism-producing inclusions.

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I am very confused by diffusion treatment. What exactly is done with this?

[Princess]

I heard that some black diamonds were radioactive. Is this because they were treated ?