Ask a Jeweler/Gemologist
 

Yeah. So I was bored. And I wanna get away from just doing "Truth Hurts!" stuff.

ONTO THE BAND WAGON I LEAP ;D

((bear in mind that I am confident of what I know, but I am still 21 years old. It's not like I have 30 years experience in the field. For the record, I identify, appraise, and make jewelry))

Just how precious of a gem would garnet be considered?

Also, how is the worth of an uncut gem appraised?
Cut gems too.

Garnet isn't a worthless gem, but it isn't terribly rare. Garnet in itself is a family of minerals. They range anywhere from Reddish-colored Pyrope (most common) to Green-colored Demantoid (most valuable). To gauge the worth of the garnet, you need to have a few things hammered down:
- The exact type of Garnet. Some are rarer than others.
- The overall size of the gem. Carats and what-not =p
- Whether it is raw or cut. If it is cut, the skill involved in the faceting can make the gem worth more. Cutting a gem, if done decently, can only improve the worth of a gem.

A good plus to Garnet is its hardness, though. Really durable jewelry. The hardness is over 7.0 on Moh's Hardness Scale.

Now, a gem's worth is decided upon by the Four C's as I've seen them named:
- Carats. Overall weight. But bigger isn't always better. Carats in terms of gold and silver refer to purity, but in terms to gemstones it refers to weight. One Carat = 200 milligrams. Bigger isn't always best because some stones could not be as clear as others, and that degrades the worth (see next)
- Clarity. Clarity is the term used to describe the internal quality of a gem. The appraiser examines the gem for inclusions, cracks, cavities, clouds, or other imperfections.
- Cut. This is an art in itself. Not only do you have to make complex cuts on small-ass gems, but you have to *know* where to cut them in order to get the best look out of a gem. The style of cutting determines how light reflects and refracts on the faces of the stone, and returns to the viewer’s eye.
- Color. A bottom line is how "purdy" a gemstone is. A gemologist grades in terms of tone, saturation, and hue.

What's your opinion on synthetic diamonds used as Jewelry?

I also hear that the process has been perfected to the point that many Jewelers could not tell the difference between it and a real diamond. Is this true?

I got a ring and apparently it has electro-plated gold. Can you describe to me what that even means? And what is likely underneath the gold?

Is it true that no one actually puts diamonds in tiny little cloth bags because the diamonds will cut through each other?

I learned this a while back, but don't they put whatever item they want to plate in a solution (in this case, wouldn't it be gold?) and they run an electric current through it that causes the gold to cover the surface of the ring. The demonstration/experiment involved electroplating a spoon when I first learned this.

Yeah, that is pretty much how electroplating is done.
I believe a common material for use with this would be iron or tin.
So chances are that the ring you have is virtually worthless.

I KNOW THAT IT'S WORTHLESS! >=(

Well, before GFF crashed, RR & I had a nice discussion on this topic...

Those synthetic diamonds often have a discoloration to them. But if a synthetic diamond shows up, it'll be simple to identify. Y'see, everything in nature has a bit of disorder. A synthetic diamond isn't natural and doesn't follow these laws of nature. A crystalline structure of a diamond is a slight mess. A crystalline structure of a synthetic, on the other hand, is perfect. Analyzing their structures will show you the difference, if not the color. Personally, I have yet to see a synthetic diamond, but I've read up on them since RR & I discussed it.

Electroplated means that the item has been coated with a metal via electrolysis. The layer isn't exactly paint-thin, but the bottom line is that it is plated.

As for the underlying material? Pewter, a white metal.

Pewter was conceived in the Middle Ages in Europe. Originally pewter was an alloy made of varying amounts of tin, copper, lead and antimony. Today, good pewter is made without adding lead and is known as lead-free pewter.

Pewter is very soft and easily bent. During the Middle Ages, it was primarily used for dinnerware, such as plates and drinking vessels (lead poisoning leik wut). Pewter had to be used for domestic household uses as it was much too soft for weapons or farm tools. It can be cast very easily into intricate objects. This makes it a perfect metal for jewelry items. Highly polished pewter has a blue-white color; but more often pewter is finished by electroplating.

Wha? =o To be honest, I've never heard of this. Diamonds can't really cut through eachother unless you apply a severe amount of pressure or whack them together pretty good a few times. We've moved bunches of diamonds inside of velvet bags and they don't damage eachother. But anyhow, I've never heard of this.

Whats the possibility of you and me getting into a little buisness deal - and making lots of money on the side?

c'mon, you knonw it's tempting, lol. :)

What is the most expensive purchase someone has made in your... store? (You didn't really say at what kind of place you worked >_>)

Also, what is your favorite 'jewel'?

Sure thing, absolute stranger =D You sound like a swell fellow ^__^

I was freelance for the longest time. Lately, I've been working under someone in a store. I'm self-taught and rather skilled (not bragging if you're telling the truth. My Geoscience background helps me on classifying and identifying immensely).

We deal mostly in diamonds for cash-cows. I make 'em, appraise 'em, and sell 'em. Most expensive purchase?... Well...:

We have dealt with some high-end Tanzanite & Diamond combination rings. Look at these upper-tier ones for a ball park figure :)

Toss-up between a few. Aquamarine vs Watermelon Tourmaline vs Tanzanite.

Bloodstone, the Garnets, and others are very VERY close runner-ups.

What, from a jeweller's perspective, is the difference between a diamond and a cubic zirconia? What cues do you look for to tell if something is one and not the other?

And, while I'm thinking about it, what is the second-most expensive gemstone, after diamond? I heard emerald from one source, ruby from another, and sapphire from a third.

So I bought a tanzanite ring recently, am totally in love with it. I was told that because tanzanite is in such limited supply, it's value is going to appreciate. Is that true or is someone making shit up? It's not a huge stone, or anything. Here's a picture in case that matters.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ienne/ring.jpg

Something else I've always been curious about: how hard is it to find a good quality diamond for a decent price? Are there specific places to go? How can you tell if you're being ripped off with jewelry in general?

In nature, Cubic Zirconia is rare. But synthetically, it is common.

Any good jeweler can see the difference immediately. A Cubic Zirconia has a plastic look, with a light-blue cast throughout the stone. One sure way to tell the difference is to weigh them: the Cubic Zirconia will weigh 75% more than the real deal!

Diamonds are on an artificial Supply-Demand stint thanks to De Beers. I already am rather frustrated at them... A diamond isn't necessarily the most expensive gemstone, though. A ruby of utmost quality runs about $30,000/carat. That's quite a bit more than your average diamond =)

Would a car made of diamond break if it ran into a wall at high speed?

Yes, Tanzanite can only be found in one location in the world -- in the Meralani Hills of northern Tanzania. It is everything that diamonds are hyped up to be. One out of every 10,000 diamonds are sold =p Think of it like that~ Tanzanite is a fantastic investment. Tanzania recently said they wouldn't export Tanzanite to India. Well, India is responsible for lots of cutting on gems on large-scale. Most Tanzanite is ending up over here and is untreated oft at times. India wants to sell some of it themselves. And it's rare. Plus the coloration is gorgeous. These are piling up and really upping the price.

Just make sure you keep the ring in good condition. Looks nice =D

Well, professionals go to gem & mineral shows. A huge one was in Tucson, AZ earlier in February. You go there and buy from international sellers. That's where you haggle and what-not. But most folks there are out to buy lotsa gems. Looootsa them.

Well, buying Jewelry from someone leaves you at the mercy of the seller like a car mechanic holds an inept customer. At gem & mineral shows, you'll have the real swindlers. They go for folks who don't know anything about gems & jewelry and try to fool you with fancy words. At a local store, they won't fool you. Word gets around. It's one thing for a mechanic to screw you over, but a jewelery store always tells the truth if it plans to have any longevity. Selling cheap jewelry will get you shut down just by word-of-mouth.

Gem & mineral shows are real primo places for quality buys but they're also grounds for major rip-offs. If you go buying, be sure to go with someone who knows what's what. Otherwise, stick to local jewelry stores.

The pricing standard is rather set in stone (lol). Someone doesn't just pick up a stone and go "looks like $200." They'll tally up the value depending upon several parameters (The Four C's mentioned earlier) amid other traits. Rarity factors in, followed by actual demand.

As far as if something is a fake gem? I know a neat trick... Got polarized lenses? Pop 'em out and get another set of hands. Hold the two lenses a little ways apart, hold the gem between them, and shine a light up from the bottom. Peer down through the top lens, and if the gem is fake (glass), the gem will be colored entirely black. This little trick is known as Crossing The Polars. Glass is Isotropic, and under crossed polars, it always appears black. Kind of a neat McGuyver trick ;D

Double Post:
Absolutely. Diamond is incredibly hard. But it is hardly impact-resistant. A building can hold 50,000lb on its roof, but if you pound 10,000lb a few times, the stress being loaded & unloaded will make the structure fold. Same premise.

Double Post:
Also, Nadienne, another good Gemstone to try out is Alexandrite. It is also ridiculously rare, and its color can differ under different lights. Colors are greenish outdoors, and reddish to violet under artificial light. Alexandrite is extremely rare, though, and rarely larger than 2 carats. It is common to find synthetic ones, though, so keep an eye out if you try tracking one down.

I was just trying to explain to my mom the whole deBeers diamond conspiracy thing and she didn't believe me.

Interesting that you bring up the Tucson show. I'm from there, and I've always missed it. Next year, baby, next year. The polarization trick might prove useful. Also, if you decide to buy a stone loose, will regular jewelry stores set it for you?

I guess more what I was asking about if you're getting ripped off is real stones that're overpriced. I've noticed especially in certain mall chains that everything seems ridiculously expensive for what it is.

She should believe it. Show her a website on it ;D It's a monopoly, pure and simple. The US slaps lawsuits on them, but they make such ridiculous amounts of money that the slaps on the wrist don't bother them. Unless some international rules kick in, De Beers will keep making money by the truckload. If you want a little truthful compilation, I could write up a detailed little essay for her to peruse in regards to De Beers' activities.

I would've gone to the Tucson show, but I went to San Francisco in early December for a major conference, and since my University is a cheapskate, they didn't pay for my trip (while other universities do so). As a result, my bank account was still reeling.

Ahh. I know what ya mean. It's just taking advantage of folks who don't know much about the field. The only real way to find out what is the real price is to try and compare something you've seen in reality to prices on the internet with roughly the same appearance. Kind of hard to do... Or you could read up on the pricing. There are lots of ins and outs that up and lower pricings. Buying loose gemstones successfully is reserved for the lucky and for the skilled, to be honest. You'd be amazed how much some folks will pay for a pretty rock.

If you have your eye on a certain gem, ask for its name and carats. Check it up online and compare prices. Then head back and haggle. If you begin haggling like you know about the stuff, they might pale if it is overpriced considerably. They rely on buyers not knowing much about them other than size and pretty colorations. But, some sellers don't know much about them, either. If you haggle with pricings, the skill of the cut, presence of inclusions and what-not, the price can easily lower.

Just want to make a little brag.

My mom has a ring with 2 one-carat alexandrites in it. :D

I recently went over the topic of gems in my geology class this semester. How often do people ask you whether or not the gem(s) they're interested in are natural or synthetic? Do they often ask about the history of the gem(s), like say if they had been enhanced by radiation, or heat or chemical treatment? The bottom line I got from the lecture in my class was that it's a good idea to ask those things, and that the more naturally-formed the gem is, the more valuable.

EDIT: On a side note, I remember my professor relating a story in that lecture of a colleague of his who was pounding away with one of those hammers, getting some rock samples when he unwittingly unearthed a large Utah red beryl, which judging by its size and forming naturally, would've probably been worth several thousands of dollars. He didn't notice it until too late, when his hammer split the thing in half. :doh:

We always mark our synthetics and non-synthetics, and we have history of the jewelry on record. Most are brand-spanking new. We're not a pawn shop =p They get exactly what they see and what we tell 'em. Of course a natural gem is worth more. Synthetics can be made whenever. Naturals are limited in supply.

Ooof ;( Bad loss... Still worth a good amount but a huge gem would've been more valuable.

Thanks for the response. And man, that was quick. :cool:

How many carats does it take to get an oz?

I hate the metric system sooo much! It's just so... not American. :)

1 ounce = 141.747616 carats, according to Google calculator =p 1 carat is 200mg.

I heard sometime ago that the best cut for an emerald is the square cut. If it was cut another way--for example, the way a diamond would be cut (I know there are plenty of ways to do this)--would it ruin the emerald?

Also, if you cut a gemstone incorrectly so that the angle is wrong, or it makes a chip or crack, is the gemstone unsalvagable? Or can you guys do something to save it? I guess if it was a large gem, you could use it to make something smaller, but what if it was already a small gem?

Rough emeralds often found in octagonal shapes, but they often retain more weight when cut as octagons as well as emerald-cut, and also retain more colour saturation in these shapes. So, basically, they "look prettier" in such styles. But it isn't rare to see other gems cut in the same manner. It is a pretty basic cut.

Depends on the scale. If we're talking a small chipping on a decent sized gem, you can just cut a little further and scrape off that layer. Cutting, if you are new to it, is a money-pit. Everyone practices with quartz since it is worthless and plentiful. If you screw up bad enough, you can't salvage it. You can't use glue or anything like that, y'know =p The hard truth of it is that there are many mistakes that you can't fix. Cutting a gem is slow and painstaking because a lot is at risk if you go too fast or are clumsy.

Oh man, so I guess being a jeweller isn't for me. I'm clumsy as hell!!

Thanks for the quick reply!

Oooh thanks. I doubt I'll be able to make use of that information, but you never know. :) It's something I've always wondered.

I want to ask you: Is Corundum a rare mineral and expensive? I know it has hardness 9 but at my University, when I studied the minerals, corundum was set free to touch, to scrape with another minerals and anyone could steal it easy.
Thanks,

BR

Not rare as far as I know... It is used in abrasives (though often a synthetic version) from Sandpaper and onward. Valuable only if you have some select gems growing out of it =p

How hard is it to get into the Gem business?

What would be your appraisal of an .42ct IF, color rating E diamond with excellent symmetry and a good polish?

Kinda tricky. Most folks say to go to GIA, but the degrees there are rather quick to get, and, in my opinion, don't prove much. I spoke to the right person who had a good number of contacts and he got me in touch with a local dealer who took me under his wing as of late.

"IF"? I'm a bit hazy on that abbreviation... I'd need to know the symmetry first off. You tell me excellent symmetry and good polish, but are we talking Brilliant cut? Marquise? Also, its dimensions would need to be a must. If I had the sample in my hands, I could give an accurate ballpark figure, but based off of what you told me? Maybe $350.

IF=Internally Flawless.

Carat weight: .42
Color: E
Clarity: IF
Depth %: 62.0%
Table %: 54%
Girdle: Medium to slightly thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: Faint
Measurements: 4.79x4.82x2.98 mm (Round Cut)

Oh, I was mistaken. The Polish and Symmetry are both Very Good under the GIA grading report.

Double Post:
So there are schools out there to learn what you do... But from what I gather they are toooo easy to get degrees from, huh?

Hmmh... I'd like to see the sample as opposed to read measurements, but I'd say $700-800ish maybe. Could be wrong. I'm just a beginner by most standards anyhow =p

Yeah, the college is expensive. The degrees they give you are for everyday things a jeweler should know about. There should just be one large degree, not a bunch of one to two month-long courses. But still, while I was freelancing, I'd get called into a business or two and one time, a fella in there was a GIA grad. Didn't know his arse from a peridot. The guy was a complete moron despite having alllll the degrees from there. I am a firm believer in apprentice-ship in this field.

Good to know... Hands on is always better that classroom work. How long have you been in the gem biz?

As for the diamond, it is one of the most brilliant diamonds I have ever seen. By far above the shit they sell in the jewelry stores around town. So I would say 400 is a bit of a low ball estimate O.o

Well, Marquise pieces I've seen of 0.42ct are $400-$500. Like I said, a shot in the dark.

Well, I'm 21. Been collecting since I was 5 or so. Freelanced starting at age 16. Built up a small rep around here for helping out if a business is swamped or another set of hands is needed. Only a few months ago did I finally decide to work fully under a store. My appraisal skills are my rustiest but that's due to lack of experience.

I see, so this has been an interest of yours since a young age. I used to collect rocks that I thought looked cool as a kid... but they were never worth anything :/

Got any other neat tricks to weed out the fake stones?

Yessir. Refer to page 1, in response to the first post Nadienne made. A neat trick I derived m'self after going through a mineralogical optics-intensive lab.

... I read that one, I was hoping for some others.

o rly. Any others?

Well, there are a few:

Hardness
Weight
Specialized Dating if you have the excess hardware (probably don't~)
Compare RI's
Optical Analysis
See if it is Isotropic (Glass) by crossing polars and noting its extinction

Lotsa processes. A fake can be ID'd in a heartbeat by a Gemologist. The intention of a fake is to fool your everyday Joe.

If I can scratch it, it ain't real.

What's the most expensive and/or rarest metal used to make jewellry? Do the metals from meteorites (usually very rare on earth but common in space) get used to make things?

Rhodium?

Well, lotsa nice gems are still scratchable. Comparing hardness ranges is one way to do it.

It's a close race between Platinum & Titanium as far as prices go.

O_o I was refering to diamonds

Where can I find kryptonite.

You never SAID diamonds >_O You said verifying things as real or fake. That could range from the metal being gold to whether your emerald is real or glass. Weight is the big-time give away. Followed by the appearance. But you get the ability to differentiate them on sight after you've seen the comparisons often enough (and diamonds do get scratched!).

Over in the comic book forums =o Shhh!