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Jewelry Artisan • Gemologist • Designer
SUPERIOR DETAIL AND ACCURACY
GEMSTONE TREATMENTS
Gemstone Treatments are defined by GIA as any human-controlled process, beyond cutting and polishing, that improves appearance, durability, or the value of a gem. Here are some major treatments to look for. There are others that include Laser Drilling, Impregnation, Bleaching, Dyeing, and Surface Coating. These particular treatments are fairly easy to detect. The ones below are not.
Heat Treatments
permanent treatment
Heat Treatment is very common in the Jewelry Industry. Many Designers use Heat Treated gemstones to maintain color consistency in their product. The FTC does not require that it be disclosed to the customer because the treatment is safe and permanent. This treatment can be detected by the expansion of inclusions within the stone.
Not always, but here are commonly Heat Treated Gemstones:
● Ruby and Sapphire: Heat Treatment is used quite often to improve color saturation and change the color in Corundum.
● Tanzanite: Around 90-95% percent of Blue Tanzanites attribute their color to the Heat Treatment Process. Tanzanite is normally brownish when mined.
● Amethyst: heated to change the color to yellow/ orange Citrine
● Zircon: Heat is known to produced different color varieties.
● Paraiba: Known for its neon blue that is caused by Copper is typically heat to improve color saturation.
● Aquamarine: Much of the blue in Aquamarine results from heat treatment. This Process removes the yellow and greenish color, leaving a more pure blue.
Lattice Diffusion
permanent | not permanent
Lattice Diffusion requires extreme heat. The stone is heated close to the gemstone's melting point. Then the mineral is bombarded with elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, and beryllium. Once hot enough, the gemstone absorbs the elements producing a rich, shallow layer of color.
Because it is shallow, the treatment is not considered permanent. Should the gem be recut, the color will lighten.
However, sometimes the process penetrates the gemstone so deep, it is throughout the entire stone. This makes the treatment permanent..
Examples of Lattice Diffused Gems:
● Ruby: Chromium/ Beryllium
● Blue Sapphire: Cobalt, Iron & Titanium
Fracture Filling
requires special care
● Emerald: 90% or more of Emeralds are fracture-filled with Oil, Wax, and Resins; filling crevasses within the gemstone to improve its Clarity.
Resin is permanent and can turn opaque over time; oil enhancements are suggested.
● Lead Glass Filled Rubies: Clarity Enhancement; lead glass filled Rubies are considered commercial goods; poor quality.
● Resin/ Polymers: This permanent treatment turns opaque with exposure to light and cannot be undone like oils and waxes; it is a negative treatment.
● Fracture Filled Diamonds: Laser Drill-Holes filled with the same R.I. substance to transmit light without distortion; can also turn opaque. negative treatment.
HPHT
High Pressure | High Temperature
permanent treatment
The majority of natural diamonds are Type Ia containing Nitrogen clustered atoms. These are near-colorless to light yellow or brown diamonds.
HPHT is a treatment that can be used to change Nitrogen clustered Type Ia diamonds to colorless and fancy colored diamonds.
High Pressure, High Temperature and the Jewelry Market:
Because natural diamonds that started as Type Ia are not considered as rare as other types. In addition, they can be treated by heat and pressure. These treated diamonds are a great option if you want colorless diamonds or fancy colored diamonds at a much lower price.
The HPHT process is also commonly used in Laboratory Grown Diamonds.
You should be paying a fraction of the price of a natural diamond of equal color. And remember, this is a permanent treatment. There is nothing wrong with these diamonds, as long as the treatment, as any other, is disclosed at sale.
Irradiation
permanent | not permanent
Irradiation is also a color changing treatment; similar to Heat Treatment. Though, instead of being exposed to Heat, the mineral (gem) is exposed to radiation.
Some irradiated gemstones can fade with exposure to light over time, which is why it is not considered permanent.
Blue Topaz can be completely irradiated receiving higher levels of radiation to stabilize the color. This produces a rich, inky, darker (London) blue,
However, some Topaz is irradiated and stabilized by Heat to make the color permanent. Levels of radiation are lower in these gemstones.
There is a debate on whether or not they are safe. Yet, Designers are constantly using Blue Topaz in their jewelry pieces, No one has been reported as having a reaction to these stones.
Corundum, Beryl, Quartz and Pearl are some other gems that are often treated with Irradiation.
SYNTHETICS (LAB GROWN)
Examples of popular Lab Grown Gemstones are below. These gemstones are grown in a laboratory. The material is then manufactured and cut into gems. People have been known to pass these off as natural gemstones; thereby making them a Simulant.
Let's start with Lab Grown or Synthetic Diamonds. Yes, the original translation was Synthetic. That was until the FTC required they be referred to as "Lab-Grown." This would keep them from being mistaken for Simulants; so they thought. Lab Grown Diamonds have been caught imitating Natural Diamonds. This imitation now makes them Simulants.
Because of the demand for Lab Grown Diamonds, everyone is spending much more than they should. Manufacturers can charge whatever they like, considering demand. These Diamonds are also required for industrial and technological advancement; just as much as they are for jewelry. This leads to Synthetic gems being overpriced in the market.
It costs much less to grow a gemstone than it does to mine one. That should be taken into account and it is not in most cases. Because it takes Lab Grown Diamonds just weeks to grow, you can imagine the amount of inventory the suppliers have built up. Yet, they still assess pricing off something that is rare; the natural diamond.
Therefore, in 2024, fair is considered somewhere between 30-60% of a natural diamonds cost (with the same grade.) To receive a 30% sell, you'll have to find a trusted source. The demand is increasing; the result is less mining and production of natural diamonds. This will cause the price in natural diamonds to rise, in turn giving sellers a reason to charge more for Synthetic Diamonds.
Lab Grown Diamonds are not an investment. Most retailers will not buy them back unless they specialize in Lab Grown Diamond sales. Yet still, the buy back price will be much, much lower; given retailers sell them for much higher than they're purchased for.
With the customer's lack of knowledge in these processes of growing these diamonds, retailers can capitalize on inflated prices. The same goes for colored gemstones.
"A laboratory grown diamond is a man-made laboratory creation with essentially the same chemical composition, crystal structure, and properties as its natural counterpart." - GIA
Lab Grown Corundum Ruby & Sapphire
Benefits
● Literally a fraction of the cost of Natural
Popular Processes sold in the market today
Lab Grown Emerald
Benefits
● Literally a fraction of the cost of Natural
Popular Processes sold in the market today
● Flux Grown Synthetic
● Hydrothermal Synthetic
Lab Grown Diamond
Benefits
● Relatively less (30-60%) than a Natural
Popular Processes sold in the market today
Lab Grown Blue Spinel
Benefits
● Literally a fraction of the cost of Natural
Popular Processes sold in the market today
● Flame-fusion Synthetic
● Flux Synthetic
Given the many different processes that are used and seen in the market, you should be very careful if the price is to good to be true. Make sure you can have the item reviewed by an Independent Gemologist.
SIMULANTS (IMITATIONS)
Simulants are simulated gemstones. They intentionally imitate stones that are much more expensive.
Some people refer to simulants as fake, or counterfeit. Though this can be the case a times, simulated jewelry and gems are also purchased by customers knowingly in commercial goods. Many Designers use simulants and customers have no clue. The price of materials is so inexpensive it makes for hyperinflation.
Non-Mineral
Plastic | Glass
● People have been know to cover plastic white beads with iridescence paint; selling them in the market as Pearl Simulants (imitations.)
● Some simulated Turquoise is made using plastic polymers and dyed blue powder. Similar to glass imitations, turquoise simulants can also be molded into stones. They imitates natural turquoise of greater value. Most turquoise is too soft, or porous to use; to which it needs to be impregnated with polymers.
In addition to Plastics, many glass gemstones can imitate almost all Colored stones. Glass simulants can be cast in molds or cut from larger glass pieces.
Plastic and Glass are used for costume jewelry and counterfeit gemstones.
Synthetics
Lab Grown Gemstones
● Even a Lab Grown Diamond can be a Simulant. Lab Grown Diamonds are Synthetic gemstones, but when they imitate natural diamond, they are also Simulants.
For example, should a customer walk into a jewelry store and decide to purchase a lab grown (synthetic) diamond to wear in place of their natural diamond for trips, it becomes a Simulant.
That doesn't change the fact that the Lab Grown Diamond is still man-made. It is still Synthetic, but it serves as a Simulant to the Natural Diamond.
Assembled Stones
Bonded with Clear Cement
● Some Assembled Gemstones are fraudulent. Natural Ruby can be fused to Lab Grown Ruby order to make the gemstone appear genuine. They do this by including natural inclusions in the stone.
A piece of low quality, commercially Heat Treated Natural Ruby is sliced thin in order to shape the crown, or top of a gemstone. The majority of the carat weight is in the Pavilion, or bottom. For this, counterfeiters use Lab Grown, Synthetic Ruby.
● Some Assembled Stones protect natural minerals. Take Opal for instance, it can be slivered and assembled to protect a slice of Lightning Ridge Boulder Opal. You can find these in Triplets and Doublets. Doublets do not contain a clear top.
