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Read The Latest Newsletter from LV Jewelry

Posted 10:29 AM September 25, 2008

We've just published a new edition of our newsletter! You can check it out on our website and get the latest information from LV Jewelry. Let us know what you think!

Read It Now Here

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Perfectly Imperfect Colombian Emeralds

Posted 09:06 AM September 25, 2008

Perfectly Imperfect Colombian Emeralds!

Colombian Emeralds! The name sparks thoughts of Spanish galleons laden with treasure, crown jewels of nations, and centuries of historical events and intrigue that surround this gemstone, one of the rarest of jewels. But what makes the Colombian emerald special among emeralds? With beautiful emeralds coming from Brazil , Zambia , India , and other exotic locations, what makes the Colombian emerald so special? We will start with the formation. The Colombian emeralds formed when a super heated volcanic intrusion was raised up under a shallow salt sea in what is now the nation of Colombia . As the land was raised to form the mountains of Colombia , the white calcite veins running through the black shale host rock were exposed by erosion to reveal the emerald crystals located through the calcite veins. You can see a cluster of Colombian emeralds in the grey calcite host rock at left that is indicative of an emerald from the Coscuez mine.

One of the most important chacteristics of Colombian emeralds is their unique set of inclusions that make identification and separation from other emeralds fairly easy. For instance, pyrite is a mineral that is found in abundance around the emerald bearing formations. You can see a cluster of calcite, pyrite and Colombian emerald at right that is from the Muzo mine of Colombia .

And of course, if the pyrite crystals are prevalent in the host rock we can expect them to become inclusions in the emerald crystals. And below you can see a large cluster of pyrite crystals in a Colombian emerald, along with a close up of a single pyrite crystal that is quite the collector’s item for one of this size. This makes for a unique feature in Colombian emeralds, but there is much more.

Jardin....the Garden

Another important characteristic is the Colombian emerald jardin or garden. Colombian emeralds formed in a very volatile hot water filled environment which imparted a variety of inclusions to the stone which are considered to be part of the romance of the emerald. As the crystals grew they were twisted about slightly which caused tiny fractures to form. Some of these fractures became filled with the salt water from the shallow seas in the area, and then were closed back up as the crystal grew. These are known as healed fractures and are quite unique with Colombian emeralds as they are often filled with gas, liquid sea water, and a halite crystal…..table salt! These are known as three phase inclusions and are considered diagnostic for Colombian emerald identification by many. However, you should be careful as some hydrothermal synthetic emeralds have been found by the ISG to contain three phase inclusions also. But since the hydrothermals are easy to identify for ISG students, this should pose no problem to a properly trained gemologist. You can see a 90x and 120x image of a three phase Colombian emerald inclusion below. Note that the long inclusion is filled with liquid, and has a square salt crystal and a gas bubble clearly visible.

Chromium and the Chelsea Filter

And of course, one of the most fun characteristics of the Colombian emerald is the fact that it is colored by a chromium content of approximately 3% that can vary with the depth of the green color. This allows for further identification of the Colombian emerald by use of the Chelsea filter. This important gemological tool was first invented to separate Colombian emerald from what was known at the time as green beryl. These are now called emeralds from Zambia , Brazil etc… But once they were known simply as green beryl because the are colored by vanadium rather than chromium, and the Chelsea filter was used to properly identify the Colombian emerald….just as it is today. Below left you see a Colombian emerald in incandescent light, and with the same light using a Chelsea filter below right.

And finally, due to some of the healed fractures being exposed during the cutting and faceting process, Colombian emeralds are oiled to help seal the stone. And over time this oil will seep out and require re-oiling to protect the stone. The oil seepage is the white flaky looking material in the emeralds in the banner photo of this week’s newsletter. This is a perfectly acceptable treatment as long as it is explained to customers. However, sometimes green colored oil is used to not only seal the fissures but to impart an artificially enhanced color to the stone. You can see the results of this in a fissure in the image at right. This is also acceptable as long as the customer is informed of the process. However, all too often someone will take an emerald ring for cleaning and hand the jeweler a dark green emerald and get back a light green emerald. This is because this green colored oil will seep out in an ultrasonic cleaner. So consumers and jewelers alike should be very careful about cleaning any emerald in an ultrasonic cleaner. It is best to use a mild soap and water solution and be gentle with it.

And speaking of gentle. There is a lot of talk about emerald being brittle. Nothing could be further from the truth for good quality gemstones. In the 1990s I had the opportunity to work with some of the Colombian emerald crystals that were recovered from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. These emeralds had been getting thrashed all around the seabed of the Florida Straits into the Gulf of Mexico for about 500 years, and were as perfect as the day they were mined. So don’t be fooled by anyone telling you that emeralds are fragile. The lesser quality stones with a lot of fissures might indeed be fragile, but a fine quality Colombian emerald will make a jewelry item that will last a lifetime. In fact, many lifetimes if properly cared for and worn with pride.

Editorial Note: I know that the faceted Colombian emeralds shown are pretty knarly. But true Colombian emeralds are rather expensive, and we are lucky to have these in the ISG Student Reference Collection. I was not going to be cheezy enough to post up an image of a hydrothermal synthetic and try to pass it off as a high quality Colombian emerald, as I have seen some others do. But we look forward to hitting up some of you emerald dealers out there for some higher quality study specimens in the near future. ;-) RJ

Robert James FGA, GG. Pres. ISG

Please note: State Jewelry Associations may distribute to your members.

Contact the ISG

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Jewelry Television

Posted 07:46 PM February 04, 2008

9 May 2008

An open letter to Cheryl Ells at Jewelry Television!

From a customer of your late night jewelry show!

Dear Cheryl at JTV,

I am writing to you regarding the colored gemstone parcel you sold me a few weeks ago on your late night Jewelry Television show. I watched you here on channel 803 in San Antonio .

I really liked the gemstone tray that you sent along with the parcel. That was a very nice gift for you to include, and one that will go to good use here in my office.

However, I do need to write to you regarding these gemstones I received. You see, I saw you reading letter after letter from your many satisfied customers testifying to the fact that they got stones in their parcels worth three, four, even five thousand dollars. And you said that all of your parcels contained stones like that.

In fact, you told me that night, “I guarantee you that at least one stone in your parcel will be worth at least $600.00”. So based on your personal guarantee, I believed you and purchased the parcel.

Cheryl, I would like to share with you what I really received from you. Because not only is there not a single stone worth $600.00 in my parcel as you “guaranteed” me, but there are problems with the stones that make most of them worth little or nothing.

For example, I did get what appeared to be a nice citrine. But if you look closely at the stone at left, the table is all scratched up, the stone is all dinged up, and the point of the stone is completely broken off.

And I also got what at first looked like a nice tanzanite at right. But again, this stone has a whole tip worn down and abraded. Worn down, Cheryl, as if someone had worn this stone for a long time in a ring, and replaced it because it was so worn down. And then it was placed into my parcel from Jewelry Television. How could that be possible?

But there is more. Rather than taking up a lot of your valuable time (I know you have shows to prepare for) I made you a slide show of many of my stones in my parcel that you can view below. Can you see how many show extreme wear and tear dings and chips? I know how to identify these because I worked for almost 5 years for USAA insurance doing damaged jewelry evaluations, including wear and tear issues. And I have written the only Insurance Certified Continuing Education course in the world on Evaluating Damaged Jewelry.

And Cheryl, these stones are second hand worn down, chipped, and abraded. They are not new, are not in good condition, and none are worth anywhere near $600.00 as you "guaranteed" me on your show. And as a licensed Property and Casualty Insurance Adjuster, I am concerned about possible insurance fraud because of the claims you make about your products to consumers.

And what would have happened if my parcel had been lost in the mail? Would you have paid me the $600.00 value for that gemstone that you guaranteed me was in the parcel?

And finally, what is this below? What kind of gemstone has strings in it?

I would appreciate hearing from you about my parcel. Particularly where is my $600.00 valued gemstone that you guaranteed I would get. And what about all of these many broken and chipped stones? And again, what kind of stone has strings?

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Robert, your JTV Customer

PS. Please feel free to use my letter on your next television show.

Editorial Note:

If this letter sounds a bit facetious, that is the intended purpose. I am professionally astounded and offended that Jewelry Television would allow this person to make such outlandish and false claims on their shows. I have to believe that Jewelry Television management is better than this. I want to believe that Jewelry Television management is better than this. Because if Cheryl Ells is representative of JTV, then JTV is in some deep poopy.

I have to wonder about all of those folks investing their retirement savings in these crappy gemstones based on Cheryl’s outlandish, and quite frankly deceptive, statements and guarantees. Is this what the colored gemstone industry has really come to? Have we come to the point that anyone can put up a major television shopping channel and say anything they want or need to say in the name of racking up big sales? And there is no one in the industry willing or able to put some controls on them?

And just where is the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, anyway?

Indeed, Jewelry Television should be setting a higher standard for themselves, and the industry. JTV is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in the past 20 years of our industry, and they have the capability to set a higher standard for everyone in the industry. But instead of taking the high road with long term vision, they are being extremely short sighted and frivolous with a very unique opportunity to do good things for the industry and themselves.

It makes me wonder what the late Richard T. Liddicoat, Jr., (former Pres. of the GIA) would think if he were here today. I think he would shake his head in amazement that someone could use such a wonderful medium as Jewelry Television to do so much harm to the industry.

I miss Mr. Liddicoat. He made a great captain of the jewelry industry ship. Too bad there is no one at the helm anymore.

Robert James FGA, GG

President, International School of Gemology

NEWS UPDATE: The ISG has purchased a RAMAN Spectrophotometer for our ISG Gem Lab, and are upgrading it to a Raman Microscope Spectrophotometer. We are going to devote this new RAMAN technology to future course development, gemological research, and consumer protection investigations.

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