Saturday, March 04, 2006

Too Good to be True!

We decided to try purchasing one gemstone from a new source. This company was suspicious to us because we felt that they were not disclosing some treatment on their gemstones. We purchased a beautiful neon orange sapphire with a hint of red. It was sold to us as a ruby, but it is actually a sapphire - there was too much orange in it. Some people would have purchased it as a ruby, only to be told in the future that it was a sapphire, but this fact was fine with us as we would be selling it as what it really is - a sapphire.

The beautiful color was immediately suspicious, as sapphires and rubies are being treated with Beryllium and the colors produces can be across the rainbow - mostly intense oranges and variations of orange, but also reds, blues and yellows are possible. They indicated that it was heated - this is more of a standard practive in the world currently and usually accepted unless the customer/store indicates no heat. We specifically asked whether it was diffusion treated. We identified ourselves as being in business for over 25 years, the owner has a gemologist degree from GIA and that the stone would be sent to a lab. We were assured that it was only heated.

After studying the gemstone, it was determined to have been both heated and diffusion treated. It was returned.

We guess that he didn't believe that we would test it as most people wouldn't! That is what many places are counting on, as most of the public don't know about this treatment and some companies out there are not disclosing this fact even when asked. The profit potential is far greater to just let people buy them and occasionally a few will be returned. The public is seeing low prices on some very fine quality colors and does not understand that the real material is far higher in price. Again, purchase from reputable dealers. All That Glitter has a LifeTime Guarantee on all of our gemstones. Visit our website and read all about it!

1 Comments:

Blogger Linda said...

I;ve recently bought a Pad sapphire. They told me that it was only heat treated, but that they didn't know anything else. It is apretty stone, and I only paid $40 for it.

5:21 PM  

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