Significant differences in the price of natural, synthetic and artificial stones can easily turn an affordable piece of jewelry into an expensive purchase that does not live up to expectations.
The jewelry market is flooded with artificial gems and imitation gems. This is especially true for emeralds, because they were artificially grown second, right after rubies.
Natural Emerald
The formation of natural emeralds, however, like other precious stones, is an accident. It takes a lot of conditions to coincide so that from what we used to call the earth, and geologists call the rock, nature has created such a miracle as a crystal.
It is required that a lot of conditions coincide at one point in space and time: temperature, pressure, s alts of beryllium, chromium and vanadium, and all this in certain parameters and ratios.
No wonder natural gem emeralds are rare and highly valued.
Synthetic stones
Artificialemeralds that are produced in a laboratory have almost identical chemical, optical and physical characteristics of their natural counterpart: hardness, specific gravity, brilliance, color, crystal lattice structure. They can easily be confused with natural stones.
But, as a rule, they have a brighter and more saturated color and more defiant brilliance compared to natural emerald. This is due to the absence of impurities of foreign chemical elements, which are inevitable during the formation of natural stone in the natural environment. Often foreign inclusions in the crystal are visible to the naked eye.
In a sterile environment in which artificial crystals are created, such incidents are excluded. The vibrant coloration of synthetic emeralds is a tribute to consumer demand.
Emeralds can be grown in two ways: from a solution or from a melt.
Melt Growth
Commercially viable flux technology was developed in the late 1930s, and the first artificially grown emerald appeared in 1940.
Flux is a solid material that dissolves other materials when melted. As the melt of chemicals is gradually cooled under excess pressure, artificial emeralds are formed.
Growing stone with the flux method requires patience and significant investment. Crystals can take up to a year to grow depending on the desired size. But the results are well worth the time and effort.
With this method, the laboratory conditions are as close as possible to the conditions whenwhich crystals grow in the earth's crust.
Growing from solution
Hydrothermal synthetic emerald for jewelry appeared in 1960.
Hydrothermal technology is somewhat simpler and cheaper, but grown crystals contain gas bubbles and fluorescence unusual for natural emeralds under ultraviolet rays.
Natural and synthesized crystal
There is an easy way to distinguish artificial emeralds from natural ones in the field, so to speak. Usually a magnifying glass with a strong magnification is sufficient for such express analysis. So far, manufacturers have not learned how to include various impurities and defects inherent in natural natural stones in grown crystals.
Artificial emeralds grown using flux technology are almost perfect. In hydrothermal crystals, conical air cavities can be found, elongated in the direction of crystal growth.
Natural emeralds almost always contain impurities, have areas of different shades, microcracks and other minor defects. Therefore, the perfect flawlessness of a stone is almost always evidence of its laboratory origin.
Artificial stones and simulators
Sometimes gemstones such as green zirconium are used as emerald imitations or simulants. Even glass pieces can be designed to mimic emeralds. However, the chemical and physical properties of these imitations are very different from those of the genuinegem.
There are simulators made of plastics, glass, resin and dyes. These "gem" stones are easily identified in the laboratory by a qualified gemologist.
Artificially enhanced emeralds
Natural emeralds that contain any flaws or are not bright enough in color are often subjected to special processing to improve color and transparency. Methods of "treatment" of the stone are varied. Of course, an improved natural mineral does not become artificial, but requires more careful handling.
Emerald improvement methods
Common processing methods to enhance the presentation of natural emerald crystals include:
- coloring;
- filling cracks.
Often both of these enhancement methods are applied to the same stone. Microcracks in the stone are filled with mineral oils, waxes, polymer resins, painted in emerald tone. The purpose of the procedure is to hide the fractures of the stone and increase its transparency. The amount of filler can vary from negligible to very large amounts. Substances that are injected into the stone have varying degrees of stability in the treated crystals.
Changes in air pressure, proximity to heat, or exposure to chemicals can affect the appearance of filled emeralds by changing physical properties, reducing or removing the filler. Such a stone requires special care, even hot water and detergent can damage it.washing dishes.
To improve the color of the emerald, a thin layer of transparent polymer film is applied to the back of the crystal.
Improved with the help of such techniques, an emerald usually does not cause doubts in its natural beauty from an inexperienced buyer. It is difficult to notice the filler by visual inspection with a magnifying glass, and if any traces of defects are found, they are usually taken as natural, formed under natural conditions.
To detect such processing of emerald is possible only in a gemological laboratory using special equipment.
Assembled or composite stones
When manufacturers glue or fuse two or more separate pieces of a mineral together and give them the appearance of a cut gemstone, the result is called an assembled or composite stone. Individual parts may be natural or artificial.
Flat surfaces are glued parallel to the large facet of the gem to give a uniform beautiful color to the transparent emerald. Doublets, namely the so-called stones from two connected segments, are very common. Fasten the layers of stone in this case with colorless glue.
Triplet consists of three segments or two segments separated by a layer of colored cement. It is also a very common way to improve the appearance of emerald crystals.
Duplets and triplets are widely used to imitate natural stones. Even if the stone is assembled from platesemerald, the crystal is still a creation of human hands, not nature.
To distinguish such an artificial emerald from a real one, as always, a magnifying glass is required. If you carefully examine the profile of the crystal, you can see the layers of constituent parts. In that case, of course, if they are not completely covered by the setting of the stone.
Become expert gemologists?
Before buying jewelry, we study the documents. Natural emerald in our time must be certified by the gemological laboratory. But not always.
If it is written that the insert is "emerald", and the word is accompanied by an adjective, then the only option that is valid in this case is "Colombian". Then the emerald should have a pronounced bluish tint.
All other adjectives for the name "emerald" are used to mislead the buyer, and are marketing. These are imitators, natural semi-precious stones, but not emeralds:
- Vilyui - Vesuvian;
- Pakistani - green pomegranate;
- oriental - green sapphire.
Gemstones are evaluated by the following major mineralogical characteristics:
- hardness;
- optical properties and fluorescence;
- presence and nature of foreign inclusions;
- stone structure;
- physical properties;
- chemical composition.
Emerald has a hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale and scratches glass without damaging it.
Colornatural stone is uneven, there are darker and lighter shades. Permissible are yellow, gray and blue soft colors, green prevails - from light grassy to dark green. The darker the better. A quality emerald should be transparent.
In natural stone, the play of light is comparable to the play of light in a diamond. On this basis, artificial and natural emeralds are easily distinguished. A beam of light passing through the crystal is refracted and casts bright green highlights.
At a distance of one and a half to two meters, a natural emerald looks like a piece of velvet, not iridescent brocade or silk.
When choosing jewelry with emerald, it is not necessary to buy a natural stone. A ring on a finger or earrings with an artificial emerald will perfectly decorate both a young lady and a lady of Balzac age.
