Post subject: Do faceters need to study fake gem detection
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:36 am
Active Member
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:30 pm Posts: 50 Location: Fresno, Ca.
Would you say a faceter wouldn't need to worry about fake gems being that they work with rough cut gems. I started read ing about synthetic/fake gems and it seems one would need to be on the professional level to detect high quality fakes.
Post subject: Re: Do faceters need to study fake gem detection
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:20 am
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
I would surmise that if you were solely cutting for others and not selling product, one could get by without knowing what they were cutting. But certainly if one was going to sell the product they were cutting it would be prudent to be able to positively identify what you were selling.
Post subject: Re: Do faceters need to study fake gem detection
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:50 am
Gold Member
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:01 pm Posts: 1902 Location: Pine City, NY and Dothan, AL
Synthetic (same material, but manmade) gem materials won't affect the cutting process, but you'll need to know the real composition of simulants (not the same material, just looks like it) because the cutting characteristics may be different. If you incorporate the stones into jewelry, the wearability of a simulant may be different, and the value of a synthetic is of course less than a natural stone.
However, it takes a great deal of study, experience, and sometimes specialized equipment to be sure what a gem material really is. If you want to become a gemologist, it's a fascinating field, but for the present, do what we all try to do: buy from trusted suppliers.
There are fake gems sold as real gems in the rough all the time. People will go to great lengths to make a created ruby or sapphire look like the real thing in the rough, so we need to be very careful when buying these, especially if the rough looks too nice. I have seen very experienced rough dealers fooled by synthetic sapphire made to look like a rough stone.
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