Significant differences in the price of natural, synthetic and artificial stones can easily turn the purchase of jewelry at an affordable price into an expensive purchase that does not live up to expectations.
The jewelry market is awash with artificial gemstones and imitation gemstones. This is especially true of emeralds, because they became the second to artificially grow them, right after the rubies.
Natural emerald
The formation of natural emeralds, however, as well as other precious stones, is an accident. It requires a coincidence of many conditions, so that from what we are used to call land, and geologists call rock, nature creates such a miracle as a crystal.
It is required that at one point in space and time a lot of conditions coincide: temperature, pressure, salts of beryllium, chromium and vanadium, and all this in certain parameters and ratios.
Not surprisingly, natural jewelry emeralds are very rare and highly valued.
Synthetic stones
Artificial emeralds, which are produced in the laboratory, have almost identical chemical, optical and physical characteristics of a natural analogue: hardness, specific gravity, gloss, 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 a more sparkling shine compared to natural emerald. This is due to the absence of impurities of extraneous chemical elements that are inevitable during the formation of natural stone in the natural environment. Extraneous inclusions in a crystal are often visible to the naked eye.
In a sterile environment in which artificial crystals are created, such incidents are excluded. Bright coloring of synthetic emeralds is a tribute to consumer demand.
Emeralds can be grown in two ways: from a solution or from a melt.
Melt cultivation
A commercially viable flux technology was created in the late 1930s, and in 1940 the first artificially grown emerald appeared.
Flux is a solid material that dissolves other materials when melted. As the melt of the chemicals gradually cools under pressure, artificial emeralds form.
Gumboil stone cultivation requires patience and significant investment. Crystal growth can take up to a year, depending on the desired size. But the results are worth the time and effort.
With this method, laboratory conditions are as close as possible to the conditions under which crystals grow in the earth's crust.
Growing out of solution
Hydrothermal synthetic emerald for jewelry appeared in 1960.
Hydrothermal technology is somewhat simpler and cheaper, but gas bubbles are present in the crystals grown and fluorescence unusual for natural emeralds appears under ultraviolet rays.
Natural and synthesized crystal
There is an easy way to distinguish artificial emeralds from natural in field, so to speak, conditions. Usually a magnifier with a strong magnification is enough for such an express analysis. So far, manufacturers have not learned how to incorporate various impurities and defects inherent in natural natural stones into the grown crystals.
Artificial emeralds grown using flux technology are almost perfect. In hydrothermal crystals, conical air cavities elongated in the direction of crystal growth can be detected.
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 simulants
Sometimes gems, 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 the properties of a genuine gem.
There are simulants made of plastics, glass, resin and dyes. These "gemstones" are easily identified in the laboratory by a qualified gemologist.
Artificially Enhanced Emeralds
Natural emeralds, containing any flaws or insufficiently brightly colored, are often subjected to special processing to improve color and transparency. Methods of "treatment" of the stone are diverse. Of course, an improved natural mineral does not become artificial, but requires more gentle handling.
Emerald Improvement Methods
Common processing methods to improve the presentation of natural emerald crystals include:
Often, both of these improvement methods are applied to a single stone. Microcracks in the stone are filled with mineral oils, waxes, polymer resins, painted in the tone of emerald. The purpose of the procedure is to hide the fracture of the stone and increase its transparency. The volume of filler can vary from a small to a very large amount. Substances that are introduced into the stone have a different degree of stability in the processed crystals.
Changes in air pressure, proximity to heat, or exposure to chemicals can affect the appearance of filled emeralds due to changes in physical properties, reduction in amount, or complete removal of filler. Such a stone requires special care, even hot water and a dishwashing detergent can damage it.
To improve the color of the emerald, a thin layer of a transparent polymer film is applied to the back of the crystal.
The emerald, improved with the help of such tricks, usually does not raise doubts about its natural beauty among the inexperienced buyer. It is difficult to notice the filler by visual inspection with a magnifying glass, and even if any traces of defects are found, they are usually mistaken for natural ones that have formed under natural conditions.
Such treatment of emerald can be detected only in the gemological laboratory using special equipment.
Collected or Compound Stones
When manufacturers glue or fuse two or more separate pieces of the mineral together and give them the appearance of a faceted gem, the result is called assembled or composite stone. Individual parts may be natural or artificial.
Flat surfaces are glued in parallel to the large facet of the gem to give a uniform beautiful color to the transparent emerald. Duplets, namely the so-called stones from two connected segments, are very common. They fix the layers of stone in this case with colorless glue.
A 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.
Doublets and triplets are widely used to simulate natural stones. Even if the stone is assembled from emerald plates, the crystal is still a work of human hands, not nature.
In order to distinguish such an artificial emerald from the present, as always, a magnifying glass is required. If you carefully consider the profile of the crystal, you can see the layers of the components. In that case, of course, if they are not completely covered with a stone frame.
Become expert gemologists?
Before buying jewelry, we study the documents. Natural emerald in our time should have a certificate of a gemological laboratory. But not always has.
If it is written that the insert is “emerald”, and this word is accompanied by an adjective, then the only option that is permissible in this case is “Colombian”. Then the emerald should have a pronounced bluish tint.
All other adjectives to the name "emerald" are used to mislead the buyer, and are marketing. These are imitators, natural semiprecious stones, but not emeralds:
- Vilyuisky - Vesuvian;
- Pakistani - green pomegranate;
- eastern - green sapphire.
Gemstones are evaluated by the following important mineralogical characteristics:
- hardness;
- optical properties and fluorescence;
- the presence and nature of foreign matter;
- stone structure;
- physical properties;
- chemical composition.
The hardness of the emerald is 8 on the Mohs scale, it leaves a scratch on the glass without being damaged.
The color of natural stone is uneven, there are darker and lighter shades. Acceptable are yellow, gray and blue, slightly pronounced colors, green predominates - 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 ray of light passing through a crystal refracts and casts bright green glare.
At a distance of one and a half to two meters, a natural emerald looks like a piece of velvet, and not iridescent brocade or silk.
Choosing jewelry with emerald, it is not necessary to buy natural stone. A finger ring or earrings with artificial emerald will perfectly adorn both the young lady and the lady of Balzac age.