Glossary of the Gemtrade

Though not illegal, Beryllium treatment, filling or radiation could be called cheating because a gem trader can sell replica watches something practically worthless or potentially dangerous as a precious gemstone.Untreated Natural Gem: Non-synthetic gem that has not undergone any man-made changes other than faceting and polishing. This is the only type of gemstone that will maintain its value after you bought it. White: Colorless.Window: See-through center of a shallow stone. Windows are especially disturbing in light colored stone because they create a ;fish-eye; effect and do not reflect light back. The darker or more intense a color, the less a window is to be worried about. You may snatch a color bargain if you don’t bother about a window. Zoned: A gemstone is said to be zoned if there are layers or patches of color or areas of no color. Mostly unwanted, unless in multicolor gemstones where the shape, regularity and clearness of color zones is highly priced. Non-sustainable mining would describe the exploitation of gem resources without improving the local life conditions and leaving the place polluted in the process.Synthetic Gem: Man-made reproduction of a natural gem.Tint: A fleeting idea of color in a white gemstone.Tone: Degree of lightness or darkness. A lightest tone will be nearly colorless (white/grey) with just a ;tint; of color, while a very dark tone will be nearly black. Ideal tones vary from variety to variety, e.g. pads are said to be best in a light tone while blue sapphire can be rather dark.Translucent: Half-way between ;opaque; and transparent. Often found in cabochons.Treatment: Any alteration of a natural gem to improve its appearance. The most common treatments are heating, radiation, fracture fillings and lately Beryllium treatment. The border between treating and cheating are flux. It is considered permissible to sell heated sapphires as long as the stone is disclosed as being treated. Especially stones in jewelry are however rarely labeled correctly but are nearly always heavily ;cooked;.