Gemstone Or Glass? You Be The Judge

Today we have standards, regulations and the such to keep retailers honest, or so we like to think.  You can't necessarily say that about earlier times.  An antique jewelry collector must really look at a piece before they can be sure they are getting their moneys worth. 

A gemstone can be cut and polished into a gem.  When it's set into jewelry, it becomes a jewel.  Antique jewelry can be particularly hard to judge.  For one thing, early diamonds were cut in as few as 24 facets.  When compared with modern diamonds cut to 58 facets, their lack of brilliance might be mistaken as glass.  Here are a few tests that might help in your discoveries.

1. Touch the stone in question to your tongue and I'll tell you why.  Gemstones (with exception of opal) will remain cool and glass will warm up fast.  This doesn't mean you don't want glass, you just want to make sure your are paying the right price for it.
2. A drop of water will hold its shape on a real gemstone, but on glass, it spreads out.
3. Glued stones are likely worth a lot less than the ones held in place with prongs.  So get out your loop and see exactly how the stone was set.  Shining a black light on it will help when trying to determine whether glued or not.  Practice with a black light on different materials.  You might be surprised the things that glow under it.
4. Your last resort would be to see if the stone will scratch glass.  If it does, it's more than likely genuine, but you have probably damaged the gemstone and now it's worthless.  But at least you know if it is real or not. 
5. True amber (petrified pitch) is warm to the touch. To test it, heat the end of a pin and apply it to a discreet surface of the amber.  If it's real amber it will smoke and smell like pine.

Many types of stones, emeralds and rubies in particular, now can be manufactured.  In the collectible market, natural is favored.  Manufactured is not as valuable as natural of course.  It is very hard to tell them apart.  Even trained gemologists sometimes have to remove the stone in question from its setting to figure it out.  They sometimes will determine the authenticity by weighing it. 

Heat, chemicals and radiation are used on most of the colored stones today to improve their color and smooth out imperfections.  Some color enhancements are not permanent.  Be sure to ask what's been done to the stone before you buy it.

Deceptive Advertising
Cape May diamonds, Bohemian diamonds and Herkimer diamonds are quartz.
Gibson opal and Slocum opal are plastic.
Girasol pearls, Laguna pearls and Majolica pearls are fake, fake, fake.


Natural pearls form in oysters all by themselves.  Cultured pearls are seeded and returned to their ocean homes to grow.  Mikimoto pearls is the brand name for a company that started culturing pearls in 1908.  Biwa pearls are cultured freshwater pearls.  Most modern pearls are cultured.
 

Make Your Own Potato Beads

• Cut potatoes into irregularly shaped pieces about one inch thick.  The more angles the better.

 

• Thread the potato pieces on dental floss, so that the string of beads are twice as long as you want them to be when done.

 

• Allow to dry in food dehydrator, in the sun, or in a garage.  Anywhere they can hang undisturbed for about a week, depending on the humidity.

 

• Each "bead" will dry to about half its original size and irregular shapes become even more irregular.

 

• Knot the floss if you haven't already.

 

• Spray paint with flat or enamel finish any color.  Wood color paint is an option.  Be creative.  Have fun with it.

 

 

 

You'll have costume jewelry your friends will never recognize as potatoes.