How does a buyer protect themselves from undisclosed treatments and substitutions (fraud)?

Keep in mind that these are my personal opinions and experiences, other people may have different ones.

One of the largest problems plaguing the "cut" gemstone market today are undisclosed treatments and substitutions of man-made materials for real gem stones.

Treatments of natural gem stones and substitution(s) of man-made materials being sold as real gems is an every day occurrence.

Treatments - It is important to know that a major portion of the cut gem stones on the market have been treated in some way. This is a very common practice and is very widely done and often not disclosed in the market, at least not in my opinion.

Note: As long as treatments are disclosed up front and prices have been noted and adjusted, I personally have no problem. It is when the treatments are not disclosed (they often are not) that I have a problem.

Substitutions - It is important to know that a major portion of the cut gem stones on the market are man-made. Depending on the type of gemstone upwards of 80% or more of the cut stone on the marked are man-made and being sold as real. These figures are from several well known lab reports including GIA and colored Stone magazine. Amethyst and Citrine cut gemstones are the main ones being substituted, but there are others stones being substituted as well. Just to name a few... Morganite, Emeralds, Aquamarine, Sapphires of all types (especially Ruby) as well as others.

This is a buyer beware situation because frankly in my opinion the trade groups and supposed "watch dogs" are at the very least sound asleep and not doing their jobs and at worst because of politics turning a blind eye to the shenanigans that are happening every day in the gem market. There is very little or no enforcement happening.

Here are some other articles you may find interesting.

Gemstone Treatment Questions
Is all of that Citrine and Amethyst real?
Are all Emeralds treated and what is your opinion?
What is the True Color of Aquamarine? How is it Heated?

How does a buyer protect themselves from undisclosed treatments/substitutions?

The first line of defense is deal with a quality, experienced gem dealer with a good reputation. Dealing with some one that is an honest and experienced gem dealer is the best way to go because a gem dealer like this will have the experience and knowledge to avoid problems. Unfortunately in the gem trade these days honest and experienced is difficult to find. I will admit that I am biased but in most cases you will want to deal with an American dealer of good reputation and some one that has been around with a track record of honest business and references. This is definitely a case of you will get what you pay for.

Note: Some foreign dealers are honest, but a lot of them tend to operated on the "Do not ask, do not tell..." method. Some American dealers operate this way to, but generally there is much more recourse and ways to deal with problems if the dealer is in the USA. Also in general there are more watch dogs and generally there is better disclosure in the USA market than most other countries. At least in my opinion. Not that there are not problems, there are, or I would not be writing this article.

The second and I think most important thing to look for in a gem dealer is find some one that actually cuts stones. Most commercial gem dealers have no idea how to cut stones and are really in the business of buying and reselling already cut stones. The stones they buy, cut, and resale, are of course from the major cutting centers like Bangkok, Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka as well as some others.

As you may have noticed the majority of heating, treatments, and substituting (man-made) is done after or during the cutting. Also the vast majority of substitutions, treatments and plain frauds are happening in and around these major cutting centers.

So some one that is just buying cut stones is trusting their suppliers to be honest and many of them are using the"don't ask don't tell..." sales method or are just not honest. Many foreign suppliers (domestic too, but not so much because there are no real commercial cutting houses in the USA) and cutting houses are not honest and will literally do any thing to make a buck. There are no laws or regulations in most foreign countries to prevent these things and even if there was laws against this how could it be prevented? Especially with the huge amount of money that can be involved and the many counties that would have to be policed.

As I have said before, I know cutting houses that cut 100's of thousands of carats of man-made materials regularly. Yes, some of the material is probably sold as man-made but a lot of it is mixed in parcels and sold as real material to the unsuspecting public. Now these cutting houses will some times say the material is man-made, some times they will not.

But here is the issue... By the time stones have changed hands several times there is no way to tell or guarantee anything (no matter what the original cutting house may or may not have disclosed). One guy buys them and mixes them, sells them to the next (usually smaller) dealer who sells them to a manufacturer, customer, or what ever. Who at this point will know where the stones really came from or what exactly they are?

If you buy from a honest gem dealer that actually handles rough and cuts their own stones you will eliminate 95% or more of the frauds that are happening in the commercial cut gem stone market. The main reason for this is that the majority of treatments and substitutions are done "after" the gem is cut. Why?

Note: It is possible to get a treated stone from about any one, no one is perfect, things do slip by once and a while. There are exceptions to every rule.

Well in the case of heat treatments the stones must be clean and any flaw left in the stone will almost always get worse when heated. In short, the stones need to be cut before heating. There are a few exceptions but not many, Aquamarine being the main one, occasionally Tourmaline... What this means is that most rough gem stones have not been heated before cutting. So some one that cuts from the rough will be much more likely to have untreated gem stones.

Note: There are a few cases where rough is heated before cutting, but heat is very easy to spot in rough and any experienced dealer will know right away. Heat is also easy to test for... in rough especially.

In the case of irradiation's, the container of stones that they put in (or near) the nuclear reactor is generally small for various reason and they almost always irradiate the stones cut because they can get many times more (it varies, but about 5x more) in the container per run. Each run costs time and money, so it is easy to see why they almost always irradiate the stones cut. The only real exception of this rule is that some rough/sawed blue topaz is irradiated for the commercial market and occasionally some Helidor rough.

In the case of substitutions, they are using man-made materials which in most cases can be spotted by an expert or lab tests when cut and if rough is generally pretty easy to spot by an expert.

In the case of Quartz (Amethyst, Ametrine, Citrine) which is probably the most substituted material in the cut stone market (upwards of 80% or more depending on the study you use).

If the crooks tried to switch man-made Quartz into natural rough it is really very obvious to any expert. There are many easy ways to tell when the stones are rough. Growth lines, color, shape and so on. This is of course why the majority of the switching is done in cut stones. When cut, it is much more difficult if not impossible to catch.

 

So, here is another reason to buy directly from an honest faceter/cutter that buys and handles their own rough.

Left: Natural Urguayan Amethyst crystal points.

It is very easy to tell that natural crystal points (left) are real, they really cannot be faked. This applies to about any natural crystal, no matter what type of rough it is. There are a few exceptions but not many to this rule.

So if a person cuts a stone from a natural point there is little to no doubt that the stone is genuine.

Most natural rough has definite characteristics, like, crystal shape, color, optical properties and so on that make natural rough fairly easy to spot and grade. Man-made material usually sticks out like a sore thumb.

In general most man-made stones are also pretty easy to spot when in their rough state. It is when cut that things become difficult to impossible.

So a dealer that actually cuts stones has a much better ability to not only spot fakes but test for fakes before cutting.

A cut stone dealer with out actually doing fairly expensive lab tests on the already cut stones, tests that often cost more than the stone in question, is in the dark and can only go by what his supplier tells him about the cut stones in question.

Unless the dealers or customer wants to pay for a lab test... There is no way to be sure a commercial cut stone is real.

On more expensive stones the lab tests are often done, but on less expensive stones like Amethyst, Citrine, Ametrine, Beryl, and some others, the test are seldom done because of cost. Which is of course why these stones are so often man-made and substituted in the cut stone market.

So... How does a buyer protect themselves from undisclosed treatments/substitutions?

Buy from and honest well known stone dealer with a good reputation. I admit I am biased but a USA dealer is usually better.

Look for a dealer/person that is actually a cutter/faceter. If the person also sells rough stone, it is even better.

Questions to ask when buying

Is the stone natural or man-made? - I have seen some substitutes in the market from time to time for about any gem stone. This is always a good question to ask.

What is the clarity of the stone? - I would only recommend stones that are IF to VS in clarity. Be aware of the different and some times miss leading grading systems some labs and sellers use.

Is the stone heated? - Heat is some times used to lighten the color or some times eliminate an unwanted secondary color or tone in many stone types. I have no issue with heating a stone as long as the information is disclosed. Some purists want only a natural "unaltered" stone. This is a personal decision.

Is the stone heated and Irradiated? - Like I said, a lot of the commercial stones available are heated and some are irradiated. I do not mind the heat, but when you are irradiating a stone you are putting color in that was never there in the first place. I generally do not sell or recommend irradiated stones.

Note: Heat only modifies the color of a stone, lightens or heats out an undesirable color. It does not put some thing into the stone that did not already exist. Heat is some thing that happens in mother nature, so I personally do not find it that much of a problem.

The bottom line here is deal with an honest experienced dealer. You want an expert, and yes experts do cost more, but you will get what you pay for.

E-mail to inquire or order: jeff@faceters.com