Blue Zircons are Fake Stones!

[Catmom]

So do all you colored stone people know that blue zircons are fake stones? I made a quick stop at the mall this morning and happened to stop at the Neiman Marcus jewelry counter. They had some earrings there that caught my eye but I couldn''t tell if they were aquamarines or blue zircons. So I ask the terribly snooty...sniff...sales associate if they were blue zircons or aquamarines and with nose in air she answers "oh we don''t carry any of those fake stones here". You should have seen her face that I had the nerve to ask her that question. All I could do was laugh and walk away. So if anyone here owns a blue zircon.............well please know that it is a fake stone. This is my service announcement for the day!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Uh...I think this is another instance of a SA being totally and horribly misinformed. Blue Zircons are real gems.

 

[Kaleigh]

Yeah she''s totally misinformed. They are indeed very real gems.

 

[poshpepper]

Haa haa, funny... how did you resist the urge to tell her the truth???? LOL!!!!!

 

[LooseOnTheLead]

She probably thought zircon was CZ.

 

[Catmom]

LOL, well to my defense I did tell her that blue zircons were real gems but she just looked at me like I was crazy.

I had to walk away before I bopped her one upside the head.

 

[strmrdr]

lol
well let me tell ya...

me: can I see that blue zircon pendant right there? *points*
idiot: the cz is over there in that case.
me: ok can I see that pendant right there.
idiot: looks at tag: this is in the wrong case it belongs with the rest of the CZ.
me: otay, bye *walks out*

$450 for a small badly cut but decent color blue green BZ in a 14k setting, ha wasn''t going to buy it anyway.

 

[Joolskie]

LOL!!!!!! Zircon.... Zirconia.... same thing. NOT!!!

Did you refer her to www.pricescope.com? Someone needs a little educating...

 

[Selkie]

Yeah...I have to say, up until I started reading PS religiously, I wouldn''t have known "zircon" wasn''t just an abbreviation of cubic zirconia. But for a jewelry SA not to know? Bit of a different story.

 

[monarch64]

Sigh....oh dear. Sure would be nice if sales people had some sort of, I don''t know...product knowledge? Yeesh.

 

[jewelerman]

i cant wait to contact the G.I.A. to inform them of this new information about zircons.

 

[sera]

Well, at least we know that if we ever hear on the news that a SA in a jewelery store got bopped upside the head, we know that we can come here and find out which one of us did it.

(and we'll also know they deserved it

)

 

[marcy]

Rats, I''ve always loved blue zircons but now I have to throw them away? Ha Ha. I love when the customer knows more than the sales person.

 

[CaptAubrey]

In fairness to that SA, you have to remember that for every educated customer, they get 100 dumb ones who think CZ is a type of glass and have no clue there is such a mineral as zircon. Too, they probably field a dozen "Is that real?" queries every day. So they get used to answering what they perceive to be dumb questions with the same knee-jerk response. I'm sure she thought you meant CZ; indeed, I've heard people refer to CZ as "zircon" more than one in the past.

 

[Lee Little]

This story reminded me of a similar one when shopping for a star sapphire. All the store had in star sapphires were synthetic stones with diffused stars so I asked if they carried any natural star sapphires I could look at and the snooty thing told me that there was never such a thing, it was a new creation by the Linde company in 19 blah blah. I was speechless.

 

[Harriet]

While we''re on the subject of blue zircons, how stable is their colour?

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 11/24/2007 11:29:57 PM
Author: Harriet
While we''re on the subject of blue zircons, how stable is their colour?

"Fair to poor," according to the AGTA.
Richard M.

 

[jewelerman]

Lee,
ive had that same experiance with star sapphires when shopping!What is scary is hearing one of your own co-workers who claims to be"a seasoned professional"tell a customer that citrine and topaz are the same gemstone!No matter how much you try to help educate or help others along they are sure they know all about the business and its ever increasing information.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 11/7/2007 1:13:02 PM
Author:Catmom
So do all you colored stone people know that blue zircons are fake stones? I made a quick stop at the mall this morning and happened to stop at the Neiman Marcus jewelry counter. They had some earrings there that caught my eye but I couldn''t tell if they were aquamarines or blue zircons. So I ask the terribly snooty...sniff...sales associate if they were blue zircons or aquamarines and with nose in air she answers ''oh we don''t carry any of those fake stones here''. You should have seen her face that I had the nerve to ask her that question. All I could do was laugh and walk away. So if anyone here owns a blue zircon.............well please know that it is a fake stone. This is my service announcement for the day!

LOL! Don''t break it to her, but NM is not above selling CZ''s! Here''s a link to a couple of pages of them!
linky

What a dipstick!

 

[Nicrez]

It''s often called "travel jewelry" actually. You will see stores on Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue that sell the same type of items, usually CZ with gold settings that aim to replicate or be similar to many people''s real items, but most would not mind losing or getting stolen, while the real deal is in a safety deposit box or safe at home.

I found it funny how the CZ versions are in that price range, as to me the $20 are really no better made...

 

[Lee Little]

Hi Jewelerman,
How sad that it would be a common misconception that the only star sapphires would be man made. I think there are so few naturals that make it to the market since heating them often will clear the silk away (and eliminate the star) and make a faceted stone that is easier to market.
Many people do think Citrine and Topaz is the same thing, geez, there is so little education about gems out there. I have to smile when kids look at a collection of colored stones and ask me if these are REAL diamonds. As consumers it is easy to understand but one naturally expects more from a person working on the sales floor. Best regards, Lee