Do Lab Created Stones have Inclusions?

[madelise]

I'm not purposely seeking out a lab created, but I'm wondering if a stated natural sapphire might have a chance to be lab created?

 

[T L]

I'm not purposely seeking out a lab created, but I'm wondering if a stated natural sapphire might have a chance to be lab created?

Sure, sometimes someone will mix in synthetic stones with the natural material in order to deceive a vendor. The vendor thinks their source is legitimate and respectable, and they do get a bad apple or deceived every so often. Having a good gemological background in order to identify synthetics and other treatments is a must when you're a gemstone vendor.

 

[chrono]

Sure. In fact, sometimes, synthetics are developed with inclusions to fool the buyer. A skilled gemmologist or lapidary will be able to distinguish natural inclusions from man-made inclusions under very high magnification.

 

[innerkitten]

They can. People create lab rubies and emeralds with inclusions to make them look more like the real thing

 

[madelise]

Thanks guys, wow, so the only way to be safe is an AGS report? Can it fool good gemologists/appraisers too?

I called my appraiser that I've used, and he said that there are certain types of inclusions that are only seen in natural sapphires. What inclusions are those?

 

[mcb00]

From what I've read, lab created stones can have inclusions. Aren't they created emulating the natural conditions that result in mine-earthed stones? If they have the same mineral structure, I don't see why they wouldn't have inclusions--except that in the lab you can control how the stone is formed and use technology to minimize inclusions.

Other times you can use technology to ensure the stone has inclusions, because unless you're a gemologist (and a good one at that), most people will assume the stone is natural if it has inclusions.

The key is knowing which types of inclusions to look for. In some cases just looking at the inclusions won't give a definite answer. There are techniques that gemologists use to measure other physical properties that are not easily emulated in the lab, including gravity, refraction, and others---depending on the stone being tested.

I'm not an expert or a gemologist. I'm just an informed consumer (or I try to be!) that has been researching the topic.

If this is an expensive item, it is worth paying a gemologist to test it. Look for a reputable one. They can charge as little as $30, maybe less, depending on how much and what type of information you require.

Sometimes if it's an obvious fake, a qualified jeweler can tell you if it's not natural too.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[chrono]

AGS only grades diamonds. Recommended labs that verify coloured gemstones include AGL, GIA, GRS, Gubelin, and SSEF, amongst others. Some more unknown labs, gemmologists and appraisers might not have the experience to tell them apart in certain gemstones where even the synthetics inclusions are very similar to the real stone. Using refractive index and specific gravity is of little use because they are made of the same material. To list all the differences in the inclusions are too numerous to type out and most people are not able to see or recognize them anyway without special training.

 

[LD]

From what I've read, lab created stones can have inclusions. Aren't they created emulating the natural conditions that result in mine-earthed stones? If they have the same mineral structure, I don't see why they wouldn't have inclusions--except that in the lab you can control how the stone is formed and use technology to minimize inclusions.

Other times you can use technology to ensure the stone has inclusions, because unless you're a gemologist (and a good one at that), most people will assume the stone is natural if it has inclusions.

The key is knowing which types of inclusions to look for. In some cases just looking at the inclusions won't give a definite answer. There are techniques that gemologists use to measure other physical properties that are not easily emulated in the lab, including gravity, refraction, and others---depending on the stone being tested.

I'm not an expert or a gemologist. I'm just an informed consumer (or I try to be!) that has been researching the topic.

If this is an expensive item, it is worth paying a gemologist to test it. Look for a reputable one. They can charge as little as $30, maybe less, depending on how much and what type of information you require.

Sometimes if it's an obvious fake, a qualified jeweler can tell you if it's not natural too.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Not always - there are many different ways of creating synthetics, simulants and therefore there are no exact rules that say that there will be inclusions or not.

As a rule of thumb, the lack of inclusions is always worrying.

Seeing inclusions (unless you really know what you're looking at and have seen many to compare to) may/may not be an indicator!

 

[mcb00]

I found this from what looks to be professional opinion, judging from the people involved on the website: http://www.jewelinfo4u.com/How_to_differentiate_synthetic_and_natural_emerald.aspx

"Expert gemologists have found out that the major differences between synthetic and natural emeralds are:

(a) Specific gravity of a synthetic emerald (2.66) is lower than natural emerald (2.70-2.7 and refractive indices of a synthetic emerald (1.565) are lower than natural emerald (1576-1582).

(b) Flux growth and hydrothermal processes can produce synthetic emerald and due to them it shines unexciting red in ultra violet light which one does not get in a natural emerald.

(c) Synthetic emerald possesses feathery inclusions, which are not to be found in natural emerald

(d) Natural emerald produces green light because of impurities but in synthetic emerald this is not the case".

According to them, synthetic stones can vary very slightly in gravity and refraction compared to natural stones--at least for emeralds. Are they wrong, then?

 

[chrono]

I disagree with a few points although some points are correct.

Emeralds from different locations will have slightly different optical and physical properties but in general, synthetic emeralds will have slightly lower values. The problem is when they are borderline or overlap - this makes the RI, SG and birefringence test inconclusive. For example, a natural emerald might have RI of = 1.575 - 1.600 and 1.566 - 1.588 from different locations and the synthetic shows 1.560 - 1.565. The same goes for the birefringence of natural emerald which ranges from 0.004 to 0.010, while synthetic emerald will hardly ever go over 0.004, yet it could be right at the 0.004 tip. Rinse and repeat for the SG. The short answer is that the results are very close and even with the right tools, ordinary folk who aren't skilled at using it are likely to make errors at separating the two. Skilled gemmologists with experience will be able to weed the fakes out from the real, usually using more than these 3 tests.

There are two varieties of green beryl aka emerald, coloured by different impurities - vanadium and chromium. Both look quite similar in colouration but the vanadium emerald is usually less included. Many years ago, there were many who felt that vanadium beryl were not true emeralds and that only chromium coloured beryl are true emeralds. The way the Chelsea filter works is to detect chromium so I agree that synthetics (coloured by chromium) will fluoresce strongly pink red but natural emeralds coloured by chromium will also react the same way. Only vanadium and iron coloured emeralds will not react under the Chelsea filter. Secondly, iron has now been introduced into the synthesizing process to mimic a more natural fluorescence reaction. The same is also true for reaction to UV light.

 

[OTL]

Learned a lot, thanks for posting!

 

[madelise]

Well, it looks like I might have reached a dead end on this one, guys! Thanks for all your help. I don't think I'll resume hunting for a while. Phew! I forget how tiring hunts are! Maybe I'll wait to fluff up my piggy bank first. Heh

 

[chrono]

No need to stop your hunt, just make the sale contingent upon the stone being verified by AGL ($55 fast track brief) as a natural sapphire.