is it possible - color change aquamarine?

[bleeblue]

Hi All,

I purchased an second hand aquamarine ring a few months ago. The stone is a green/blue color, nmuch more green than blue - a bit like the color you see when you look at the edges of a glass top table from an angle. What is puzzling is I''ve just noticed that the stone loses its green and appears to be a more blue color in incandescent light.

Is this normal? Have I been sold a fake aqua?

 

[cushioncutnut]

It could be a fake as I have never heard of a color change aqua? I could be wrong... Could you post some pictures??

 

[Indylady]

It could be another type of stone altogether; perhaps a color shift sapphire? I''ve seen Montana sapphires look similar to what you just described.

 

[T L]

It could be a color shift. I don't think going from green to blue is really a color change since both colors are very close to each other on the color wheel. I have a minty beryl that does a slight color shift as well. Most stones do color shift in various lighting, but that's not the same as a complete color change like an alexandrite which typically goes from green to red. That doesn't mean your stone is not a simulant, but it is something to consider.

Do you have a picture? Someone posted a picture recently of what they thought was an aqua, and it looked like a simulant, and I didn't say anything as not to offend.

 

[bleeblue]

Here is a picture of the ring. I looks really green in the photo but it''s not as green in real life. Under differnt lighting it looks more teal blue.

 

[innerkitten]

It''s a pretty ring. It does look very green in the photo. There are a lot of synthetics floating around especially in some older pieces that have passed through many hands so that no one really knows the orion of the ring etc. What does it do under bright sunlight? I had an older ring from the 40s with what I thought was a peridot set in 14k. It had one of those nice retro settings. Under bright sunlight it was almost neon green. Turned out it was synthetic.
I hope thats not the story for yours though.

 

[T L]

I have never, in my life, seen an aquamarine that color green, and also lacking a grey modifier. Does it have any inclusions?

 

[bleeblue]

I haven''t had a chance to look at it under a loupe or microscope (i will do that).

It''s really REALLY green in the photos (no idea why

) but in real life it''s somwhere between this color and this colour

 

[T L]

I've never seen a teal aquamarine either. I would expect aqua to be more between various shades of light to medium greenish blue to greyish blue like This color and this color with a grey modifier.

Maybe it's a beryl, but not an aqua. Aquas contain iron, which contributes to the grey modifier.

 

[bookworm240]

Not sure what the stone is....but it''s a lovely ring!!!

 

[chrono]

I’ve not heard of colour shifting aquamarines. Mine tends to stay the same colour.

 

[LD]

It''s very pretty but I doubt whether it''s an Aqua. Do you have a jeweller''s near you because they should be able to check reasonably easy?

 

[Stone Hunter]

It is an interesting cut and I really like the setting. Hope you find out what kind of stone it is for sure!! But I''ve never seen Aqua that green green.

 

[Christiana]

Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

 

[Christiana]

Date: 12/6/2009 6:45:49 PM
Author: Fly Girl

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

I guess this is how it can be explained. For example, if you''re feeling nervous or angry, your body temperature gets higher and the stone shifts color

I''m sorry, I only read about this once and I don''t even remember where. Was that enlightening?

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 12/6/2009 7:05:09 PM
Author: Christiana

Date: 12/6/2009 6:45:49 PM
Author: Fly Girl

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

I guess this is how it can be explained. For example, if you''re feeling nervous or angry, your body temperature gets higher and the stone shifts color

I''m sorry, I only read about this once and I don''t even remember where. Was that enlightening?

Yes, thank you.

 

[Nacre]

I love this thread...so cute!

Tanzanites do not ''shift colour'' from your moods, and you can''t get colour change Aquamarines.

I''ll deal with Aqaus first. Aquamarine is coloured by Iron in the opposite axis to normal gemstones. The colour is carried in the extraordinary ray... across the crystal, not length wise as it usually is in most other gem materials.

In untreated Aquas, the colour is usually a green - yellow. You can see examples of this in older stones which have not been heat treated.

When Aquas are heated it changes the valency of the Iron, from Ferric to Ferrous, and therefor makes the Aquamarine bluer! This treatment is acceptable and stable, as it mimics nature ie. this can happen to the crystal as it is growing insitu.

So, what you are seeing in this green stone MAY be simply the dichroism which is probably stronger in a greener aqua and would show blue green/colourless.

Is there evidence of rain in the stone? Sometimes strong rain is an indication that the stone has not been heat treated as they can be partially dissolved in the heating/irradiation process.

Tanzanites are strongly trichroic. They will show three different colours at different angles! Violet-red/deep blue/green-blue. You will probably see these different colours in different lights when you roll the stone around. Tanzanite is heat treated zoisite, which is a brown green colour. Again this treatment is acceptable because it mimics nature and is permanent.

I hope this helps... wouldn''t it be nice to think that gemstones change colour just for us and not because of boring old elements!

 

[bleeblue]

Thanks Nacre, your information was really helpful

What you mean by "Is there evidence of rain in the stone?" (I''m a gemstone newbie)

Also, the ring is currently with a jeweler getting resized - I''ll ask the jeweler for his opinon of what the stone is when I go to collect it

 

[Nacre]

Hi BB,

Rain is a diagnostic inclusion in Aquamarine.

They are long hollow tubes (I think due to interruptions in the crystal growth), sometimes filled with liquid, often brownish in colour and may contain gas bubbles.

The tubes run the length of the crystal... parallel with the c axis or ordinary ray...which means that an aqua will be cut with the table parallel to the c axis SO the tubes will usually be seen to run parallel to the table of the gemstone in the pavilion.

(Phew! sorry, that all sounds a bit heavy..)

The emerald cut also may contribute to the strong dichroism of the stone as the facets may be so steep that you might see the ordinary (colourless) ray interchanged with the green from the side (dichroism)...and just the strong green/blue from the top, looking straight down onto it?

I love Aqua. It''s a beautiful gemstone! I hope your jeweller has a positive answer for you. I''m glad I could help.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Date: 12/6/2009 7:05:09 PM
Author: Christiana

Date: 12/6/2009 6:45:49 PM
Author: Fly Girl

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

I guess this is how it can be explained. For example, if you''re feeling nervous or angry, your body temperature gets higher and the stone shifts color

I''m sorry, I only read about this once and I don''t even remember where. Was that enlightening?

I don''t think that a change of a few degree of temperature is enough to change the colour of a stone. If this were so, it would be easily visible in many other circumstances (going from a hot street to an ar conditioned house, for example).

 

[chrono]

Date: 12/6/2009 6:45:49 PM
Author: Fly Girl

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who's wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don't forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

Tanzanites are trichroic and show strong pleochroism. Viewing it from different angles, you can see blue, green and purple. It is not due to temperature changes. In fact, extreme temperature change will cause fine internal fractures to develop. Sometimes, it only takes as much as bringing it into very cold room from a very hot day outside.

This is the first I’ve heard of mood rings where the stone changes colour based on the slight temperature fluctuation of the body. What natural gemstone does this?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Date: 12/8/2009 9:29:50 AM
Author: Chrono

Date: 12/6/2009 6:45:49 PM
Author: Fly Girl

Date: 12/6/2009 6:15:32 PM
Author: Christiana
Tanzanites tend to shift color. It has something to do with the mood of the person who''s wearing it. But aquamarines?

Hope you find out soon what it is. Don''t forget to tell us here

Hi Christiana - Can you explain this mood effect? I was under the impression that reason many stones shift color because of changes in the wavelength of the light hitting them. Mood rings would change color due to temperature changes.

Tanzanites are trichroic and show strong pleochroism. Viewing it from different angles, you can see blue, green and purple. It is not due to temperature changes. In fact, extreme temperature change will cause fine internal fractures to develop. Sometimes, it only takes as much as bringing it into very cold room from a very hot day outside.

This is the first I’ve heard of mood rings where the stone changes colour based on the slight temperature fluctuation of the body. What natural gemstone does this?

Not natural, sorry. I had written a long tangent, which I deleted but that little snippet escaped me.

 

[Arkteia]

I have a pendant that I got from my mother many years ago. It has a lovely, cushion-cut stone in the center and several pear-cut stones hanging from it. It is mounted in rose gold. Bought in Sverdlovsk, Russia in 1950-es. (They mined all kinds of stones in that area. I believe so-called Siberian amethysts also come from the Ural mountains). Mom always assumed the stones were aquas, and I never saw any aquas before so I just went with her story. The color of the stones is exactly the same as the one in your ring! They are very bright, transparent so I assume it is not unheated aquamarine. I dropped them several times; they did not break. There is no color shift but otherwise they look like yours. I tried the angles (I read somewhere that angles of manmade stones have angles that "feel" softer). Depends on the angle, but the sharper one feels hard. I am going to take my pendant to an appraiser. I have seen and bought an aquamarine so I believe it is not an aqua

Date: 11/23/2009 10:03:53 PM
Author: bleeblue
Here is a picture of the ring. I looks really green in the photo but it''s not as green in real life. Under differnt lighting it looks more teal blue.

. Apatites may be of a similar color but they are softer. I have several imiitation alexandrites (synthetic corundum) from old time...they look very different.

It is not my highest priority but I am going to have it appraised. I was just surprized to see a stone looking so much like mine.