Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusions?

[OTL]

Emmm, this may sound a little crazy, but ebay must have thousands of vendors and numerous gemstones, I know those looks too good to be true are synthetic ones, but there are also numerous stated natual and pleasantly cheap stones with good color, but somewhat with heavy inclusions such as a SI1 or a SI2, depending on how strict the vendor's description is. Even some rare stones, say Mahenge spinels with pretty color but a heavy inclusions are pretty cheap. (talking about around 50 bucks)

Just wondering is a heavy inclusion enough to gurantee it is natural? Are they making synthetic stones that mimicing the natural inclusions?
I imagine maybe for a corundum,there is certain profit(A SI ruby can still sell high).What about for a tsavorite,tourmaline or a spinel?
OK,I guess my question should be first, is there any method like this, second, if there is, would they do them on stones other than corundum.

 

[T L]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Emmm, this may sound a little crazy, but ebay must have thousands of vendors and numerous gemstones, I know those looks too good to be true are synthetic ones, but there are also numerous stated natual and pleasantly cheap stones with good color, but somewhat with heavy inclusions such as a SI1 or a SI2, depending on how strict the vendor's description is. Even some rare stones, say Mahenge spinels with pretty color but a heavy inclusions are pretty cheap. (talking about around 50 bucks)

Just wondering is a heavy inclusion enough to gurantee it is natural? Are they making synthetic stones that mimicing the natural inclusions?
I imagine maybe for a corundum,there is certain profit(A SI ruby can still sell high).What about for a tsavorite,tourmaline or a spinel?
OK,I guess my question should be first, is there any method like this, second, if there is, would they do them on stones other than corundum.

There are synthetic stones with inclusions (eye visible and microscopic), and sometimes these inclusions are used to deceive people into thinking they're natural. If you see a heavily included stone for a good price though, it's probably cheap because it has a lot of inclusions, which does drastically bring the price down on some nice colored gems. Also, since there is so much photoshop on ebay, it's hard to trust color unless you're dealing with a reputable vendor for which you can read their photos properly. I've seen very included pinkish and reddish spinels for very inexpensive prices, although even the prices on those are going high. Therefore, please be careful of the photoshopping if it's truly only $50 and heavily included, but with great color.

 

[OTL]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Emmm, this may sound a little crazy, but ebay must have thousands of vendors and numerous gemstones, I know those looks too good to be true are synthetic ones, but there are also numerous stated natual and pleasantly cheap stones with good color, but somewhat with heavy inclusions such as a SI1 or a SI2, depending on how strict the vendor's description is. Even some rare stones, say Mahenge spinels with pretty color but a heavy inclusions are pretty cheap. (talking about around 50 bucks)

Just wondering is a heavy inclusion enough to gurantee it is natural? Are they making synthetic stones that mimicing the natural inclusions?
I imagine maybe for a corundum,there is certain profit(A SI ruby can still sell high).What about for a tsavorite,tourmaline or a spinel?
OK,I guess my question should be first, is there any method like this, second, if there is, would they do them on stones other than corundum.

There are synthetic stones with inclusions (eye visible and microscopic), and sometimes these inclusions are used to deceive people into thinking they're natural. If you see a heavily included stone for a good price though, it's probably cheap because it has a lot of inclusions, which does drastically bring the price down on some nice colored gems. Also, since there is so much photoshop on ebay, it's hard to trust color unless you're dealing with a reputable vendor for which you can read their photos properly. I've seen very included pinkish and reddish spinels for very inexpensive prices, although even the prices on those are going high. Therefore, please be careful of the photoshopping if it's truly only $50 and heavily included, but with great color.

Thanks for always answering my question!

 

[Lee Little]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Inclusions put into synthetic stones are not common. Fractures are not an indication either way. The only inclusions added by treatment on synthetic stones that I have ever seen is fractures healed by flux heating in Ruby and Sapphire only. I have never seen inclusions added to synthetic Spinel and do not believe it is possible to date.
Some synthetic stones have inclusions when they are created such as hydrothermal Emeralds, true Chathum gems, and some others but these are not common and most of these are not cheap to create so they are also expensive and will not likely be on eBay for $50. Best regards, Lee

 

[LD]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

One thing you need to be aware of ......... synthetic material can have things that look like inclusions but they are actually just the make up of the synthetic material. For example, synthetic Alexandrite may have what looks like tiny dust particles all over it (when you look with a loupe or microscope). To the untrained eye, they would appear to be inclusions but they're not. Also, small bubbles can be an indication of a synthetic gemstone BUT they also occur in some gems naturally.

 

[OTL]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Inclusions put into synthetic stones are not common. Fractures are not an indication either way. The only inclusions added by treatment on synthetic stones that I have ever seen is fractures healed by flux heating in Ruby and Sapphire only. I have never seen inclusions added to synthetic Spinel and do not believe it is possible to date.
Some synthetic stones have inclusions when they are created such as hydrothermal Emeralds, true Chathum gems, and some others but these are not common and most of these are not cheap to create so they are also expensive and will not likely be on eBay for $50. Best regards, Lee

Hi Lee

Yes,I have seen synthetic emerald with inclusions. Because emerald is like that, it would be too fake if a clean one.
As for spinel, garnet,tanzanite, I have no diea. And the inclusions I saw, are not bubbles, very natural like.

 

[OTL]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

One thing you need to be aware of ......... synthetic material can have things that look like inclusions but they are actually just the make up of the synthetic material. For example, synthetic Alexandrite may have what looks like tiny dust particles all over it (when you look with a loupe or microscope). To the untrained eye, they would appear to be inclusions but they're not. Also, small bubbles can be an indication of a synthetic gemstone BUT they also occur in some gems naturally.

Hi LD

Is there any synthetic fracture like inclusions in stones other than emerald and corundum? The inclusions i saw are not bubbles, looks natural to me. Kinda like the inclusions a synthetic emerald would have.

 

[Lee Little]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Hi OTL,
When you see natural looking inclusions (not fractures seen with a loupe or tiny gas bubble arrays viewed under a microscope) in Spinel, Garnet and Tourmaline, it is extremely likely that the stone is a naturally mined gem, not a synthetic. Best regards, Lee

 

[OTL]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Hi OTL,
When you see natural looking inclusions (not fractures seen with a loupe or tiny gas bubble arrays viewed under a microscope) in Spinel, Garnet and Tourmaline, it is extremely likely that the stone is a naturally mined gem, not a synthetic. Best regards, Lee

Hi Lee

As an example,can you tell from these two pictures if the inclusions are natural looking?

Appreciated.

 

[LD]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

It is incredibly dangerous UNLESS you know what you're looking at (and have been doing it for many years) to think you can indentify a stone by inclusions alone. Some fractures can be just that, fractures! That's not a diagnosis because it doesn't mean they are real or synthetic.

Just recently one of the big labs had a batch of Traipiche stones submitted for analysis. They looked like the real thing. It was only with lots of testing that they found they weren't Trapiche stones at all. So making anything look like the real deal is possible and even seasoned professionals need to rely on labs. Most people who have stared at stones for lots of years will have a good guess and most of the time are probably right BUT some treatments are undetectable and therefore a diagnosis on inclusions or a photo is never foolproof.

Here's a link to a website that has some gorgeous photos of inclusions. However, even when looking at these, some can be similar and so you need practice.

http://www.geminterest.com/inclist.php This website is French (I can't remember how you translate it but you can) click on a gem to see the relevant inclusions. Click on photos to enlarge.

http://www.apsara.co.uk/content/view/12/1/

http://www.cigem.ca/inclusion/incl.html

http://www.allaboutgemstones.com/diamond_inclusion_library.html (for diamonds)

 

[OTL]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

LD, thanks for all that information!!!
A newbie like me wouldn't be able to tell the inclusions is natural or not even after reading all that information. I am pretty sure I will get headache and go crazy if I read all that loupe pictures and try to know them...lol
That being said, I should probably try to look at this question from another view:Is there profit at all to make a synthetic garnet/spinel between 1-2ct with heavy inclusions just to sell for around $50? If there is, are there a lot of gems like this on the market?

 

[Lee Little]

Re: Odd question, can you make synthetic stone with inclusio

Hi OTL,
Sorry, the photos are not enough to go by to be conclusive. Since the photographer was not focusing on the inclusions they are hard to see clearly. Best regards, Lee