Oyo Valley Red Tourmaline

[T L]

Hi TL

It looks to me that one ( a lab ) could be a little more sound in that high concentrates of Manganese is the chief contributor of the mineral being red; if like in Be heated sapphires if the key color component/element is lacking or very low it would be a true indicator of something fishy in Denmark ( no offense to people from Denmark ) ...

So if they are very nice rubellites you might want them tested for manganese as that would be a good indicator of natural. I know in this world of so many trying to deceive others to make a almighty buck it has left a bad taste in the mouth of any collector. Believe me us cutters do not like it either as we are always a little distrustful and rightly so and we have to be as it is our money and a bad 10K investment is a hard pill to swallow...

But I do understand and I also understand the labs do not want to test anything other than what they can 100 % prove and it is getting tough as the people on the other side of the fence are sometimes smarter and has better equipment than the big labs do... Look at Aqua; they do not test for heat on it anymore, look at sapphire; just a few labs will give you a unheated report; and for origin.... I cannot tell you have many I have sent off for that all to come back as " we could not tell" here is your 600 dollars back ???

Oh well; that is why I bought my digital spectroscope and all the other bell and whistle tools and instruments; I will do what I can on my own. Is it enough; no... but it gets me a lot closer than a RI meter and a dichroscope...

But like I said in the first post; keep on telling us all you find out TL as these too are tools that make us better at determining what we trust and have issues with...

Nothing meant to harm or insult

Most respectfully;
Dana

Honestly, to me, it's not worth it to test red tourmaline, unless the testing is a lot more foolproof, and if you have spent a great deal of money on the stones. If they did come out with an inexpensive way to test red tourmaline for irradiation, that was more foolproof, kind of like LA-ICP-MS testing on corundum, then I would perhaps consider it. Again, I didn't spend too much on these stones, so it isn't something I'm losing sleep over. You live and you learn, and for me, I will no longer buy rubellite, but what others wish to purchase is their perrogative. I'm just here to inform, and people can make their own decisions. Thanks again Dana.

 

[LD]

Gene - thank you for your lovely post and I love the process you've described and can really see how it's an addictive passion! I adore the Aqua. What a shame you parted with it. I hope that it's gone to a loving home as it's truly breathtaking.

Dana - thank you also for the added information.

 

[pregcurious]

Ditto to LD's post. Gene, I've always wondered about the stone in your avatar. I never would have guessed it was an aquamarine. Thanks to everyone for their insights.

 

[Barrett]

whoa is me and irridiated tourmalines....[sigh]
and 95% of all pinks and reds from afghanistan are irridiated as well...maybe thats 98%