When Was the Golden Age of Gemstones?

[iLander]

Someone who knows a lot about gemstones and their history can tell me this: when was the "golden age"? Before all the treatments that modify color and clarity, but after the development of superior faceting? Some older rubies, from the 1890''s, look like they are a great color but mostly cabachon or rough faceting. I''ve seen sapphires from the ''50''s that look good for cut and color, but were they all heated? The older diamonds, from the 1800''s, don''t thrill me, when did we develop the type of round cut we use now?

I''m curious, because I see a lot of vintage jewelry, but I know fake stones have been around forever (right?).

How long have all these treatments been around?

 

[morecarats]

The first documented discussion of gemstone treatments was in the Naturalis Historia, an encylopedia published by Pliny the Elder about 77-79 AD. Pliny described a number of different techniques known at that time, including heating, dyeing, oiling and the use of foils. So the "golden age" of gems must have been sometime before that ...

 

[T L]

Treating gems has been going on for a long time, but at least back then, they didn''t have nuclear accelerators!!

 

[Sagebrush]

Lander,

Welcome to the Golden Age. Gemstone enhancement has ancient origins, cutting standards have never been higher and for the first time, consumers and jewelers have access to information on quality.


Best,

 

[iLander]

Date: 6/4/2010 7:14:30 AM
Author: Richard W. Wise
Lander,


Welcome to the Golden Age. Gemstone enhancement has ancient origins, cutting standards have never been higher and for the first time, consumers and jewelers have access to information on quality.



Best,

Good point! Reputable jewelers will tell us all we need to know.

What about vintage jewelry? I guess submitting it to a lab is the only way to know for sure, right?

 

[iLander]

Date: 6/3/2010 10:58:52 PM
Author: morecarats
The first documented discussion of gemstone treatments was in the Naturalis Historia, an encylopedia published by Pliny the Elder about 77-79 AD. Pliny described a number of different techniques known at that time, including heating, dyeing, oiling and the use of foils. So the ''golden age'' of gems must have been sometime before that ...

Wow, that''s amazing that you know that!

I''d love to see some of these ancient gems, any links to pics that you can provide?

 

[Liane]

I really think the answer to this question is the same as another frequently-asked question on other forums I haunt, namely "when was the golden age of fantasy and science fiction?" And the answer to that question, like this one, is: "Today."

Nostalgia and glamorization of the past may cause us to overlook the (many many) flaws and foibles of what went on back in the day, but standards have never been higher, and options for buyers never better, than they are now. The technology is better -- this means everything from more precision cuts to safer mines to better detection of fakes. You don''t have to spend months on a sailing ship dodging pirates and risking scurvy to get gems from halfway across the world now; you can just order on the Internet and in a few weeks (or less) stop by the post office.

As others have said, treatments have been around forever -- but now they''re easier to learn about, (often) easier to spot, and fwiw, they''re also better. Most of us here on PS wouldn''t want to buy a glass-filled ruby or an irradiated blue topaz, but if you are on a really tight budget and you do want those vivid colors, you can at least be reasonably sure that your treated gemstone will keep its color and characteristics. So, to the extent that better treatments and cheaper synthetics allow people to have nice sparklies at low costs, they''re a net benefit to the world (they''re only bad when they''re sold dishonestly).

So yeah, now''s the golden age, and I feel really lucky to be living in it.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

There are a number of famous examples. For one, many of the large, important rubies from imperial collections are actually spinels.

The Indus valley civilization, one of the oldest known, took amythest, of which they had many, and heated them to become green or occasionally gold, which were rare in the area, making them much more valuable.

Gems are rarely tested for treatment when they are archaeological specimens, so there is not much hard data about what was done.

Most of the well know treatments, like heating and oiling, are very old.

There is also the problems of paste jewels, which were entirely fake and since cuts were not as sophisticated, easily mistaked. In fact, there is a very famous short story about it, http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml