How is it possible to tell a gemstone from a coloured piece of glass or crystal? Over the last number of years many gemstone have come to the market that may or may not be genuine stones. It can be difficult even for the most competent of jewellers to discern if the stone is genuine or fake. This is where scientific gemstone identification comes into play.

Most of us identify gemstones by their colours. If we see a deep blue coloured stone we automatically think or sapphires or indeed a vibrant red stone evokes thoughts of rubies. Unfortunately all too often some gemstones are not gem at all and merely stones. There is a test available to jewellers and experts in the jewellery industry to test the quality of a stone, it is called raman micro-spectroscopy. This is a non invasive process and so is suitable
for all types of stone even those of great value.

Not many people may be aware but gemstones can be heat treated to enhance their natural colour and make them more appealing to buyers. For example when sapphires are heated amazing pink and blue colours can be seen in the stone. Rubies also benefit from heat treatment by losing their purplish tint. The irony arises when man made precious stones are introduced to the equation. Gemstones grown from crystals in a laboratory are genuine stones, they have just been helped along in the development process. What is most important in all of this is the point of purchase of the stone. When you are purchasing a gemstone make sure you get the full history of the stone and ascertain whether it occurred naturally in the earth or was helped along the way. The way forward with gemstone identification is definitely disclosure.