? Pink Diamond

Do you see that pink gemstone in the center of that ring? I believe that may just be a pink diamond. I bought it in a parcel, and it is about a 5mm round. I set it in the ring setting, after using the dichroscope on it. It appears to be a single refractive gemstone. There are only three natural gems that are single refractive spinel, garnet, and diamonds. Glass, and synthetics are as well, but this gemstone has inclusions and glass and synthetics do not usually have these kind of visible inclusions. If it is garnet I have never seen one this color. That leaves diamond, or spinel. No matter which it turns out to be, I love it, and I wear it as an alternate to my engagement ring.

Happy Mothers Day To Me

Yay today is finally the day that I get to play with my new gemstone identification toys. I bought this set a while ago, as a Mothers Day gift. My husband was not supposed to get anything else, but he did. I have no idea what it is, but I will not get it until the 13th. I have been waiting to break out these tools, and start investigating my stones, that I do not know what they are. Of course it takes practice, and time, to know what you are doing. The book Gemstones of the World, is available for sale at my other blog http://www.melissashumor.blogspot.com as I already have it, and do not need a second copy. It is in the archives, so be sure to look for it if you are interested in it. I also have the book Gemstone Identification Made Easy, that I have been reading, and studying. Most of the time I buy gemstones, already identified, but sometimes you just can not resist a great deal on a parcel of stones. I still want the refractometer, but that will be for Xmas, or maybe my birthday.

Happy Mothers Day, to all you moms out there. May you have a wonderful day.

A Few Things I Have Learned

The other day I posted about using a dichroscope to test for unheated Tanzanite. I messed around with my dichroscope last night, it is a secret though because it is a Mother's Day gift, so shh do not tell anyone. Anyway I had some Tanzanite pieces, and I tested them, and some of them do have the yellow/green colors that show through the dichroscope. So I am excited to think I have some natural, unheated Tanzanite. I also learned when using the dichroscope, be sure to have white paper behind the piece you are looking at. What a big difference that made. Also, I have been suffering from headaches, when looking at stones, and making jewelry. I went and had an eye exam, and was prescribed glasses for up close work. If you wear glasses, for up close work, you need to wear them when looking through the dichroscope. Without them, I could not really see a thing. With them, it was amazing the difference. Those are the new things, I have discovered in my endless journey to learn to identify gemstones. More soon, have a great day, everyone.

How To Tell If Tanzanite Has Been Heated

According to my new book, Gemstone Identification Made Easy, there is a fairly simple way to tell if your Tanzanite is natural in color, or has been heat treated. Most Tanzanite comes out of the ground, brown or green color, and then is heat treated to get the various bluish purple colored gemstones. However some Tanzanite comes out of the ground those colors, naturally. Of course these gemstones would have a much greater value, than the heated variety. Plus you may be being charged too much for a stone being sold as natural, when in fact it has been heat treated. The use of a dichroscope, can help you in determining if your stone has been treated or not. Tanzanite is a trichoic gemstone, meaning it shows three different distinct colors. When looking through a dichroscope, you will see three distint different colors. Natural, unheated Tanzanite will show blue, purple, and green. Sometimes the purple color will be reddish, and sometimes yellow instead of green. However the important thing is that you will three distinctive different colors in unheated Tanzanite. The green, yellow coloring is very often not seen in heated Tanzanite. If you view through your dichroscope your Tanzanite, and you see blue, purple, and green chances are good that you have gotten an unheated, natural Tanzanite. Congrats to you, if you have such a rare, and fabulously valuable Tanzanite in your collection.