Ford
Scott Rowe, G.G.
My late father was one of the largest wholesale, colored gemstone dealers in the world. As a child, I was trained in gemology and remember my father constantly challenging my expertise.
When I was about 12 years old, my father gave me some of the finest red stones I had ever seen. As usual, I was given the task of identifying these stones and after several hours of frustration, he came in with a big smile.
“Well, what are they?”, he asked.
“ I don’t know, but they aren’t Rubies,” I replied.
“Right,” he says. Then he hands me some beautiful
blue and green stones. They looked like the finest Sapphires and Emeralds.
“Tell me what these are, and then I’ll let you in on a little secret,”
my father said as he left the lab.
After spending several hours on the stones that appeared to be fine Rubies, I was quick to determine that these stones were also “look-a-likes”.
As I entered his office, the smile was still there. I was then informed of the stone’s true identity.
I was right. The stones were not Rubies, Sapphires and Emeralds. The red stones were faceted 1949 Ford taillights, the blue stones were cut and polished from Milk of Magnesia Bottles and the green stones were cut 7-Up bottles. What I learned that day has never left me. The finest “Rubies” I ever held in my hand, were nothing but old Ford taillights.
On many occasions, we would be examining stones together at a gem show and if the stones were too cheap or the dealer acted suspicious, he would softly speak two words to me. “Ford taillights”.
We spoke many times of the problem of synthetics and simulants. They have never affected the natural gemstone markets, but as a gemologist, I have the unpleasant task of telling the vast majority of my clients, that the large colored stones they own are not real.
Fine synthetic Rubies and Sapphires have been manufactured in laboratories since the 1870’s. By the turn of the century, many fine jewelry items had very fine workmanship, very fine diamonds and synthetic Rubies and Sapphires.
The devastation I have seen on the face of some of my clients
couldn’t be worse if I had told them they had a horrible disease. Sometimes
there are tears shed because a jeweler has told them how much money their “Ruby”
is worth. Others have been hostile at me and I have even been accused of trying
to give a low value so I can purchase the stone from them at a “steal”.
I usually keep several very old, but beautiful synthetics at my lab to show
the similarities. After they examine their stone and my “master”
stone on TV with my video microscope, I will use reference books with photos
to prove the stones are the same.
However, some people maintain that all the jewelers that have examined their
stone can’t be wrong and that the stone must be valuable. Unfortunately,
there are a lot more ‘49 Ford taillights, Milk of Magnesia and 7-Up bottles
than there are fine Rubies, Sapphires and Emeralds.
Fine gems do exist and they are expensive. I have had the pleasure of telling people that they own very fine stones that are worth a huge sum of money, but it is very uncommon.
Today, we don’t see many Ford taillights anymore. The
new synthetics are very sophisticated and there are many new treatments that
are extremely hard to detect. (I have written several articles on these in the
past and if you would like copies, please feel free to stop by and pick one
up for free.) Some treatments are undetectable, even in the laboratory.
In many advertisements, I see the words “lab created” to describe
a stone. Let there be no confusion on this issue. There are only natural and
synthetic gemstones.
A synthetic is identical to the natural chemically, physically
and optically. The only difference is God made the natural and man made the
synthetic... in a laboratory. All synthetics are “lab-created”.
Simulants are “look-a-likes”.
But today, there are different methods for manufacturing these stones in labs.
The synthetics being produced today are much harder to distinguish than the
synthetics from the past.
To stay current with new technology in the science of gemology is difficult due to greed. When a new product or treatment is made available, it is usually put into the market without disclosure because they can charge higher prices. When someone finally discloses or discovers the treatment or synthetic, then the producers can brag about how the jewelry industry can’t tell the difference between this “new and improved” product.
As I write this article, there is a “brand new” diamond treatment I have been reading about in the press. It seems that a specific type of diamond can be treated to enhance the color. Wow, a new treatment to make diamonds whiter! Every gem and jewelry publication I subscribe to is putting this on the front page. Every week, new information is coming out. As of today, there is no scientific way to prove a stone has been color enhanced or not.
General Electric made the first synthetic diamonds in 1970 and today, they claim that they have worked with 71 lawyers and can guarantee it’s process is indistinguishable.
DeBeers released a statement Aug. 1, 1999 that they discovered this treatment 20 years ago. Of course they buried this secret process to protect the diamond industry. They said that they discovered type 2A diamonds with negligible or no nitrogen could be enhanced in color with no signs of detection.
I’m sure that with G.E.’s process going public, they will leave no stone unturned until they find a method of detection. It’s plain to see, that for 20 years, DeBeers has had this technology and now someone else can tap into their profits. But to most observers, DeBeers will be the hero riding in to save the day.
My advice is to buy gemstones and diamonds from an ethical
and knowledgeable source. We believe A & S Gifts is simply the best choice,
and we haven’t even addressed the issue of value for your dollar.
