It's Rough Being a Diamond

Over the years there have been many diamond substitutes.  Zircon (Cubic Zirconium), Quartz and glass, even plastic.  But this one, discovered in the 1830's, sure looks pretty good.  It can fool the unaided and untrained eye pretty readily.  The stone is Danburite, discovered in Danbury, Connecticut but mined quite a bit in Mexico.  It's cheap because it comes in large chunks.  It comes in clear or clear yellow and even some pink.  It's only drawback is that it isn't as hard as diamond.  Diamond is the hardest substance on earth at a 10.  Danburite has a hardness of 7.  So go ahead and fool your wives.  Make a sport of it.  Give her a good sized rock of Danburite.  Tell her you've been saving your money for years to buy her this.  She'll love it, at least until she goes to the jewelry store to have it checked.  Good luck!

That Thar Some Nice Pearls

Alright. As I stated yesterday, hear are some points in deciding if your loved one gave you fake pearls. Warning! Do not run the tests in front of your loved one for fear of embarassing him/her. I today's technology strewn society, fake pearls are easy to find and somewhat easy to detect. If you don;t have an x-ray machine in your home, try these perfectly valid tests.

1. Bright sun - Take the strand out into the bright sun. If the tone or colors of the beads are uniform or even, if each bead is the exact same color as the next, it is probably fake. Real pearls are not perfect and will slightly differ in tone.

2. Tooth test - pretty common and pretty accurate. The nacre of the pearl is full of inclusions, bumps and ridges. Remember that a pearl is not perfect. Rub the strand of pearls across your teeth. Your dog's teeth will not work. They should feel rough. If they are smooth, probably not real.

3. Obviously fake pearls will have a ridge incircling each bead. Like two halves glued together. This is caused by the molding process.
4. Good strands will have knots tied inbetween each bead to safe guard against string failure.

Other tests not recommended because destruction of the beads will result. Hitting the beads with a hammer or cutting with a saw are not suitable tests.

Sterling Canyon is an excellent source of high quality pearls at affordable prices. Check them out and see for yourself. My wife did and she could not be more pleased.

Chinese Pearls

Chinese Oysters
Has anybody paid too much for Fresh or Saltwater Pearls lately? Very possibly you have. The Chinese Pearl market was devastated this fall by two tropical storms. For the freshwater Pearls, that means pesticide and herbacide run-off. For the saltwater variety, decreased salinity kills off the oyster crop. 100 million oysters were killed in those two instances. What does that mean to you? It means that the Pearl necklace hanging around your neck is in the short run worth more than you thought. There are several Pearl jewelers in the U.S. who deal mainly in Chinese Pearls. Usually they are easy to obtain and cheap because China provides the majority of the world's farmed Pearls. Now prices have risen and a terrific opportunity to traffic in man made/artificial Pearls has come upon us. Use your smarts folks and wait patiently for the real stuff to return - in a year and a half.

Coral Me Red!

Red Coral, what beauty hanging around your neck.  CITES, the world-wide watchdog group for the ocean's plant life, will meet next March to decide whether to put coral on the endangered species list.  You visit any coastal town anywhere in the world and you'll see red coral in the jewelry shops.  Can't tell if the stuff is plastic, glass or ceramic?  Don't buy it.  If it is real, and you buy it, you're contributing to the demise of the world's coral.   Coral grows at the slow rate of 1/4 inch per year.  But what harm can one little necklace do?  Multiply your indifference by a million people and you have a problem.  Sterling Canyon won't deal in coral.  Neither should you.

Read the Ruby

There are some gemstones in the British crown jewels that are not what they seem.  The Black Prince's Ruby is not a ruby at all but a red spinel.  The stone at right certainly looks like a ruby, but smells of deceipt.  Could it be one of the fine stones from Macy's?  Perhaps. But don't get your salivary glands all up and running.  This stone is not a ruby. It turns out to be Oregon Sunstone.  I won't tell you where they dug this up.  You'll need to figure that out on your own. 

Macy's and the Red Ruby Mystery

An update to our story last week regarding fake or enhanced rubies
being sold at Macy's.  It seems that both ABC Good Morning America
and Macy's are being criticised for there tactics.  It seems that the American
Gemological Institute issued a warning to the buying public two years ago
regarding fake rubies.  Selling fake rubies isn't illegel.  What is fraudulent
is not telling the customer that they are fake.  ABC visited 3 Macy's stores
for the story.  All three sold fake rubies without notifying the customer
what they were buying.  It can be construed that many retailers, not just
Macy's attempts to deceive the customer.  Fake rubies are fairly easy
to detect with a 10x power magnifying glass.  Of course, if you're buying
rubies or emeralds at Macy's or Target, then the dunce hat is waiting for you.  All gemstones, even diamonds are enhanced or treated by heat or fillings.  But you should be told what you're buying and not outright lied to. Even Sterling Canyon nows better.  Geez. photos courtesy AGTA.

Copper, Silver and Gold (Mining) Oh My!

Bingham Canyon Copper Mine


This is the beginning of a series about the Bingham Canyon open pit copper mine outside of Salt Lake City. It is the largest mine in the world at nearly 3/4 of a mile deep. It hopes to be 500 feet deeper by next year, approaching that of the Grand Canyon. It is actually a tourist attraction. But why should we care about this mine? Why is this in the news? Fortune magazine has a spread in their recent issue. Two main reasons my friends. First is the fact that it is the poster child of clean responsible mining. It is tightly controlled and monitored by outside organizations to make sure it keeps with its promise of being as environmentally responsible, green if you will, as possible. Second reason is that Tiffany and Walmart have latched on to this earth friendly mining operation as a terrific opportunity to enhance their public relations efforts. In subsequent postings, we will explore these two facets and explain why this is important to the jewelry buying public.