Hi, all First of all, thank you all very much for your excellent
replies to my question about my friend’s discolored (due to heat)
emerald. I pased them all on to her, and she also thanks you.
Several of you asked me to let you know about the outcome.
Well, it turns out that aparently the emerald was not damaged. I
don’t know whether it was just some kind of a surface coating (from
the gunk she had it in, or just plain dirt), or what. but she said
that after she had cleaned it up from the solder job she looked at the
underside of the emerald and it looked OK. So she stuck it in her
ultrasonic cleaner, and it came out looking very good!
Cheers!
Margaret
Margaret, It is very fortunate that your colleague escaped any real
problems with this ring alteration. She was very lucky to not have
caused any damage to the emerald by running it in the ultrasonic!
Sonic and steam to best to be avoided with emeralds due to the
proliferation of oils, fillers, and other such common and unstable
treatments.
Michael David Sturlin, jewelry artist @Michael_David_Sturli
https://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/sturlin.htm
Michael Sturlin Studio, Scottsdale Arizona USA
Don’t ever put an emerald in the ultrasonic! It is a sure fire way to
make emerald chips. Clean with warm soapy water and a tooth brush if
you must clean one.
Your friend has been very, very lucky. She really needs to find a
stone care chart that will tell her what treatment a stone can take.
GIA has a laminated list that covers most commonly used stones. I am
hope that other members are going to give much more advise. Please
ask her to heed it. Damaging an expensive stone that you own is one
thing. Damaging a costumer’s is a quick way to be put out of business
or worse.
I am very sensitive about this as a good friend had a $30,000 Emerald
break on him. He was lucky to have worked out a disclaimer and map of
the stone before working on it. We cannot afford to make mistakes in
this business, especially preventable ones.
Respectfully, Bill
