Thank-you Elliot and Gerry for your tips on how to ensure that there is spacing between words, sentences and paragraphs when we post on the Orchid forum. I will no longer do a copy and paste from MS Word into an Orchid e-mail even though I have done that on other online forums with no spacing problems.
I will retype my response to Tony Konrath’s question about the green stones in the earrings he posted.
However, this time these top two paragraphs are copied and pasted from Notepad. I couldn’t figure out Gerry’s Ganoskin solution. The rest of this e-mail below is retyped directly into the e-mail box and includes some double spacing as a backup.
If the refractive index is in the 1.64-1.68 range, the green stones in Tony Konrath's image could be bleached, dyed and polymer-filled jadeite. There is a lot of this material on the market and it is inexpensive. For example, I bought an attractive 14mm x 10mm dyed & polymer-filled similar colored green jadeite pendant for $30 wholesale.
If the refractive index is in the 1.53-1.54 range, the material could be chrysoprase or dyed chalcedony as has already been mentioned. Incidentally, the acetone test does not work on all dyed stones. In addition, it can damage a stone.
One of the best ways to detect dye is with a UV visible spectrometer. Their prices have come down and start at US$ 1,800. They are more reliable than the hand-held spectroscope.
Raman spectrometers are ideal for identifying stones and they can distinguish between jadeite jade and omphacite jade, which is not possible with basic gemological testing. However, Raman spectrometers start at US$ 9,000.
FTIR spectrometers are used to detect polymers in jade. Based on what major labs have told me, an FTIR test is required to positively determine that jadeite is untreated.
Some new green synthetic materials that resemble jade are very difficult to identify even with these sophisticated instruments.
For more information on jade identification and evaluation, consult: Exotic Gems, Volume 4: How toIdentify, Evaluate & Select Jade & Abalone Pearls.
Renee Newman GG
www.reneenewman.com