Another time Robert Lowe offered me a sack full of heat fractured
tourmalines he wanted to sell as recutters. I turned him down.
This was posted a while back, and even though I am sure that Gerry
did not intend to give the impression that I had tried to sell him
the material without disclosing that it had been heated (very badly
heated at that - with some stones looking like the result of a stone
colliding with an automobile windshield) =96 it is probably a good
idea to reinforce the fact that the disclosure was made on this
material.
In fact, I make it a habit to pick up parcels of faceted or even
cabochon stones that have been badly executed and could possible be
made better with the efforts of custom cutters. We call these stones
re-cutters. The faceters use the material as if it was a pre-form
and thus have a very good idea of what they will get out of the
stone =96 as opposed to hoping a piece of rough will give them what
they desire.
One of my suppliers stated it this way =96 “when we sell faceted
stones, we are selling reality =96 but when we sell rough, we are
selling them dreams.” The faceter is basing his purchase upon what
he imagines he will be able to do with the stone or what he thinks
he can make out of it. Many times he gets it right, though sometimes
there is a hidden flaw, a small inclusion, a needle he didn’t see
etc. and the intended finished stone has to be modified, if the
intention is to make a flawless gem.
That is why I state that most stones now on the market are heat
treated.
I don’t know about the ‘heat’ part but the ‘treated’ part is
probably true. It basically comes down to “if it looks like it needs
some work and it can be done - someone along the line will do it”
either heating or irradiation or oiling or diffusion. It seems very
strange to me that the usual question one gets from a gemstone buyer
is “Has this material been heated?” when the question should be “Has
this material been treated or enhanced in any way?” Quite a few
gemstones are not ‘heated’ but are ‘treated’ or ‘enhanced’ in other
ways.
AGTA has a very useful booklet about Gemstone Enhancements and
disclosure and it is very inexpensive (about $3.00). Everyone who
buys or uses gemstones should have a copy of this booklet.
It really doesn’t make sense that miners spend tens of thousands of
dollars every month to get gemstone rough out of the ground and then
they would throw away 95% of it because the color isn’t great or it
has silk or fractures etc. So it is a pretty good guess that ‘if it
can be done’ and it will make the material look better or be more
saleable - it will be done - some where along the distribution
chain.
Best regards, Robert Lowe, Lowe Associates - Brasil,
Gemstones-Rough-Specimens, Tucson-February 5-10, 2004 - GJX # 205
e-mail: USA robertplowejr@juno.com February 2004
e-mail: Brasil <@Robert_P_Lowe_Jr1>