Emerald dealers sometimes buy stones unwittingly, too! Case in point,
I was setting a rather large Emerald for a stone dealer, setting was
good and now the polishing and cleaning. I polished the said ring and
"lightly" cleaned off the grunge manually, tooth brush and NO
SONIC-CLEANER. I “gently” put it under the steam-cleaning pipe at
very slow pressure and letting the stone cool down after one or two
sprayings and saw that it was turning a milky-gray colour. He went
ballistic. a.k.a “postal” he swore that I broke this devil.
I assured him that it was fracture filed with oil, he called me a
"…". I then put some Glycerine in to the stone and let it sit
there for a few minutes…guess what? The stone looked cleaner than
before. I suggested he go to another setter next time, for those
choice character references of myself and to my beloved Mother. I
then told him that most of the emeralds are treated, and even he
never knew of it before. I refused to take his money! Guilt trip was
totally justified? For all of my Orchid friends…“thou shall not
put emeralds into HOT liquids, strong steam machines, or
Sonic-cleaning apparatus”. if you do, you might have to replace these
lovely green stones…
Gerry!