We value the truth in the trade and believe in sharing our findings with you. The gem alerts are designed to inform you so that you can make wise decisions when it comes to buying and selling gems and jewellery.
“When you see the genuine, you don’t deal with the fakes anymore.”
It’s always interesting to me that con artists and fraudsters seem to keep repeating the same tricks. It could almost be amusing if it weren’t for the fact that innocent and unsuspecting jewellers are being duped into purchasing and even reselling fake gems.
Case Study: Zultanite Ring
Last year we told you about a client who brought a zultanite ring in for certification – only to find that it was nothing but glass! My client had been on holiday in Turkey, where she bought a beautiful 14 carat yellow and white gold ring, set with what the vendor claimed was zultanite and colourless sapphire.
Disappointingly, the “zultanite” turned out to be colour-changing glass, and the “white sapphires” were actually cubic zirconias!
Almost a year later, we’re now seeing the same con doing the rounds again. In the last fortnight, two of my clients have fallen prey to this scheme.
Mined in Turkey, Zultanite is a rare, colour-changing variety of diaspore. The refractive index of diaspore is 1.500 – 1.702 (0.048). On the other hand, the glass was singly refractive, with a refractive index of 1.53.
Our goal at The Gem Lab is to help secure and protect your reputation as jewellers, by making sure you avoid selling your clients’ fake gems. We send these email alerts to make you aware of the possible deceptions out there.
It’s so important to make sure your gems are certified authentic. Our popular credit-card-size positive identification certificate is just R200 per item for straightforward identifications.
Get yours by getting in touch with us today. You can call 021 761 1746 or 082 653 4567 or send an email to jeremy@thegemlab.co.za
Feature blog image by Gerson Repreza on Unsplash
