“Here in the US, if it’s pretty, it sells,” says Gary Roskin, executive director of the International Colored Gemstone Association.
Processes like heating gemstones to enhance their colour are so common that “no-one is really concerned,” he adds, but other treatments like filling fractures with lead glass to hide the poor quality of stones are also commonplace and “need to be disclosed all the way to the consumers.”
According to the Gemological Institute of America which examines more than two million diamonds, coloured stones and pearls each year for grading and analysis, these treatments range from bleaching to surface coating to dyeing to irradiation (where gems are exposed to an artificial source of radiation to change their colour). Laser drilling is also used to remove dark spots on stones, while lattice diffusion, where an element such as beryllium is penetrated into rubies and sapphires to enhance the colour is common.
And yet disclosure isn’t always the norm. In a competitive market worth $310 billion according to Euromonitor, the potential negative sales impact of disclosing treatments is often seen as a commercial liability. It’s a stance that may surprise consumers increasingly interested in transparency and ethics. The Gemological Association of Great Britain estimates that 98 percent of rubies are treated; heated, glassfilled or otherwise subjected to diffusion and flux techniques. Blue topaz is almost entirely treated, sapphires are 95 percent treated in some way by either glass filling, diffusion or heat treatment, while citrines are often heat-treated, according to gemology and diamond tutor Julia Griffith. Aquamarines are heat-treated, emeralds are often filled with oil or resins to hide fractures and turquoise is resincoated. (Enhanced coloured diamonds are “not common,” however, Griffith says, and any treatment of diamonds is usually clearly described at point of sale).
“I would be surprised how many [stones] are treated” if I hadn’t studied it, says Griffith. “It’s accepted in the trade that all rubies are treated but it’s not told to the consumer,” she continues. While many gems require treatment to produce the colours consumers have come to expect, “people should be able to ask questions from their jeweller” and get honest answers, she adds.
The treatment of gemstones has been going on for centuries but the increasingly technologically savvy treatments - and the difficulty in detecting these - makes things ever more complicated and often retailers hide behind these technicalities to avoid disclosing treatments to consumers, Griffith says. That or they simply don’t know. “It’s not always made very obvious to the customer because it could be quite a turn off. It’s a resistance to disclose or not knowing themselves and part of that is because it can be so complicated and yet so common.” To be sure, the supply chain for gemstones can be long and complex: miners often sell to “rough holders” who then sell to manufacturers who cut and polish. Gems are then sold onto wholesalers before they reach retail jewellers. Treatments can occur at any point in the process, making disclosure to the end consumer even harder, industry sources say.
Rubies that are not treated “are rare, and depending on the four C’s (same as diamonds), can reach record-breaking prices,” according to Gabriella Harvey, director of procurement and product services at Gemfields, one of the world’s largest coloured gemstone miners, which specialises in ethical sourcing. Heating, which improves colour, clarity and durability, allows for a broader customer base to enjoy coloured gemstone jewellery, she adds.
“Treatments are widely accepted, not only with rubies but with all other gemstones. The crucial thing is disclosure,” says Harvey.“We lead the industry with our approach to transparency and treatments is an area where this is crucial for consumer confidence.” While suppliers and cutters may be increasingly transparent about it, jewellery retailers, particularly fashion jewellers, are lagging behind. “For many years, retail jewellers didn’t think about it. The miners would send to suppliers, suppliers would enhance them and because the retailer didn’t have the education to question what was coming from the suppliers, or the supplier felt it was traditional that these gems would need an enhancement of some kind,” the practice continued, according to Roskin from the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA). “It never had an importance that it has today,” he adds. Today the ICA - with 750 members; mostly miners, cutters and gemstone suppliers - has a code of practice which includes mandatory disclosure of treatments.
“We are trying to teach the
retailers what’s out there and
what’s available and how to
detect it and when it’s not
detected what labs can be used,”
Roskin says. “We tell the retailers
they should be much more
actively searching out the
supplier that is going to tell them
what’s happened to the stone
that comes from out of the
ground.” Mandatory disclosure
of the treatment of diamonds is
required for certified members of
the UK-based Responsible
Jewellery Council. Coloured
stones are soon to be included in
the product disclosure, according
to Anne Marie Fleury, director of
standards and impacts. The body
has just over 1,000 members,
including luxury jewellers Van
Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Chopard,
Boucheron and Bulgari. But that’s
a drop in the ocean of the total
industry and many lower-priced
fashion jewellers are nowhere to
be seen.
The World Jewellery
Confederation, or CIBJO,
publishes Blue Book guides with
globally accepted standards for
the industry including
requirements to disclose
treatments of gemstones at point
of sale and in written material.
But it’s a voluntary code and not
enforced. In the US, Federal Trade
Commission rules state it is unfair
or deceptive to fail to disclose
that a gemstone has been treated
if the treatment is not
permanent, the treatment
creates special care requirements
for the stone or the treatment has
a significant effect on the stone’s
value. On the lower-ground floor
of high-end department store
Selfridges in central London, the
Astley Clarke concession offers a
blue diamond wrist piece for
£9,950 (about $13,000) sat
below a glass counter on a taupe
suede box. The “Firework” cuff
has several thousand small blue
stones set in yellow gold. The
brand’s website lists the gem as
“blue diamonds,” but as a sales
assistant brightly admits, the
gems are treated. She also points
out the £695 mini coloured
diamond halo hoop earrings with
yellow, red, white, green, black
and blue diamonds that are also
treated and a popular choice
amongst shoppers.
“Our blue diamonds are
irradiated, this is a safe and stable
treatment, we do not treat them
ourselves but we only buy
certified stones that are tested to
ensure they follow the strict
regulations,” says Emilie
Robichaud, senior product
development manager at Astley
Clarke. “Our sapphires are heattreated
and some of our agates
are dyed. These are widely used
and accepted methods of
treatment. All our sales staff are
trained and do explain to
customers who enquire. Our
experience on the whole is that
for pavé and beads, customers
are not overly concerned. We
strive to be open and honest about the gemstones we use and
any treatments that have been
applied to them.”
Kiki McDonough, the British
jeweller known for her coloured
gemstones, has a “Candy”
collection which includes a
“green amethyst” and diamond
drop earrings for £2,300 (about
$3,000). Green amethyst is
formed by heating or irradiating
amethyst or yellow quartz. A
spokesperson declined to
comment. At London’s Selfridges
department store on a busy
afternoon, shopper Bell
Hendricks peruses the fashion
jewellery counters with her aunt.
“I didn’t think it was that
common,” says the 26-year-old
of the prevalence of treated
gemstones. “Mostly you pay for
what you get, but businesses
need to tell people what they are
buying,” she adds.
Certainly the lower prices paid for
treated gemstones typically
reflect their value. “You’re not
necessarily getting ripped off, the
problem is in the understanding.
I can see that it’s a challenge for
jewellers if you give too much
information people go, ‘Oh hold
on, I don’t want that, I want a
natural one,’” Ms Griffith says. “I
don’t have a problem with
treatments as long as they tell
people and it’s sold at what they
are worth.”
Original article from Business of
Fashion.
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