Do not let your jeweler kill your Emerald

Although most jewelers know their stuff and run a very tight ship, mistakes do happen.  Even surgeons manage to cut off the wrong limb now and then.

Anytime you relinquish any piece of your jewelry to someone else to handle, examine, repair or refurbish, you are taking a risk.  That big, bold Emerald that you hold so near and dear to your heart is at least as vulnerable as any.  In my opinion as a Gemologist, more so.

Remember, even though your jeweler may be an experienced, highly trained professional, you must consider who will actually be “doing the work” in the back room.  The person taking the torch and hammers and tools to your precious piece may well be an $8.00/hr high school kid with 5 months experience.

This gemcutter knows from experience.  I have been in the back room.

I have watched in horror as inexperienced, rather distracted and unconcerned young people hammered and probed and twisted and poked at very expensive pieces of jewelry holding very rare gemstones.  With ever widening eyes, I would watch them as they put the torch to a squirming, terrified, little piece of jewelry and “cook” it to within an inch of its very life.  It is not a process for the faint of heart.

3 most common ways to kill an Emerald:

1. The Torch-  As nearly every Emerald sold in America is “oiled” to enhance the color, it is a big mistake to let anyone put heat to your Emerald.  It is quite startling for a proud owner of a bright and deep green Emerald to see the stone after it has been under the heat of a torch.  The heat drains the oil out of the fractures in the stone and you are left with a pale, lifeless stone that bears no resemblance to the one you handed them.
2. The Ultrasonic-  Many jewelry stores put almost anything into the ultrasonic cleaner to get the dirt and grime off of the items they are about to work on.  Sometimes it is done without much thought at all.  This simple act can be the downfall of any beautiful Emerald.  Early in my career, while multi-tasking and trying to keep the lid from blowing off a very busy shop, I put several pieces of jewelry into an ultrasonic on my way to answer the phone. Yep. One was a very nice 2.10 ct. Colombian Emerald.  When I pulled the pieces out to check them, The Emerald had an nice, big chunk missing from the center.  That was an expensive lesson, but one well learned.  An ultrasonic cleans anything you put in it mainly by pounding the item with sound waves.  A natural Emerald, almost always containing multiple fractures, simply “falls apart” under the bombardment and vibration of the sound waves.  Not a good thing, trust me on that.
3. The Tools-  Ask any bench jeweler that has sat in that hot seat for more than a year or so and they will explain to you just how delicate a fractured, natural Emerald really is.  Often, the process of working on a given piece of jewelry requires some rather harsh use of tools.  I’m talking hammers and pliers and steel blocks and pointy things… you get the idea.  The typical natural Emerald sold commercially in America, with all its many fractures, has the toughness of a piece of glass.  A fairly brittle piece of glass.  Many jewelers get that distinguishing touch of grey at the temples because of a careless movement or slip while at the bench.  That’s all it takes on occasion to end the useful life of a beautiful Emerald.

This post was inspired by a continuing e-mail conversation I am having with a new friend in Georgia, made through this very blog.  There Carol, I told you I would…

What’s on your mind?  Send me an e-mail with your two cents worth!