How does a jeweller tell whether a gemstone is real or fake?

507 views

How does a jeweller tell whether a gemstone is real or fake?

In: Other

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A series of non-destructive tests or destructive tests. electrical or heat conduction, hardness, luster, streak, color, cleavage, specific gravity, magnetism, taste/texture to tongue. Also experience, a Sr. jeweler can tell what a stone might be based on its setting.

There is a different test and scale for each measurement.

gemological institute:

[https://www.gia.edu/](https://www.gia.edu/)

[https://www.gia.edu/gem-education/course-gem-ident](https://www.gia.edu/gem-education/course-gem-ident)

Anonymous 0 Comments

Crystallography. Each type of gemstone will scatter light in a characteristic fashion. So they shine a light and see if the gem deflects the light in the proper way.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It depends on the gem in question.
Diamonds for example are REALLY good conductors of heat. Absurdly good compared to most other things that look like diamonds. So cheap “diamond testers” just try to measure that property. However there because there is one diamond look-alike that will fail the heat conductivity test (Moissanite), so better (more expensive) diamond testers use electrical conductivity to account for that.