Finewater Gems - Finewater Gems Blog

Photography of Light Gemstones

12/5/2019

Very light stones can be the most difficult to photograph as they tend to reflect too much light back to the camera, masking the delicate details and dispersion seen in zircons or diamonds. This is a good time for "less is more" - that is, less light can make a better photo - as in this lovely 3.19 ct white zircon.

Inclusions and Extinction

11/6/2019

Inclusions in gemstones are generally not a desirable feature; however when the inclusions are very small and evenly distributed the light is even scattered and extinction reduced, as in the case of this unheated and "glowy" blue sapphire.

Padparadscha Sapphires

10/24/2019

These beautiful sapphires are the rarest and most desirable of all sapphires, and the original (and some say the only true variety) were from Sri Lanka. The color is similar to the lotus flower so the name in the Sinhalese language are padma (lotus) and raga (color), or padmaraga, modified over time to padparadscha. Some have also likened it to the color of the sunset or saffron. The combination of ruby and yellow sapphire produces a lovely orangey-pink to pinkish-orange color that is the critical defining characteristic, with no historical mention of tone or saturation. For unknown reasons an influential gemologist in the 1980’s decreed that they must have a pastel tone and low saturation, and this notion has stuck with Western gem labs and consumers. Fortunately the rest of the world still includes all sapphires in the color range as padparadschas, regardless of tone or saturation. I’ve been purchasing padparadschas in Sri Lanka for years, and I much prefer the rare and richly saturated medium toned stones.

Gemstone sourcing services

8/26/2019

If you need a special gemstone, just ask! As a GIA trained graduate gemologist with extensive travel experience and industry affiliations, I have excellent contacts in source countries such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Colombia. Contact me for more details.

New Golden Grossular Garnets

7/18/2019

Some new and unusual golden grossular garnets were available at the Tucson gem show this year, like this large 14.26 ct hessonite garnet. Hessonite is a subcategory of grossular, so how do gemologists tell a hessonite garnet from a normal grossular garnet? We observe the stone under magnification, where a hazy "heat wave" effect is considered diagnostic for hessonite.

Photography and Background Color

6/25/2019

When viewing gemstones, a neutral gray background reduces color bias and allows your eyes to see true and accurate color. This is why GIA recommends that a gem's color be evaluated against a neutral background, why the Photoshop application uses a gray background, why illustrators like their working areas to be gray, and why a neutral gray card is used as my studio photography backdrop. Black, white or other colors can make dramatic photo backgrounds, but anything other than neutral gray can easily result in a less-than-accurate color representation of a gemstone.

Color Acuity

6/11/2019

Color acuity is obviously a required skill for any colored stone dealer and customer. How is yours? Here’s a fun test based on the Munsell color system.

Munsell Hue Test

ICA Membership

5/18/2019

I’ve been accepted into the International Colored Stone Association (ICA), the only worldwide body specifically created to benefit the global colored gemstone industry. ICA was founded in 1984 and includes over 700 gem industry leaders from mine to market, including miners, gem cutters, suppliers, retailers, trade associations, gemological laboratories, academia, museums, and more, from 47 countries who are devoted to advancing and promoting the knowledge and appreciation of colored gemstones.

Grading for Cut Quality

1/9/2019

Most people are aware that diamonds are graded for cut quality, polish and symmetry (with an excellent grade in each category forming the well-known “Triple Excellent” or “Triple X” rating) but it’s rare that a colored stone is graded for anything beyond clarity (and many colored stone vendors will not even provide that.) Finewater has always provided a clarity grade but we feel that a cut quality grade would also be useful, so we will be adding it to all of our gemstone listings as time permits. There are no internationally accepted cut quality standards for colored stones, so our cut grade will encapsulate several factors such as proper proportions, meetpoint accuracy, symmetry, and polish (which includes scratches, blemishes, chips, etc). Check out our previous blog articles on these qualities and how to evaluate cut quality excellence for yourself.

Gemologist in the house!

10/28/2018

We now have a Graduate Gemologist at Finewater Gems – me! It’s been a demanding undertaking but ultimately my most gratifying and rewarding accomplishment in a very long time. Cutting thousands of gemstones or owning testing equipment may help develop gemological skills, but it cannot come close to replicating the knowledge that’s gained in an intensive gemology program like GIA’s Graduate Gemologist program. Whether we are hand-selecting sapphires in a Sri Lankan broker’s office, negotiating spinel prices in Yangon’s steamy street market, hunting for tourmalines deep in the remote Namibian desert, or spotting fake emeralds on Bogota’s Avenida Jimenez, you can be assured that we have the gemological skills and confidence to properly identify gemstones, validate seller’s claims, and select top colors in order to bring you the finest gemstones that the world has to offer.