Gem Testing

GEM TESTING

by

B. W. ANDERSON, B.Sc. F.G.A.

(Director of the Precious Stone Laboratory of the London

Chamber of Commerce, Diamond, Pearl, and Precious

Stone Section, and Lecturer in Gemmology at Chelsea

Polytechnic, London, S. W.)

The absorption spectra of some coloured gemstones as seen through a diffraction-grating spectroscope. (See Chapter VIII.)

FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

THIS VOLUME CAN LAY CLAIM TO DIFFER FROM ANY which have preceded it, since firstly, it is descriptive of gem-testing rather than of gems, and secondly, it has been written mainly with the ordinary jeweller and dealer in view. It aims at showing him in the simplest possible manner the easy scientific tests available to him for discriminating with certainty between one stone and another and between real stones and their substitutes, and how to apply these tests in practice.

The material the author presents is not intended to replace but to reinforce the invaluable knowledge which the jeweller has gathered by virtue of long experience—to reinforce this knowledge by making it more conscious and giving it a firmer factual basis. To take one example of what is meant by this approach: every jeweller, pawnbroker, or dealer is so familiar with the appearance of diamond that he can almost always rely on being able to recognize it at sight. And yet, faced with a diamond of unfamiliar cut, or one which is dirty or damaged by fire, or, on the other hand, with a fine specimen of zircon which closely resembles diamond, he may find his confidence desert him and doubt will enter his mind. If he has no other basis than sheer sight knowledge to rely upon, this doubt will persist. He may then ask the opinion of his friends in the trade, and some will say one thing and some another. Still, the doubt will persist, and, without the use of a certain amount of scientific knowledge, there is no means of allaying it. Turning to the chapter on The Identification of Diamond in this book it will be seen how the various factors on which the characteristic appearance of diamond is based are described and analysed, and the simplest tests suggested by which a clear decision can be arrived at.

The author hopes that readers, once they have struggled through the opening chapters, will be led to obtain and use for themselves some at least of the apparatus described, and discover to their surprise that they can, with this powerful aid, make definite identifications where formerly they could only hazard an opinion. Gem-stones, even where commercially of little value, will reveal fascinating and unsuspected properties, and a new interest acquired in specimens formerly relegated to the jeweller’s junk-box.

The author has included only such tests and descriptions as seemed to him of really practical importance to the jeweller, and everything stated in the book is based on his own experience and knowledge. Although, as indicated above, the book is intended primarily as an aid to those who trade in precious stones, it is hoped that those of the general public who are interested in the subject may find it of some value, and more easily assimilated than most text-books, and that students or even experienced gemmologists may find that the novel approach to the subject and the practical hints to be found in its pages make this something more than just another book on precious stones.

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF GEM TESTING HAVE been very well received and the book seems to have fulfilled its purpose of providing a simple yet detailed manual for jewellers and others who are interested in the identification of gem-stones. None the less, the author has become increasingly aware of several gaps and weak places in the book, and has welcomed the opportunity provided by the publication of a new edition to make good some of these deficiencies. The new material and illustrations which have been incorporated should make the book more useful to students of gemmology, while at the same time care has been taken not to make the text any less digestible for the non-scientific reader.

Some of the major additions may be briefly mentioned. An illustrated account of immersion methods for assessing the refractive index of gem-stones has been added to Chapter II; these methods can be extremely valuable on occasion, are essentially simple, and need very little apparatus. In Chapter IV a detailed survey has been given of effects seen under the Chelsea colour filter, which should help inexperienced users to avoid misinterpreting results. Chapter V (specific gravity) now contains instructions for using liquids other than water for hydrostatic weighing, and assistance is given to users of heavy liquids by the inclusion of a graph showing the relation between the density and refractive index of Clerici solution. The chapter on synthetic and imitation stones has been strengthened, and new photomicrographs added.

The spectroscope is fast gaining favour as an instrument for gem identification, and the author has felt justified in making several additions to the absorption spectra described. The coloured frontispiece of important spectra should also prove very helpful in this connection. In the chapters dealing with various gem species there has been a certain amount of rearrangement, and there are minor emendations and several new illustrations. Data for many gem-stones not previously included, and which are too rarely used in jewellery to warrant their appearance in the main text, are given in the Appendix. Here also will be found the names and addresses of British and American suppliers of gemmological apparatus and specimens.

The book is mainly the outcome of the author’s own work as a professional gemmologist and as a teacher—herein lies its strength and its weakness. But so much of the original experimental work was carried out in close collaboration with his colleague, Mr. C. J. Payne, that it would be ungracious not to acknowledge the fact here. An undoubted stimulus has more lately been provided by his contacts with that brilliant gemmologist, Dr. Edward Gübelin of Lucerne, to whom more specific acknowledgments are made at appropriate places in the text. Warm thanks are also due to Mr. M. D. S. Lewis for his interest and practical help in the preparation of the new edition, and to Mr. G. F. Andrews for his valuable aid in checking the proofs.

CONTENTS

GEM TESTING

Chapter I

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

AN EXPLANATION OF THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE book may be useful to the reader, as it does not follow orthodox lines. In the first place, it must be emphasized that the subject concerned is the testing of gem-stones, and not their history, habitat, or general description. The early chapters give the reader information about simple apparatus and instruments, together with sufficiently detailed instruction in their use. Special attention is paid to those small points which often make all the difference between success and failure. Only just sufficient theoretical background is provided to allow intelligent use to be made of the tests.

A full description, plentifully illustrated from photomicrographs, of the characteristic features of synthetic stones, doublets, and pastes, is interposed before the chapter on the use of the microscope, with which it should be read in close conjunction, as the most important function of the microscope from the jeweller’s point of view is to distinguish between natural stones and their synthetic counterparts. A simple account of the spectroscope as used in testing coloured stones concludes the first section of the book.

It may here be said that the reader will find the whole subject far more interesting and comprehensible if he puts together for himself a small collection of stones and tries out the various tests on his own specimens. Such a collection can be expanded or improved indefinitely and be a source of unending pleasure and interest to the owner and his friends or customers. Moreover, it is of great practical value to be able to turn at any time to a known specimen of a particular gem for direct comparison with a stone which is being tested.

Whilst show specimens may be attractively displayed in leather-lined cases with hollows or grooves to accommodate the stones, it is more practical to house the stones for a working collection in stone papers and file them in alphabetical order in a cabinet or box. Data concerning the stones (locality, weight, physical properties, etc.) can be written on the outside of each packet; the whole thing forming an invaluable reference library.

The remainder of the volume is concerned with directions for the practical application of the recommended methods in specific cases, beginning with the stones most important and familiar to the jeweller—diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald. In each case the distinctive properties of these well-known precious stones are described and compared with those of other stones and synthetic or imitation materials of similar appearance. Those tests which require little or no apparatus are always considered first, and each chapter contains a table showing the properties of the gem-stones under review, and in many cases concludes with a summary suggesting a plan of campaign for establishing the identity of the stones in question.

The name of each stone as it comes under discussion in the text is printed in bold type to facilitate quick reference.

It must be admitted that the order in which the stones are treated amounts to a classification on a colour basis, which will be denounced by some purists as unscientific and undesirable on various grounds. Having carefully considered the pros and cons of this arrangement, the author decided that the resultant gain in helpfulness to those using the book more than outweighs the admitted disadvantages. Perhaps if readers are forewarned concerning the possible harmful effects of the arrangement, such effects may be somewhat mitigated. Firstly, then, a classification according to colour tends to obscure the virtual identity of stones which differ from each other only in colour and belong to the same mineral species. Thus, ruby and sapphire, here treated in separate chapters, are both colour-varieties of the same mineral, corundum, and are nearly identical as regards chemical composition, hardness, and density. Similarly, emerald and aquamarine are both beryls; amethyst, rock crystal and citrine are all varieties of quartz, and so on. All this is clearly seen in the alphabetical list of gem-stones at the end of the book. Secondly, the consideration (say) of all red stones liable to be mistaken for ruby, chiefly from the viewpoint of how they can be distinguished therefrom, is liable to foster a natural but deplorable tendency on the part of the jeweller to think of all such red stones as some sort of inferior or imitation ruby, and thus blind him to the indisputable beauty and merit they often possess in their own right.

Fine red spinels, for instance, or fine red tourmalines, may compare unfavourably in colour with a fine specimen of ruby, but considered apart from this they are in themselves lovely and covetable stones, and they have nothing whatever in common with ruby except a certain superficial resemblance. It is only in the mind of man that such stones appear as competitors with the red corundum. Further, the less valuable gems are usually available in larger and more perfect specimens than can be obtained even by the millionaire in such gems as ruby or emerald, and can thus provide pieces suitable for pendants, necklaces, or large brooches, at a reasonable price.

Bearing the above points in mind, the jeweller is urged to realize that the arrangement adopted is followed simply for his own greater convenience—and it is an obvious convenience, since, for example, the possibilities to be considered when faced with a ruby-like stone are quite different from those arising when faced with a stone resembling that other corundum, sapphire. Further defence of the practical usefulness of colour in distinguishing gems will be found in its appropriate place in Chapter IV. The colour classification is not adhered to slavishly, as it was considered advisable to provide separate descriptions of zircon, the quartz group, the garnets, tourmaline, and peridot, in addition to mentioning their varieties under the appropriate colour heads.

The methods and apparatus dealt with in the first part of the book are chiefly concerned with the measurement of certain physical and optical properties which characterize the various gem-stones. Practically all the gem materials are minerals, and the properties possessed by a given mineral species which distinguish it from other minerals depend upon two factors: (a) its chemical composition, i.e., the kinds of atoms with which it is built, and (b) its crystal structure, i.e., the spatial arrangement of these atoms within the mineral. Of these two factors, the latter is by far the more important, as can be sufficiently instanced by the two crystallized forms of carbon: graphite and diamond. These two minerals, so utterly contrasted in appearance and physical properties, are yet constructed of precisely the same kind of atoms; all the great differences between the two materials in hardness, transparency, density, and so on, must be laid to the account of the different internal structure of their crystals. This fundamental importance of crystal structure, and the assistance given in recognizing gem minerals in the rough by a knowledge of the characteristic shapes of their crystals (crystal habit) is recognized by all gemmologists, and in every text-book one of the opening chapters is devoted to elementary crystallography.

Now, experience with students of all ages has led the author to realize what a difficult barrier even this simplified form of crystallography is for the beginner to surmount, and in this book it was thought better to dispense with it entirely except for a table of crystal systems which will be found available for reference in the appendix at the end of the book. To enable the reader to make sense of certain references in the text, however, it may be said here that all crystals can be divided, according to their symmetry, into six main groups called the crystal systems. These are named the cubic, tetragonal, hexagonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic systems. To the cubic system belong the most symmetrical crystals, and these are the only crystals within which light travels with the same velocity and character in all directions. In crystals belonging to any of the other systems the effect known as double refraction (see Chapter III) takes place, in which a ray of light entering the stone is split into two rays which travel with slightly different velocities through the crystal, and are therefore bent or refracted from their original course by different amounts. This is of high practical importance in testing stones, so that it is useful to bear in mind which are the gem-stones that belong to the cubic system, and thus do not show this effect. These are diamond, the garnets, spinel, fluorspar, and others of lesser importance.

Tables and other useful features will also be found in the appendix, including a short descriptive list of books on precious stones for those who wish to extend their knowledge further, or form a small reference library on the subject, and names and addresses of firms who can supply the various instruments etc., mentioned in the text.

The number of different minerals which have occasionally been cut as gem-stones is very large and it would spoil the simplicity and usefulness of this book for the majority of its readers to include all such possibilities in the text. For the benefit of fellow gemmologists who are interested in these out-of-the-ordinary stones, the author has included most of them in the tables at the end of the book. With the aid of the data provided and the necessary simple instruments, it should be possible to identify these rarities when they are encountered. One of the rewards which occasionally awaits the keen gemmologist is the discovery of unusual stones in unlikely places. A kornerupine from an antique dealer’s junk box; a fine sphene in the centre of a paste brooch; a parcel of enstatites labelled dark olivines; a museum specimen of spessartite rescued from a hessonite packet, are but a few of the instances of this kind known to the author.

Lastly, it is hoped that the somewhat scattered information in the book will be rendered quickly available to the reader by the provision of a full index.

Chapter II

REFRACTIVE INDEX AND ITS MEASUREMENT

MAN IS A PROFOUNDLY LAZY CREATURE AND IT HAS been said that most of his inventions have been born of the urge to save himself trouble. Apart from a few enthusiastic amateurs, what people seem to ask of scientific or mechanical devices is that they should be so simple to operate and so foolproof that they can be used without any technical knowledge whatsoever.

Presumably, therefore, jewellers who are not scientifically minded would welcome an apparatus that would enable stones to be identified in some really simple manner, quickly, clearly, and without calculation. If by merely placing the stone on an instrument its correct name could be read off on looking through an eyepiece, one would expect such an instrument to be popular and widely used.

Now though no apparatus which names the stones in this way yet exists (though one could probably be devised were it worth the cost and trouble), something nearly as easy to use is available in the jeweller’s refractometer, several types of which are now on the market. In these, when the flat facet of a stone is placed on the glass table of the instrument (a drop of special liquid serving to make optical contact between the two surfaces) one can read through an eyepiece, if not the name of the stone tested, at least a number or pair of numbers corresponding to that particular stone. This number is given from the position of a shadow-edge which crosses a calibrated scale, and is known as the refractive index of the stone.

Each species of gem-stone has its own characteristic refractive index or refractive indices by which it can be identified with more certainty than by any other simple means. The refractive index of a mineral is now universally recognized as a property of the highest diagnostic importance and, thanks to pioneer work undertaken by Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith some forty years ago, it is a property which can be measured with speed and accuracy by any intelligent man or woman on an apparatus costing only about fifteen pounds.

Before describing in detail the use of the refractometer we must give a brief explanation of what is meant by the terms refraction and refractive index, and the general principles on which refractometers operate.

What happens when light falls on the surface of a transparent solid such as a gem-stone? Some of the light is reflected at the surface of the stone, the reflected light leaving the surface at an angle equal to that at which it falls upon the surface (incident angle or angle of incidence). It is this reflected light which provides the surface lustre of the stone. The greater portion of the light, however, passes into the stone, but in this denser medium¹ it travels much more slowly than in air.

The effect of entering the denser medium, in which their velocity is diminished, upon trains of light waves striking the surface obliquely is to alter their direction and make them follow a new path nearer to the perpendicular (or normal as it is called) to the intersurface between the two media.

Fig. 1.—The ray of light IO is refracted on passing from air into glass

along OR. NOM is the normal (perpendicular) to the surface.

The angle i is called the angle of incidence, the angle r is called the angle

of refraction. The extent of refraction shown is that given by ordinary

window glass (RI = 1·52)