FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

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FarmMom
Posts: 687
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FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by FarmMom » 1 year ago

So, it came to my attention that TANZANITE can now be FAKED.

It was touted as the only gemstone that could not be "replicated", but now apparently there is a special coating process where you can COLOR a tanzanite to be DARKER.

On small stones apparently it's VERY easy to see as it wears off a bit. But larger stones can be nearly impossible to the average person (or jeweler). The coating is located on the pavilion's edge and can be seen under 60x magnification. This thin line of cobalt blue coating is enough to cause light to reflect the blue throughout the stone. It, of course, means the stone is actually a lower quality stone than the perceived color (worth $80 instead of $800).

Last year we bought large tanzanite stones from Shop LC and the GIA certified jeweler STRUGGLED to get it to read as Tanzanite on the tester unit. Not too many jewelers know about the coating process done to tanzanite however. I'm wondering if most of their stones here are actually colored?

I always found it crazy strange how they could have 200 "AAAA" 4ct stones on hand ALL THE TIME (unless they are falsely claiming their sold stock), or 20 7ct stones and ALL suppossedly look just as amazing as the others. I've bought tanzanite online, and there are NO two stones that look alike in the larger sizes.

Curious trick #2 is heated Apatite to turn it neon. Real neon apatite is ALREADY neon, hence it's expensive price tag. You CAN however, heat low cost green apatite and it will LOOK neon (but not be actual neon apatite). I figured that one out after buying a ring on clearance. On some items, they do "allude" to it being heated (real neon apatite is NEVER heated, only the green), and with a bit of homework you can follow the trail of deception.

Other items to watch include sapphires, opals, emeralds, and turquoise. Turquiose is perhaps the hardest since real untreated turquoise is so rare and fetches a pretty penny, many on the market have resin, wax or other fillers in them (or dyed). Legally they are supposed to disclose any treatments, but . . . you know . . .

Pectorlight (or whatever it's called) is a new one. It looks GREAT and it's RARE! BUT . . . it's NOT natural so it's not worth anything. Real pectoralite is clear, white, yellow or greenish and worth good money for clear, inclusion free stones. Not bright pink or blue.

MOISONITTE . . . .

now here's the interesting one. Moissnitte IS a beautiful gem (I have an original ring from 2012 from the creators), people will stop and stare. BUT, jewlers can spot it a mile away. It's VERY obvious because it sparkles SO MUCH. I fully endorse moissonites over diamonds. Plus because they are a silicon molecule they STAY CLEAN! Anyway, the ONLY COLOR NO LONGER MADE is PINK!!!

If you see pink moissonitte, run. The original company never disclosed their process for making pink (or maybe it was only a test and I got lucky with mine), and NO COMPANY HAS BEEN ABLE TO MAKE ONE that stayed pink. They ALWAYS FADE AND DISSOLVE. This is because they are coated, not heated, to make them pink. I'm not sure about the originals, mine hasn't faded or worn off but I cannot find any info online about the history of pink moisoniite other than no one can replicate the process.

Post your stones to avoid (or BUY) down below!
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colljoe
Posts: 328
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Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by colljoe » 1 year ago

Thank you FarmMom for that great info. Really is upsetting about Tanzanite and let's all hope Shop LC is disclosing ANY and ALL treatments made to their stones. Would love to hear from MODERATORS to confirm if their Tanzanite is or is not treated.
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joy51
Posts: 57
Joined: 4 years ago

Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by joy51 » 1 year ago

JTV has been selling simulated tanzanite for years!!
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Bella
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Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by Bella » 1 year ago

That is why I prefer gemstones with no treatments, you know what your getting. I have seen various specimens of Tanzanite rough and it boggles my mind how they can make it into a AAAA gemstone. When it comes out of the mine it’s not impressive looking at all!
I have one ring with Tanzanite accent stones and that is all I care to ever own.
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BostonIrish
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Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by BostonIrish » 1 year ago

farm mom thanks ! Wow 🙄
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FarmMom
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Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by FarmMom » 1 year ago

Their platinmum tanzanite rings ARE a good deal, but definitely take it to a jewler straight off and have him assess it. The stones are not investment grade (the ones I bought were not at least although they claimed theyr were), so don't buy the ring as an investment per say, but my jeweler shook his head and said no way he could even get me a mount like that for the price I paid.

Which, platinum is tough to re-size, so keep that in mind. Shop LC claims to be be able to, but they can only pre-make it that size. we had been told both by the hosts and customer service that it could be re-sized up or down 2 sizes. That was a big NO. When we called back to see if we could send it in to them to re-size they said it had to be made that size, not re-szed.

Anyway, it might be worth buying a gold mount, pulling the cheap "nice" tanzanite out and adding your own GREAT tanzanite in.
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Really it's ShopLC that has given me the drive to research gems, lol. All the talk about mines closing and gems being rare leads me to research it. One thing leads to another, and then I realize not everything they say lines up, so then I research twice as much, lol.

I really do love that they showcase so many types of stones and do give some background info on them, but, they are car salesmen and must be treated with a careful eye ;)

Granted, small carat tanzanite isn't worth much, and putting a coating on cheap stones isn't a big deal unless you are trying to claim it's something great and expensive. I can appreciate the cheaper tanzanite in it's soft periwinkle color in a cheap mount. Their prices for the most part are absurdly cheap. Not everything, lol, but many things ;) Loose stones are WAY overpriced. And NEVER buy a stone sold in bulk. It's like buying a used car, but you don't get to see photos of it or a listing on it. Just a listing and you're getting 1 of 200 that are in no way exactly the same and you may or may not be getting the best of the group.

The last thing to watch for is gold. THIS one DOES irk me. They are selling gold chains as "solid gold" instead of hollow gold, and that's NOT cool. I was looking at getting a cuban link chain for my son in law, and (they claim their prices are low for gold but they are about average if not slightly more) was looking at chains online elsewhere. I found the SAME CHAIN, I believe it was an 8mm 20in long chain weighing 84grams. Shop LC was claiming it was "solid gold" yet the other company stated theirs was hollow gold and was a nice lightweight chain for everyday wear. Apparently based on the reviews of the other company's chain, the hollow was much preferred anyway, but not disclosing something like that is a pretty big deal.

Imagine how embarrassed you'd be to give someone that chain not KNOWING it was hollow, and they already owned gold chains and could tell it was hollow when they picked it up? So much for your nice expensive gift :P
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Billie
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Re: FAKE Tanzanite?? And other curious tricks

Post by Billie » 1 year ago

What I have found is if it doesn't say it in the discription don't believe the host. Especially with tanzanite. Cheryl will say its a AAA tranzanite and it wasn't when I had it appraised. I should have believed the discription because it didn't say that.
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