Telling Real Gems from fakes....?

Question

Very shortly I'll be traveling to Martapura, Indonesia where gems are mined. Many try to sell to you on the street. Most are fakes. Is there a quick way to tell what you're getting? Is there equipment to do this? I'm willing to buy a magnifying glass, special lens, etc if this helps. The stones mined there are gems and diamonds

Answer 1

look at the common gems you will be finding there

rubies, sapphires, some emerald.

become familiar with the basic properties

test kits are cheap that can test the hardness and streak test, a light source to look through and a loupe (eyeglass)

Answer 2

I do not want to sound depressing but without a lot of training and experience you have no chance at all. I have been a professional gemmologist for over 40 years and I would be very wary of buying gems on the street. Of course there are many stones that can be detected at a glance but without years of experience even that can be tricky in the bustle of a street market.
A cautionary story was when a woman came into my London office and asked if I was interested in black star sapphires to which my reply was "Yes" she opened a large parcel of stones on my desk and I turned them down without even picking a single stone up. Across the desk I could see she had black star enstatite worth almost nothing compared to the black star sapphire she thought she had bought. She went away in tears as she had emptied her bank account and also borrowed money to by these stones which were "guaranteed" to make her a small fortune. I felt terrible but all I could do was send her to another expert to have my diagnosis confirmed.
All I can say is if it looks too good to be true it probably is too good to be true and never, never spend more than you can afford to loose.

Answer 3

Maybe, if you are very passionate, you could follow a course to become a graduate gemologist ? You will notice how many tools and knowledge you need and the basics of how hard it is to find out what you are buying. And that is the start without long time experience ! I am a diamantaire and only buy goods with a report from a lab we respect, and even then we check and verify all we can. Never take any risk, if you can always use experts to help you ! If it is just for fun, then enjoy it and dont risk what is above your budget.

Answer 4

You can check whether its a diamond or zirconium simply by testing for the conductivity. It's very hard to tell whether a gem is natural. You'd have to look for the small metal platelet inoculated in it in order for crystals to grow. Most likely they won't sell you fakes but simply poor quality stones though, so your best bet would be to take a course in this and get some experience with appraising gems and don't buy any this time.

Answer 5

first of all a gem is a semi precious stone
each stone has it's own atomic wt, you can put them in heavy liquids to tell there wt..You need to go to a gem dealer or place that sells gem equipment, to purchase this. which could be a problem in air travel, as they only allow 3 oz in small container. Your best bet is to talk to a gem equipment place before travel. Now, diamonds, same thing, atomic wt. So encourage you to research this further at gem store first.

Answer 6

In principle diamonds are among the stones with high index of refraction and I think the number of cuts make them expensive for these are basis for showing total internal reflection. (this property will explain why diamond glitters.)

Try to explore the site below:
http://www.chinatradezone.net/walcom/products_details.php?txt1=&txt2=&go=1&searchname=&searchseries=25&id=282

Answer 7

A true gemologist will know CZ from a Diamond.

Answer 8

challenging matter. do a search on to google and yahoo. that will could actually help!

Answer 9

carat, color, cut and clarity are the basic things u should look for, while buying diamonds.