Mineral Name: Beryl.
Color: Light blue, greenish-blue to blue-green, usually with a relatively light color.
For those who are not familiar with gemstone enhancement, please refer to the article below, as there is no need for redundant explanation here. Enhanced gems can be sold in the market as natural gems without declaration; treated gems cannot be sold as natural gems, and it is mandatory to declare that they have been artificially treated when sold in the market. Low-grade aquamarine rough stones, in layman’s terms, are like those with osteoporosis, full of cracks and inclusions.
This makes them highly suitable for enhancement. Strong acids, resins, and dyes can penetrate the crystals. Common enhancement methods for aquamarine include heat treatment, filling, bleaching, dyeing, and coating. Low-grade natural aquamarine rough stones, which are brittle and prone to shattering, have a low yield in the processing, and thus are often subjected to filling treatment to increase the final yield. Previously, the processing technique for aquamarine involved coating with resin, which slightly improved the yield. After the national standards were relaxed in 2017 regarding filling treatment, the resin-infusion process (where resin penetrates the internal fissures of aquamarine crystals under high pressure) became popular, greatly increasing the yield of aquamarine, which is also the reason for the recent drop in prices of low-end aquamarine. Filling, often referred to as resin-infusion (gluing, dipping, or pouring), is perhaps the most common gemstone enhancement method today, with no other method surpassing it. About 95% of the aquamarine in the market has undergone filling treatment. According to the national standard GB/T 16652–2017 ‘Jewelry and Jade Names’, it is clearly stipulated that: filling gems with colorless oil or wax; filling gem fissures with a small amount of resin to slightly improve their appearance. This is considered an enhancement method. Filling gems with glass or artificial resin for a small number of cracks and cavities to improve their durability and appearance. This is also considered an enhancement method, but should be noted. Pouring glass, artificial resin, and other solidifying materials into gems with many cavities and cracks to change their appearance and durability. This is considered a treatment method. It is normal for aquamarine to be resin-injected, as most merchants would say. Yes, resin-injection is normal, but selling heavily filled, treated aquamarine as natural aquamarine is not normal; it is a pure act of fraud! Resin-injected aquamarine rough stones look like crystal mud, lacking the feel of stone. Aquamarine is colored by iron, and iron suppresses fluorescence, so natural aquamarine has no fluorescence effect. Some merchants boast that their aquamarine has fluorescence, leading people to believe it is an optical effect of the gemstone when, in fact, it is just an excess of resin-injection.How to identify if aquamarine is filled with resin? Generally, the materials used for filling treatment are artificial resins, which may emit fluorescence under an ultraviolet fluorescent lamp. Of course, the ultraviolet fluorescent lamp can only be used as an auxiliary means of identification, and conclusions cannot be made solely based on fluorescence. However, the ultraviolet fluorescent lamp is also the most direct, economical, and convenient tool for gemstone identification.
Next, I selected three strings of aquamarine bracelets with different qualities for a fluorescence observation experiment under a purple light. To make it clearer for everyone, I took pictures with the original camera without filters under natural light near the balcony. It was a cloudy day without the sun at that time. (Those who can’t see clearly can click on the picture to enlarge it.) I numbered the three strings of aquamarine from left to right. The crystal of No. 1 seems to be the cleanest, but it has a hazy feeling. Its transparency ranks second among the three, and its color is the darkest, perhaps because of the blue thread it is strung on. The crystal of No. 2 has the highest transparency, but it has some impurities, and the crystal is not very clean. Its color is light blue. (Please ignore the white moonstone beads in No. 2.) The beads of No. 3 are the largest, about 10 carats. The crystal is the least clean, and the transparency is the worst. Its color is also light blue. I believe that most people would choose No. 1 among these three strings of aquamarine because it is relatively the most beautiful. Intuitively, No. 3 aquamarine seems to be the worst, and since the beads are the largest, it should have the most resin filling. Now let’s look at the results. The results are unexpected. Most of the beads of No. 1 aquamarine glow like fluorescent sticks under the irradiation of the purple light. The inclusions and cracks are also exposed. About 5 – 6 beads of No. 2 aquamarine have relatively serious fluorescence, but overall, the result is a bit better than that of No. 1. The fluorescence observation result of No. 3 aquamarine is also unexpected. Only 1 – 2 beads show a relatively serious overall fluorescence phenomenon, and the other beads have only faint star-like fluorescence. For a close-up of the fluorescence, take a look at the close-ups of these strongly fluorescent beads. The inclusions and cracks inside are clearly visible. I dimmed the light for this picture to make it easier for you to distinguish. The beads marked with a red line have very, very weak fluorescence. There is still a big difference from the strongly fluorescent beads, which can be detected with the naked eye. Many people don’t have a purple light. Some people directly irradiate the aquamarine with a white spotlight and then take pictures with a mobile phone to observe. When the white spotlight shines vertically on the aquamarine and the mobile phone takes a picture from above, the pictures of the aquamarine will have a lot of yellow hues. I’m not sure yet about the scientific basis of observing with a white spotlight for photography, because I haven’t found any experiments on observing luminescence using a white spotlight in professional textbooks such as ‘Systematic Gemmology’, ‘Gemology Tutorial’, and ‘Colored Gemstone Tutorial’.In photographs taken under white light, there are no yellowing beads, and under ultraviolet light, they exhibit almost no fluorescence. However, some beads with faint fluorescence under white light appear more yellow in the photographs, but their fluorescence is not as severe under ultraviolet light. This highlights the unreasonable aspect of observing with a white light camera. To further investigate the effect of white light, I took out a tourmaline bracelet purchased for 30 yuan.
Tourmaline is also a major subject of filling treatment, so I used it for an experiment. First, observe it under ultraviolet light. Under ultraviolet light, the fluorescence phenomenon of tourmaline is quite clear. Aquamarine, with its blue color, does not have a significant color difference with fluorescence, so it does not stand out as much as tourmaline. Next, I tried observing under white light photography. There is no change observed, it seems this method is completely ineffective for tourmaline. Is it harmful to wear glued aquamarine? Wearing glued aquamarine does not pose any harm to the human body. The main component of gemstone glue is epoxy resin, which is a major component of plastics. Are there any unglued aquamarines? Gem-grade aquamarines are not glued. Items such as these rings or pendants, and some mineral specimens, are not glued. Bleaching treatment involves soaking jewelry and jade in chemical solutions to lighten their color or remove impurities. Bleaching, commonly known as acid washing, is considered an optimization and does not require disclosure. Is this surprising? Many people think acid washing is a terrible treatment method, and some pseudo-scientific articles scare you with claims of strong acid residue, which is purely nonsense. Gem processing involves a lengthy process of heat treatment, grinding, and water rinsing, and any strong acid would have evaporated by then. Pearls, ivory, and other organic gems, as well as jade, often undergo bleaching treatment. However, bleaching plus filling equals treatment. The combination of bleaching and filling is a treatment method. The common B-grade jadeites are jadeites treated with bleaching and filling. Friends, do you remember the jade acid etch marks? Many merchants claim that aquamarine washed with acid cannot obtain certificates, and I guess you all think this statement is correct, right? As I mentioned earlier, bleaching treatment is an optimization method in the national standard and does not need to be disclosed. Therefore, acid-washed aquamarines will not be mentioned on appraisal certificates. However, acid washing plus filling is a treatment method, which is a different nature. Aquamarine treated with acid and glue must be clearly stated as treated gems on the appraisal certificate, and the conclusion of acid washing plus filling must be provided. So, is it true that merchants say acid-washed aquamarines cannot obtain certificates? But I have seen patterns on many aquamarine bracelets that can issue certificates, similar to B-grade jadeite, with obvious acid etch marks under magnification on the surface.These patterns are the most typical characteristics of acid washing, serving as evidence of the process! Some people who do not understand claim that such patterns are normal and a characteristic of aquamarine. That’s nonsense; how could they be? We all know that these acid-etched patterns on B-grade jadeite indicate the result of acid washing and resin filling. Why is it confusing when it comes to aquamarine? However, why don’t testing institutions conclude that there has been acid washing and resin filling? I’m not sure if I’m mistaken.
I hope professionals can clarify this. If these aquamarines have not been acid washed, where did the cotton and impurities in the original stone go? Could it be possible to buy such a clean crystal material for just ten yuan per gram? Do aquamarine sellers all have mines at home? Do they carefully select top-grade materials for processing and then sell them at low prices? My friends, acid washing necessarily involves resin filling; the impurities in the crystal must be washed away, and the resulting fissures must be filled before processing can proceed. As long as resin filling is involved, heat treatment is also necessary. Therefore, for such low-grade materials, it is essentially a combination of techniques. Dyeing (treatment) allows colorants to penetrate the gemstone to achieve the purpose of producing color, enhancing color, or improving color. This treatment method is mainly used for color change processing of gems with light and low value. These gems are usually loose, porous, or contain a significant number of cracks and fissures, allowing pigments to penetrate. Dyed aquamarine is very easy to distinguish; the internal inclusions of natural aquamarine, which you refer to as cotton, are white and cannot be blue. Heat treatment (optimization) is a type of gemstone optimization that can be seen as a repetition and continuation of natural geological processes, allowing for long-term and stable improvements in the gemstone’s color, transparency, and clarity. Aquamarine is a blue gemstone with an inherent greenish hue. Heating aquamarine can remove the internal greenish hue, leaving a pure blue hue, and can also subtly enhance the clarity of the crystal. This is why we rarely see aquamarine products in the market with a greenish hue (original stone color). Many international luxury jewelers will heat treat aquamarine. Heat-treated aquamarine has stable color and is not easily detected, but the value of heat-treated aquamarine (gem-grade) is still significantly different from that of natural aquamarine. Whether our low-end aquamarines have been heat treated or not has no impact on their value, of course, most have been heat treated due to the processing techniques involved. Aquamarine heat treatment radiation treatment (treatment) colorless, dark blue aquamarine can be irradiated to become cobalt blue.Dear friends, is this the ‘Devil’s Blue’ mentioned by merchants? Natural aquamarine does not possess this color. Natural Aquamarine Semi-finished Products 00:22 How to Identify Natural Aquamarine and Check for Enhancement? Without certain expertise and experience, it is advisable to have your stones re-inspected by a reputable institution rather than relying on the certificates provided by the merchants.