How Much is my Jewelry Worth?

May 1, 2016Mochi's Gifts 3 Comments

How much is my jewelry worth? I’m asked this at every show. As a gemologist I can identify the gemstones in your jewelry, but to answer the question of value, the right person to ask is an appraiser. I’ve asked my colleague, Jeanne Hawk, a GIA Graduate Gemologist, Registered MasterValuer and Certified Insurance Appraiser, to be a guest blogger this month:

Establishing and substantiating the value of an item are what appraising is all about. An appraisal is an opinion of value, a well-researched conclusion that is supported by facts which are interpreted from the marketplace. Most jewelry appraisals are done for obtaining insurance coverage. An insurance appraisal is used to determine the retail replacement value of a jewelry item. Other appraisal types include those done to determine fair market value for estate items and items sold for scrap value.

Many of my clients have jewelry of unknown identification or value. I do consultations to identify the gemstones and/or diamonds and metal karatage to determine what you have and whether you should keep it, insure, or scrap it, as is often the case with outdated gold chains. I’ll let you know the market value if you plan to sell it. And if it’s something you want to insure, I can prepare an appraisal for you.

There are six steps involved in the appraisal process as follows: 1) establish the scope of the appraisal, 2) plan the appraisal, 3) collect and analyze the data, 4) apply a valuation approach, 5) set limitations and contingency conditions, and 6) supply the final estimate of value.

At the present time anyone can call oneself a professional jewelry appraiser. However, self-anointing does not confer expertise. The key is education. A gemologist who has undergone formal gemological training, holds a degree or special education in valuation science, and has buying and selling experience either on a wholesale or retail level has the basic prerequisites of an appraiser. The valuation must be done by an individual with suitable qualifications who has no interest (no bias) in the item. Participation in professional appraising organizations is important, as well. It is critical that any jewelry appraisal be developed and written in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), authorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standards and appraiser qualifications.

I am a certified Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Graduate Gemologist (GG), qualified to accurately identify and grade the gemstones in your jewelry. As a Registered Master Valuer™ and Certified Insurance Appraiser™, I am trained in appraisal valuation techniques and can appropriately value and appraise your jewelry. All appraisal reports are prepared in accordance with USPAP.

At your appraisal appointment, I will clean, identify, measure, weigh, grade, and photograph your jewelry. Most appointments take 30 minutes; longer appointments may be needed for multiple items. You will leave with your jewelry. In 7-10 business days, once I have completed the valuation part of the appraisal, you will receive your appraisal via email. Payment for the appraisal, and any hard copies requested, is due at the time of your appointment. Would you like to learn more about how the value of jewelry is determined? Find out in my FREE report! Call this 24 hour toll free recorded message to request your report. 1-800-579-3932.

Jeanne Hawk Fine Jewelry Appraisals specializes in gem identification, diamond grading, jewelry appraisals, market value estimations, general consultation, and quality assessments. To best meet my clients’ needs, services are provided by appointment only. I can be reached at 831-359-3449 or via email at info@hawkjewelryappraisals.com to schedule an appointment. The office is located at 5521 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite 235, Scotts Valley, CA 95066. The company website is http://www.hawkjewelryappraisals.com. Give me a call or visit my website today!

Turritella Agate – A Snail By Any Other Name …

March 31, 2016March 31, 2016Mochi's Gifts Leave a comment

Fossil turritella agate & garnet necklace (Item FTGFN105)

In last month’s blog I explained that for many gemstone beads, the country of origin may be difficult to determine. Fossil turritella agate is an exception because it comes exclusively from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, USA.

Turritellas are marine snails (gastropods) with spiral shells. When fossil snails were found in the Green River Formation, they looked like turritellas and were given that name. However, it turned out that the snails were in fact an extinct freshwater variety and were renamed Elimia tenera. By that time, the incorrect name had already become commonly used and the name elimia tenera has never managed to replace the incorrect turritella name.

Turritella fossils are among my favorite fossils to incorporate into my jewelry designs; the fossil snails are creamy to white spirals in a rich brown to almost black matrix. The polish can be uneven on these stones due to the natural variation in the fossils, but that’s part of what makes each one unique.

The following is directly from http://geology.com/gemstones/turritella/:

“How did Turritella Agate Form?

About 50 million years ago, during the Eocene epoch, the young Rocky Mountains were almost finished growing, and the landscape of what is now parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming consisted of rugged mountains separated by broad intermountain basins. Rains falling on the slopes of these mountains ran off of the land and collected into streams that carried sand, silt, mud, and dissolved materials down into the lakes that occupied the intermountain basins. Over time, these sediments began filling the lakes, and many types of fossils were preserved within them.

Abundant plants and algae grew on the margins of these lakes, providing a perfect habitat and food source for Elimia tenera, the freshwater snail. When the snails died, their shells sank to the bottom of the lake. The snails were so prolific that entire lenses of sediment were composed almost entirely of their shells.

After these layers were buried, groundwater moved through the sediments. Small amounts of microcrystalline silica that were dissolved in the groundwater began to precipitate, possibly in the form of a gel, within the cavities of the snail shells and the empty spaces between them. Over time, the entire mass of fossils was silicified, forming the brown fossiliferous agate (also known as chalcedony) that we know today as Turritella agate.”

References:

Fossil turritella agate & garnet earrings (Item FTG2)

http://geology.com/gemstones/turritella/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimia_tenera

Where do the gemstone beads in your jewelry come from?

March 1, 2016February 28, 2016Mochi's Gifts 1 Comment

I’m asked this question at every show. It’s a great question but I can’t always answer it. Here’s why:

Some gems come almost exclusively from one area; fossil “turitella agate” comes from Wyoming in the U.S. and tanzanite from Tanzania, Africa. But most gems are found and mined in more than one location. For example, lapis lazuli comes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and Chile.

Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan (with malachite and gold-filled beads, item LLGFN104

In some cases, especially beautiful specimens of a gem are found in specific locations; Burmese rubies are highly prized. Because of this, some beads are sold with their source location as part of their name; Ethiopian opal and Australian boulder opal beads are examples.

While some rough (uncut gem material) is cut and polished as gems, beads or carvings in the country where it was mined, most goes to major “cutting centers” in other countries. China and India are the biggest cutting centers for beads. Both locations produce great beads; beads from India are generally hand-made and Chinese products are often laser or machine-made. Because making rough material into beads is where the “value” is added, most beads come with labels saying they were made in the country where the cutting center is located rather than where they were mined.

So, when my beads are labeled as being from China or India, I don’t know the location of origin. But when a gem comes from only one location or when I buy directly from an importer, I know the source.

Turitella agate fossils from Wyoming (with garnet and gold-filled, item FTGVE102)

Kyanite

January 30, 2016January 30, 2016Mochi's Gifts 1 Comment

With a range of blue hues in a single stone, kyanite is a fabulous gem for beautiful and unique jewelry. Kyanite has a particularly unique and interesting property: it has two different measures of hardness in the same crystal. A gem’s hardness is defined as its resistance to scratching and is usually stated as a single number or small range; diamond is 10 on the Moh’s hardness scale, quartz is 7. When you look at a kyanite crystal, it may appear to have a grain like a piece of wood; the hardness can be 5-5 1/2 in the direction of the grain and 7 across it.

Kyanite is n KYSSN102_a amed from the Greek word for dark blue, kyanos, from which we get “cyan” as a shade of blue. Most kyanite is blue, but it can also be white, gray, orange, yellow and green. Although still not very common in jewelry, good quality blue and green material is used for beads and cut stones.

Kyanite crystals grow in long flat “blades”. The gem can be translucent to opaque and the color is often very unevenly zoned over the crystal. It is a metamorphic mineral with chemical formula Al₂SiO_5. It is also a “polymorph”; one of three minerals with the same chemical formula but different crystal structure (the other two minerals are andalusite and sillimanite).

Kyanite can be found in many locations around the world including Austria, Burma, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Tanzania, the United States and Zimbabwe. Besides jewelry, kyanite is used in the manufacture of porcelain, spark plugs and electronics.

Kyanite is fairly durable, but KYGVE102_16_a has perfect cleavage that can cause the stone to split with a single hard knock or blow. Don’t use ultrasonic cleaners, steamers, bleach or other harsh chemicals when cleaning kyanite; use water and a mild soap.

References:
Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Gemological Institute of America, Gem Identification Lab Manual, 5/2012
http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/kyanite/kyanite-info.php

Phenomenal! (Part 2 of 2)

January 1, 2016December 31, 2015Mochi's Gifts 1 Comment

Phenomenon:(noun) A special (optical) effect displayed by a gemstone when it interacts with light. Gems with beautiful optical effects are often more valuable.

Here’s a short description of types of phenomena recognized in gemology and the gems commonly associated with each. A gem can have more than one phenomenon.

Iridescence: A rainbow display that is created when light is broken up into different colors like in a soap bubble or oil slick.
Gems: iris agate, fire agate

Labradorescence in labradorite

Labradorescence: A broad flash of color caused by light interacting with a type of crystal growth called twinning.
Gems: labradorite

Orient: A shimmer of iridescent rainbow colors on or just below a pearl’s surface.
Gems: pearl, mother-of-pearl

Koroit boulder opal pendant

Play-of-Color: precious opal is made up of sub-microscopic spheres stacked in a grid-like pattern. As the light waves travel between the spheres, the waves diffract, or bend and break up into the colors of the rainbow, called spectral colors.
Gems: opal, fire opal

Last month I covered adularescence, asterism, aventurescence, chatoyancy and color change in part 1 of this blog.

Sources:
Gemological Institute of America, Gem Identification Lab Manual, 5/2012
http://4csblog.gia.edu/2014/phenomenal-gems
http://www.gia.edu/opal-description
http://gemologyproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sheen

Phenomenal! (Part 1 of 2)

December 1, 2015November 27, 2015Mochi's Gifts 3 Comments

Phenomenon:(noun) A special (optical) effect displayed by a gemstone when it interacts with light. Gems with beautiful optical effects are often more valuable.

Here’s a short description of types of phenomena recognized in gemology and the gems commonly associated with each. A gem can have more than one phenomenon.

Adularescence in rainbow moonstone

Adularescence: A milky, bluish-white glow caused by scattering of light related to the crystal growth pattern.
Gems: moonstone

Asterism (star gems): Crossing bands of reflected light in the gemstone create a four- or six-rayed star in the dome of a cabochon.
Gems: ruby, sapphire, garnet, spinel, diopside, beryl, quartz, moonstone, sunstone

Aventurescence: A glittery effect caused by light reflecting from small, flat inclusions within a gemstone.
Gems: sunstone, aventurine, sheen obsidian

Tiger’s eye

Chatoyancy (cat’s eye gems): A display of a band of light, like a cat’s eye. It is caused by the reflection of light from many parallel, needle-like inclusions inside a gem.
Gems: garnet, ruby, sapphire, chrysoberyl, tourmaline, beryl, tiger’s eye, quartz, moonstone, obsidian, and others.

Color-Change: Gem changes color when exposed to different types of light.
Gems: sapphire, garnet, alexandrite, spinel

Next month I’ll cover iridescence, labradorescence, orient and play of color in part 2 of this blog post.

Rhodochrosite, the Bacon of Gemstones

September 29, 2015December 31, 2015Mochi's Gifts Leave a comment

Seems like there’s been quite a bacon fad over the last year. Well I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear that gemology has it’s own candidate for the bacon craze – rhodochrosite.

Rhodochrosite, MnCO₃, is an ore of manganese. It is a beautiful, but fairly soft (Moh’s hardness 3.5-4.0) mineral. Most beads and cut stones show beautiful pink, brown, and white banding (described as the “bacon-strip effect”), and are opaque. Although it is usually seen in jewelry cut as cabochons it can also be found as transparent pink to reddish faceted gems. The banded material is also used in carvings. The name comes from the Greek rhodon -“rose” and chroma – “color.”

Rhodochrosite and sterling silver necklace. Item RDSSN102

Rhodochrosite was initially described at a deposit in Romania in the early 1800s. Rhombohedral crystals are mined in Colorado, where it is the state mineral. Most of the banded rhodochrosite used in jewelry today comes from Argentina.

Rhodochrosite is a great gemstone for earrings and necklaces but generally too soft to safely wear in rings or bracelets that get heavy use. It scratches easily so should be cleaned with a mild soap and water.

Sources:
Gemological Institute of America, Gem Identification Lab Manual, 5/2012
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodochrosite
http://webmineral.com/data/Rhodochrosite.shtml#.VgthxJfi2xk

Natural or Treated? Common Gemstone Treatments

August 28, 2015December 31, 2015Mochi's Gifts Leave a comment

Did you know that many gemstones are routinely treated (also called enhanced)?
These treatments are generally used to change or improve the color, clarity, or durability of a gem. Some gemstones are significantly more valuable if they are not treated, but treatments allow many more beautiful stones to be made available to consumers. It is important to understand treatments are not inherently “bad” but that legally, they must be disclosed to the customer if they are not permanent, require special care, or if they affect the value of the stone.

Here are some of the most common gemstone treatments, why they are used, and a few examples of the gems that may be treated in this way. Sometimes more than one treatment is used to achieve a desired result.

Process: Bleach
Why: Improve color
Examples: Pearls and jadeite jade are commonly bleached to remove undesirable coloring.

Pearls are commonly bleached (top) and are often dyed or irradiated (bottom)

Process: Dye
Why: Change or improve color
Examples: Stones such as lapis lazuli may be dyed darker blue to improve their color. White stones such as howlite or pearls may be dyed to resemble other stones such as turquoise or just to provide fun options for jewelry design.

Process: Fracture filling with dyes, glass, oils, polymers or resins
Why: Improve clarity and/or color
Examples: Emeralds are commonly fracture-filled to improve their clarity.

Process: Heat
Why: Change or improve color
Examples: Sapphires and amber are commonly heated to improve clarity. Tanzanite changes from brown to blue when heated and amethyst can be turned yellow and is sometimes then sold as citrine.

Process: Irradiation
Why: Change or improve color
Examples: Some gray pearls have been irradiated. Colorless topaz is both heated and irradiated to create blue gems.

Process: Stabilization/Impregnation with plastic, polymers or wax
Why: Improve durability and appearance
Examples: Soft stones such as turquoise, lapis lazuli and rhodochrosite are commonly stabilized.

Other treatments not covered here include high pressure high temperature (hpht), surface coating and lattice diffusion. You can learn more about these as well as the treatments above by clicking the GIA link below.

Sources:
Code of Federal Regulations Part 23 – Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) – Gem Treatments

Peridot

August 2, 2015December 31, 2015Mochi's Gifts 1 Comment

Peridot, (Mg, Fe)₂SiO₄, is the gem quality version of the mineral olivine. It’s the gemstone for those born in August and for 15th wedding anniversaries.

Fossil Ammonite with peridot, cultured pearls, and gold-filled. Item FAGFN103 Background of natural olivene crystals.

Fossil Ammonite with peridot, cultured pearls, and gold-filled. Item FAGFN103
Background of natural olivine crystals.

Peridot comes in a relatively narrow range of colors compared to most gemstones. That’s because the color is due to the amount of iron in the mix and not due to chemical impurities or distortions of the crystal structure. The color range goes from yellowish greens through brownish greens. Peridot crystals tend to have consistent color throughout (contrast this with a gem like amethyst which often goes from colorless through various saturations of purple in the same crystal).

From a gemology perspective, one of the cool features of peridot can only be seen with a microscope; there are often little inclusions called “lily pads” that are very distinctive and help identify the gem.

Olivine is often found in iron-rich rocks and can be seen filling the nodules left when gas escapes from molten lava. Been to Hawaii? If you go again, look around when you see the blocky types of basalt (cooled lava) with lots of holes – you may spot some olivine! It has also been found in meteorites.

There is a major deposit of gem quality peridot on the San Carlos Apache reservation in Arizona. Other notable locations for peridot include China, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Egypt, and Tanzania.

Peridot has hardness of 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale. It has fair to good toughness. Warm, soapy water is the best method for cleaning peridot. Ultrasonic and steam cleaners are not recommended.

Sources:
http://www.gia.edu/peridot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peridot

Quartz – so many gems, so much confusion!

June 28, 2015December 31, 2015Mochi's Gifts 1 Comment

Quartz, chalcedony, agate, jasper … What’s the difference?

The quartz and chalcedony gems provide a wide range of beautiful colors and patterns with very good durability. Although they all have the same basic chemical formula, SiO₂, different impurities and/or conditions when the minerals form create different end results.

First we’ll define two major groups based on crystal size: quartz and chalcedony (pronounced kal-sed-n-ee).

Quartz varieties have crystals that can be seen with an optical microscope (and sometimes with the naked eye).

Amethyst (item AMSSN102)

Some quartz varieties commonly used in jewelry include:
Amethyst – purple
Ametrine – purple and yellow in the same stone
Citrine – yellow
Rock crystal – colorless
Rose quartz – pink
Smokey quartz – brown

Chalcedony varieties are cryptocrystalline which means that individual crystals cannot be seen, even with the use of an optical microscope. Chalcedony gems are subdivided into two groups: agate and jasper.

Agate has angular or curved banding.

Blue lace agate
(item BASSN101)

Some agates used in jewelry include :
Blue Lace Agate – light blue bands in a lacy or wavy pattern
Botswana Agate – banded with fine parallel lines of white, purple, or peach
Crazy Lace Agate – twisting and turning bands of various colors
Eye Agate – banded, concentric rings that are perfectly rounded
Fire Agate – Form of Agate or Chalcedony that is iridescent

Jasper is a “general variety term for opaque chalcedony of any color or combination of colors except solid black or specially named material” (GIA).

Mixed jasper necklace (Item JSGFN101) displayed on ocean jasper slab

Examples of “specially named” varieties include:
Bloodstone – dark green with red spots
Carnelian – orange
Chrysoprase – apple green
Onyx – banded, black and white
Sardonyx – banded, brown/red and white

To add to the confusion, a number of gems don’t follow the naming conventions:
Moss agate – green inclusions, not banded
Onyx- banded, should be agate
Sardonyx – banded, should be agate

There are also many quartz minerals that are not beautiful or rare enough to be considered gems, such as chert and milky quartz.

With all these beautiful colors and patterns to choose from, there’s a quartz or chalcedony gemstone for everyone! Which is your favorite?

Information sources:
Gem Identification Lab Manual, Gemological Institute of America, 5/2012
http://www.minerals.net
http://www.wikipedia.org