Jeweller - November 2018

REACHING FULL POTENTIAL
Some treatments and techniques can add to
the brilliance of a gemstone but the industry
can be divided on what is ethical. Australian
gemstone companies generally have their
own policies on what is and isn’t acceptable
where gem treatments are concerned.
Coolamon Sapphires, for example, chooses
to heat-treat its Central Queensland, blue and
green sapphires to eradicate “sleepy or silky”
appearances after faceting.
“This phenomenon is eliminated by
replicating the natural formation and heating
the stone to a temperature high enough
to drive off or re-absorb the rutile, thus
clearing the stone and making it brighter,”
Elliot says. “It may brighten the colour but it
does not change it, as is done by the rather
controversial chemical modification by the
addition of beryllium to the furnace. The
Central Queensland blue and some greens
are nearly always silky and will need treating
but our beautiful yellow stones and most of
our parti-colour stones almost never do.”
Nature’s Gemstones Colombian emeralds are
no-oil gemstones, meaning they aren’t oiled
with natural cedar oil to fill the surface.
“Ninety per cent of the world’s emeralds
are oiled and it is a practice that is accepted
within the trade,” Lee says. “Oil treatment
optically improves the overall clarity and
colour of the emerald. All treated gemstones
must be disclosed as such. No-oil emeralds
are quite rare and therefore are quality
investment pieces.”
Menadue works hard to give gemstones
optimal sparkle through his precision-cut
process. He says in the early days he sourced
many of his stones to sell to jewellers.
Nowadays, much of his work is fixing poorlycut
gemstones from commercial gem cutters.
“The biggest problem is windows in the
stones. The aim of the commercial cutter
is to cut as heavy a stone as possible from
the piece of rough. For them it’s not about
cutting the most beautiful, brilliant or
shiny stone; it’s purely about weight and
it’s a commodity,” Menadue says of
commercial cutters.
“When you show people a commercially-cut
stone side by side with a precision-cut stone,
they instantly see the difference. It’s like chalk
and cheese. There’s beauty in a well-cut stone;
it’s full of life when it’s cut to the right angle.”
TO KNOW IS TO SELL
Orozco believes “Australians have an
appetite for emeralds”; however, consumers
sometimes avoid the gemstone given its lack
of hardness.
“Consumers need to be made more aware
of emeralds. People have a lot of concerns
for them and tend to think it is fragile stone
that will easily break. It’s not like a diamond
where you wear it every day but it is sturdy
enough if you care for it,” he explains. “The
reason emeralds are often weaker is due to
the inclusions – when they have inclusions
they are weaker. That’s why I bring in quality
material with quality inclusions so that
customers can gain trust in emeralds.”
McCreesh believes the category is an
excellent way to increase profit margins
outside of the “competitive” diamond industry
and education about the sector is paramount.
“It’s essential that retail sales staff have an
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