Misleading Nomenclature of Gemstones
Now we will look at one more way of misleading customers – using names for stones with qualifiers that lead the customer to think they are something that they are not.
Such misnomers are generally used outside the United States. However you need to be aware of them.
For example, one might say a particular sapphire is a Ceylon sapphire. That means that it was mined in Ceylon. That increases its value by a certain measure as these have a very beautiful and lively hue of blue as compared to other darker ones. But if the same person says it’s a Ceylon-colored sapphire, what’s the meaning of that? That just means the sapphire is the same lovely shade of blue that you normally expect in Ceylon sapphires. Now you can be the judge of that! A particular sapphire being just ‘Ceylon-colored’ means nothing to us! But what the guy is trying to do is pass that stone for more than it is worth.
Again, there is the Brazilian sapphire which is actually a blue tourmaline, not half as valuable. Brazil does have sapphires which are called – just sapphires!
There is also the Chatham sapphire which is actually a synthetic going by that name. The same way, the Chatham emerald is also a synthetic.
Then the Esmeralda emerald is a green tourmaline and the Mascot emerald is a doublet.
So basically there is a whole lot of vocabulary that you need to master in order to avoid being tricked. Here is a list of some misleading names – that which are meant to be descriptive in a misleading sort of way. We are over with treachery and misrepresentation and next time, we will go on to the issues involved in buying gems.
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