Post subject: chatham (chathum) diffused sapphire?
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 1:30 pm
Established Member
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 1:50 pm Posts: 12 Location: Santa Barbara
I bought a cheap blue sapphire off of ebay just for kicks. I was expecting it to be synthetic and I'm pretty sure it is.
It was sold to me as "chathum diffused." I assume that this is a term meaning "This sounds better than synthetic, while still managing to sound vaguely synthetic-like but without bringing down the wrath of Chatham on our heads," but it made me wonder. Synthetic sapphire can come in basically any color, right? Is there any point to actually using diffusion on a synthetic? Is the "diffused" part of that just completely made up, or does it have some basis in reality?
(In particular, would I have to worry about the color being only skin deep if it gets recut?)[/i]
Post subject: Re: chatham (chathum) diffused sapphire?
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:31 pm
Site Admin
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am Posts: 7523 Location: Rome, Italy
Hi Cahn,
cahn wrote:
Synthetic sapphire can come in basically any color, right?
Of course, yes..
Quote:
Is there any point to actually using diffusion on a synthetic?
i see no reason to do that. If the intent was a fraud i find somewhat weird to diffuse a flux synth corundum. Surface diffusion is very easy to spot while a well made flux synth can be sometimes more tricky.....but people do strange things, i've made some photograph of a 0,23 ct synthetic diamond which was Yehuda-style fracture filled....
about surface diffusion pictures, check this old thread for pictures.
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:56 am Posts: 89 Location: Topeka, KS
In the process of buying sample synthetic stones off the internet from various vendors I have noticed alot of false descriptions (obviously) even
for synthetics.
I think alot of the sellers have become educated to the fact that the terms
chatham (chathum), diffused, flux etc. actually up the sellability of their
products to people, especially gemology buffs like us looking for
reference examples. To third world sellers, synthetic is synthetic no matter what the source wereas to us the type is all important. So they add a word or two to the advertisement and they notice their objects now sell.
Just a hypothesis.
It is also amazing how many synthetic quartz stones originate from Brazil, and how abundant (beautifull large faceted "natural" blue quartz from Brazil is).
It is also interresting how often the "Czochralski pulled" synthetic alexandrite from Russia that I have bought turns out to be flame fusion
synthetic corundum.
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 11:24 am Posts: 7523 Location: Rome, Italy
James Baer wrote:
I think alot of the sellers have become educated to the fact that the terms chatham (chathum), diffused, flux etc. actually up the sellability of their products to people, especially gemology buffs like us looking for reference examples. To third world sellers, synthetic is synthetic no matter what the source wereas to us the type is all important. So they add a word or two to the advertisement and they notice their objects now sell.
Just a hypothesis.
Hi Jim,
guess it's more than a hypothesis...
ciao
alberto
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 3:31 am Posts: 228 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Hi,
i wasnt able to find a sapphire with chathum diffusion disclose in treatment (i remember seeing a couple of them not long ago) but i found this instead! He says in the description that it is a lab stone. The corundums i found before did not state it's natural or synthetic origin.
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
Chatham created gems does NOT produce diffused synthetics.
The reference is bogus.
I spoke with Tom Chatham about it earlier today and supplied him with the link.
I've seen many similar deliberate misspellings designed to mislead consumers. The words that seem to be missing in all these come-on ads are "natural" or "mined," but sources like Madagascar, Africa, Thailand, Russia are listed. Looks like a new scam to me but if people buy at the prices shown no one's going to be hurt much financially.
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