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 Post subject: TRANSPARENCY & BIXBITE & EMERALD
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:27 pm 
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Hi all, great informative site for us who recently started appreciating gemstones (a longer way of saying 'beginner' i guess ;) ), so there goes my first post:
1- I read somewhere that Columbian miners call cheap dull emeralds 'Murrala'. Now, is this term directly referring to a somehow bad 'transparency'? (In other words, lesser transparent an emerald, the duller it is, right?)
2- I know the term 'Transparent to translucent' to describe transparency of a stone. (I've heard it in description of bixbite's transparency) So, is it ok to assume for a bixbite that IT IS more valuable when its transparency is 'TRANSPARENT', and it is less valuable when it is transparency is more of 'translucent'?...(Assuming their color/clarity are similar)
Hope it makes sense. Thanks in advance for your answers...


Last edited by VG on Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:45 am 
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I'll hold off on question #1, I'm not familiar with the term Murrala.

#2. Yes, the closer to transparent a gem is, the more valuable it will be, assuming all other criteria are the same.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:25 am 
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'Murrala'... = wall. The name could be a metaphor for opaque, dinghy looking stones... more suitable for masonry than gems. That's just using translation, never heard of the term in relation with precious beryl or gemstone of any kind.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:41 pm 
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Hi Barbra & Valeria,
Thanks for your answers.. I think i got the answer I was looking for; relation between the 'dullness' and the transparency... One final question:
True or false: Transluency is basically 'lesser' transparency...?!


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:09 pm 
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Hi VG --

Transparency has five catagories:

Transparent (TP); semitransparent (STP); translucent (TL); semitranslucent (STL); and opaque (O).

Hope this helps :) .

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:33 pm 
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How about something MORE than opaque? A substance SO inhibitive of transmission of visible light that it actually blocks light AROUND it, not just passing through it? ;)


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:35 pm 
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Quote:
Transparency has five catagories:

Transparent (TP); semitransparent (STP); translucent (TL); semitranslucent (STL); and opaque (O).

Hope this helps

Yes it does Dove, thanks...
As for the record here is the link to term Muralla(2nd paragraph):
http://www.emeraldsandjewelry.com/about.html


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