Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:39 pm Posts: 24 Location: Spartanburg SC USA
One source of this material is a canadian seller named Murray selling as Gemrough out of Canada. The material as offered is a beautiful emerald green but fades to a purplish clear color in a matter of hours when exposed to sunlight. Buyer beware.
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
Yep it's irridated..I actually had a couple what i call "public service announcements" in my ebay ads when i was selling kunzites a few weeks ago..where i told all about this..a couple sellers(on ebay) are selling crystals and cut stones on ebay as "patroke green" kunzite...well i deal mostly in crystals so thats really what i was more concerned about..gems are gems and always have crap done to them..well anyways one of the seller si know and have bought stones direct from him in the past when he lived in pakistan..now he lives in bangkok and sells from there..so what they do is send these super junkie white and coloress spodumene crystals to the port city of lahore in pakistan and get them zapped..they turn this sweet green color..very very nice looking..well of course they are zapped and fade in a matter of months to a year..what chaps me is those same junkie white and colorless spodumenes sell for maybe $2..maybe $5...i have sold lots of them on ebay..ever big ones 150-200 grams only sell for maybe $6..well these greens i am watching sell for $70-$120 each..just junkie white spodueme you would toss in the trash..i am telling you it's money hand over fist..they send the stones themselves to lahore to get zapped..it's not like they can play the ignorant card and say.."well i didn't know" So i contacted my guy about 2 weeks ago asking about this..price is excellent..he can send some off to zap for me..with the money i have seen those crystals sell for on ebay i should be able to turn a nice profit..the thing is i will have to use my ethics and disclose the treatments of course unlike the other sellers..which is why i added my little "public service announcements" in my ads a few weeks ago to inform the less informed..we will see..I will let you know when they get here
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:39 pm Posts: 24 Location: Spartanburg SC USA
The market I sell in mostly is a small puddle compared to the ebay pond and besides the ethical problems of selling junk as gems there is the fact that who would ever buy from me again after wearing their pretty green gem to the beach then arriving home with a colorless stone? To me the potential profit would never be worth the damage to my reputation. My friend who got stuck with some of these will be sending me one which I will photograph as it fades and post as a placeholder listing and warning where I sell.
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
Thats what they fail to tell you which I added in my little public service announcements on put in some of my ads..is within a year the crystal(don't know much about the gems but i assume same thing) will have faded past half color and maybe even all color just sitting in ambient lighting..hidden in the dark they may last longer..not sure
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:39 pm Posts: 24 Location: Spartanburg SC USA
My friend assures me that a piece of this lovely emerald green material left on a sunny windowsill faded to a slightly purplish-clear color IN A MATTER OF HOURS. Might last a year in a vault but not wearable.
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
yep..i..faded back to original color....now there are some very nice green colored afghan ones that are natural that won't fade but they are not very common..most of the time they are like a sickly puke looking color..mindat hjas an afghan green that has a sweet green color
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:39 pm Posts: 24 Location: Spartanburg SC USA
Been meaning to ask you, off topic, are you familiar with the old amethyst finds mined in Due West SC? I think much of it was actually in a pond there? I am not far from there now and wondering if my rememberer is functional since my source was probably a Lapidary Journal article from thirty plus years ago...
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
the nat. hist. museum has some the smithsonian has some..we were just discussing this on another forum..i actually have to buddies Romin and his friend Ed cansler who got permission to dig there a year ago or so..didn't find anything though..
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:40 pm Posts: 2667 Location: South Dakota
Okay just spoke with my guy..he said per KG of irridating kunzites/spoduemens it's $25..he said most turn green but some turn pink and a deep yellow..here is a pic of all irridted kunzites...
price for all these which is 570cts....take a guess $450..thats less than $1 a ct.
_________________ MrAmethystguy ~ Some jokes just fluorite over my head!
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