Confusing gemstone report

[chrisP]

I have a comprehension question about a gemstone report. I would like to buy a pretty blue-green sapphire. The stone comes with a report from a reputable laboratory. It states that the examination was carried out using a microscope, FTIR and UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer. Result: bluish-green sapphire, natural, heat treatment. What really irritates me is the statement: "Beryllium test was not requested." Heat treatment yes and then the end? I thought a beryllium treatment could be determined with the microscopic examination. Or is the result known and was the client not instructed to include it in the report?
No statement was made about the origin. It would have made more sense to me that this was not requested.

How should I interpret the result? 50:50 joker and the principle of hope?

[1bwana1]

Although it is often possible to detect indications of Beryllium treatment in Sapphire through Zoning, or melted XTLS indicating very high temperature treatment, this is not always the case. The definitive test for Beryllium Treatment in Sapphire is not magnification based. It is done by advanced chemical analysis usually through laser Ablation Spectrometry. This goes beyond the standard tests and usually requires additional fees.

What Lab did the report?

[chrisP]

The report is from the ICA and LA-ICP-MS was not marked. So the seller did not ask for the examination.

Thank you very much. Learned something new again.

[chrisP]

After I bought the stone, here is the report.

[Barbra Voltaire, FGG]

Green is not a color one often sees resulting from Be diffusion. But you could always send the sapphire to GIA of AGL for further testing.

Beryllium Diffusion of Ruby and Sapphire
John L. Emmett, Kenneth Scarratt, Shane F. McClure, Thomas Moses, Troy R. Douthit, Richard Hughes, Steven Novak, James E. Shigley, Wuyi Wang, Owen Bordelon, and Robert E. Kane
Over the past two years, the heat treatment of corundum involving lattice diffusion of beryllium (Be) at temperatures over 1800°C has become a major issue in the gem trade. Although initially only orange to orangy pink (“padparadscha”-like) sapphires were seen, it is now known that a full range of corundum colors, including yellow and blue as well as ruby, have been produced or altered by this treatment. An extension of the current understanding of the causes of color in corundum is presented to help explain the color modifications induced by Be diffusion. Empirical support is provided by Be diffusion experiments conducted on corundum from various geographic sources. Examination of hundreds of rough and faceted Be-diffused sapphires revealed that standard gemological testing will identify many of these treated corundums, although in some instances costly chemical analysis by mass spectrometry is required. Potential new methods are being investigated to provide additional identification aids, as major laboratories develop special nomenclature for describing this treatment.

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