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Gemstone enhancement is defined as any treatment process that is
used to improve the appearance, durability or availability of a
gemstone.
Many gemstones available on the market today are routinely enhanced
to impart color, clarity or strength to the stone.
The term "gemstone
enhancement" should not be confused with terms such as synthetic,
lab-grown, man-made or any other
term which infers the creation of materials.
Natural gemstones are created by natural processes within the earth.
Man-made, lab-grown (or laboratory), or synthetic gems are those
created by any non-natural process.
Enhancements of a gemstone can be used on natural or synthetic
materials to improve their appearance.
However, a natural gemstone that is enhanced is still considered a
Natural gemstone, whereas a synthetic/man-made stone
can never be considered natural whether or not is has received an
additional treatment.
The chart below shows the various
labels applied to gemstones which denote various enhancement
processes.
ENHANCEMENT
is defined as any traditional process other than cutting and
polishing that improves the
appearance (such as color/clarity/phenomena), durability or
availability of a gemstone.
A gemstone enhancement is considered permanent as long as it does
not change in appearance
(color and/or clarity) under normal wear, cutting repair, cleaning
or display conditions.
Please refer to these charts to locate the enhancements
that apply to your particular jewelry purchases.
Various Gemstones
and their possible enhancements
Gemstone
Properties and Enhancements
Quartz Expanded
Topaz Expanded
Click on the link About Metals to
learn about Gold, Platinum, Silver and Titanium used to make
jewelry.
About Metals
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