Irradiated stones

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briolette

briolette

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Joined
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191
Location
southfields london
Just wondering are there any particular health risks in wearing jewellery which includes irradiated stones? Also wondered which stones this treatment is most likely to be applied to?
If anyone has knowledge of this i'd be very grateful for some insight!
Thanks in advance. xx
 
briolette said:
Just wondering are there any particular health risks in wearing jewellery which includes irradiated stones? Also wondered which stones this treatment is most likely to be applied to?
If anyone has knowledge of this i'd be very grateful for some insight!
Thanks in advance. xx
Click to expand...

:mysmilie_348: briolette - I once went to a craft fair, and one of the stalls, a bloke was selling all the gem jewellery - and the carved gem eggs etc. He told me that some bits of Turquoise, and Lapis Lazuli are treated this way, to bring out the deeper hues of blue - dont know whether this information is correct or not - xxxx
 
:mysmilie_348: Hi PG, thanks for that, I guess I really don't know anything much about this subject, only that heat treatment is also used to deepen colours. My concerns are about wearing jewellery thats been irradiated as it just doesn't seem safe!!

Its years since I saw things like the carved eggs at a craft fair! Feeling nostalgic now as they used to sell them in the rock shop down in Lyme Regis, along with some fabulous specimens of rocks and gems. xx :mysmilie_687:
 
briolette said:
:mysmilie_348: Hi PG, thanks for that, I guess I really don't know anything much about this subject, only that heat treatment is also used to deepen colours. My concerns are about wearing jewellery thats been irradiated as it just doesn't seem safe!!

Its years since I saw things like the carved eggs at a craft fair! Feeling nostalgic now as they used to sell them in the rock shop down in Lyme Regis, along with some fabulous specimens of rocks and gems. xx :mysmilie_687:
Click to expand...

I like carved gems too - i have a selection of mini carvings, on is a sphinx, and owl and frog (they are all in onyx) and my son has a mini frog in malachite - i have some eggs as well (which I have told my nephew that they are ancient dragon's eggs, and he believes me, bless him - even more so when i told him one day i would sit on them and hatch them, and see what dragons they are! lol)

I was watching a programme the other day (i think it was antiques road show - i cant remember) But i do remember that some ladies brought on a victoria dressing table set, and they were two like vases and a hat pin dish, and the glass was a beautiful greeny glowing colour - and the specialist said that the glass was iradiated - (just like what is used to make the illumious numerals on old clocks and watches) the amount that they use to put it to these items - is so low it comes up as minimal on a geiga counter) The people who were most at risk with this stuff - was the people who used to paint the numerals etc, they had to use such fine paint brushes, that to get a good point on the brush, they used to put the brush in their mouths and draw it tight - and they usually died of illness because they consumed it (it enetered orally) - much the same as people who worked in a match factory, or munitions factory back in the those times (from Victorian until say the late 1930s) I gleamed the bit about the painters of watch dials, from my great uncle, he was a watch and clock mender and cobbler too. So in tiny forms iridate stones and gems are safe - hope that helps - (and thats only what i gleamed from a bloke on a programme and me great uncle, I am not usually that aufait with stuff - so you caught me on a good day - xxxxx
 
If it posed a risk to health it couldn't be sold. The irradiation has to cool off before it can be sold and the amounts of radiation needed are relatively small.

In the US about 5-8 years ago there was a batch of highly nuked London Blue Topaz that registered so high on the scale that had you worn that, you would have been glowing like the Ready Brekk Kid!!! It was pulled from sale and quarantined. The US now has strict guidelines for assessing when irradiated gems are safe to go on sale.

Whilst I don't think the UK has the same guidelines (we're further behind than the US), I'm pretty sure that all reasonable/responsible UK gem sellers would ensure that this process wasn't harmful to customers and they were only selling cooled off gems.

Many many many gems are irradiated. Have a look at the GemsTV website and their enhancement page. Scan down that and you'll see which are and which aren't.

Whilst I don't mind irradiated coloured diamonds, I (personally) won't buy other gems where you can buy them naturally heated instead of irradiated e.g. Tourmaline.

Hope that helps.
 
Hello Meeshoo,
Welcome back, its good to see you posting again! Thanks for the information which is very reassuring. I think it was the blue topaz that i had read about on the internet some while ago, it has always seemed a bit of a minefield, the whole enhancement business.
So glad I won't be glowing in the dark any time soon!
many thanks, xx:mysmilie_687:
 
Hope the UK is safe as Vicki Brown was selling a London Blue topaz this morning 188ct weight thought I was seeing things was going to buy it but realised I couldnt afford the crane to go with it
 
:mysmilie_348: Hi Sacha,

That article was perfect thank you! It was exactly that type of thought that had been bothering me and the explanation was clear and reassuring!
I have to admit though, as much as I love some of my gems, 'cuddling' them hadn't really ever crossed my mind!
Also had to smile at the thought of turning up to my regular NHS appts bearing stones for radiation testing..me thinks I might be swiftly redirected to an altogether different department! :mysmilie_61:
 
:mysmilie_348: Emeralds! The crane..and an osteopath after wearing such a whopper! I love Blue Topaz but wouldn't want a whole swimming pool of it!
Talking of whoppers, on TJC at mo, showing a 24 carat tanzanite. All I can say is wow!
 
briolette said:
:mysmilie_348: Hi Sacha,

That article was perfect thank you! It was exactly that type of thought that had been bothering me and the explanation was clear and reassuring!
I have to admit though, as much as I love some of my gems, 'cuddling' them hadn't really ever crossed my mind!
Also had to smile at the thought of turning up to my regular NHS appts bearing stones for radiation testing..me thinks I might be swiftly redirected to an altogether different department! :mysmilie_61:
Click to expand...

I wonder if the person in the link was using the Smokey Quartz for some holistic therapy as in crystal healing. Done a bit more googling and came up with this link............seems there are some special qualities in this particular gemstone!

http://www.smokyquartzjewelry.com/healing-properties-smoky-quartz.htm
 
briolette said:
:mysmilie_348: Hi PG, thanks for that, I guess I really don't know anything much about this subject, only that heat treatment is also used to deepen colours. My concerns are about wearing jewellery thats been irradiated as it just doesn't seem safe!!

Its years since I saw things like the carved eggs at a craft fair! Feeling nostalgic now as they used to sell them in the rock shop down in Lyme Regis[/B], along with some fabulous specimens of rocks and gems. xx :mysmilie_687:
Click to expand...


Reminds me of the souvenir shops from UK holidays as a kid, especially the ones at the end of a trip down a mine! I kid you not, we would go away as a family including aunties and cousins, nans & Grandads, we would arrive at the accomodation where there would have been purposely left an array of leaflets advertising the local attractions, I could guarantee you there would be a model village and a mine! Someone would always insist we do it and buy either a bit of fools gold or rock in a little plastic container from the shop at the end of the visit! :mysmilie_17:
 
Not a health risk. You get a far higher dose of radiation when having a x-ray taken, when flying or even when sun tanning under that enormous nuclear reactor in the sky (the sun).
 
Thanks again Sacha, another interesting read, of course now I know how beneficial gems such as smoky quartz are for my health and wellbeing, it would be foolish of me to ever stop acquiring them, wouldn't it?!
I have had my eye on those wonderful red rutile quartz earrings at rocks tv at the moment, someone was singing their praises, so maybe..
When I developed an illness last year, Jasper was suggested to me as a stone with particular healing properties, allegedly. The problem was finding some that I found remotely attractive, but I found a sweet green jasper piece and have put it in a bedside drawer! Well, as they say, every little helps! :mysmilie_687:
 
Reddwarf, your post was so nostalgic! I remember a school trip to the Blue John Mines many years ago, the gift shop etc and being fairly unimpressed with the look of the rough!!
Much better was having a go at some goldpanning in the U.S as a child, god that was exciting, and we took away our minute specks of sandy glitter in a little tube!


:mysmilie_696:
 
briolette said:
Thanks again Sacha, another interesting read, of course now I know how beneficial gems such as smoky quartz are for my health and wellbeing, it would be foolish of me to ever stop acquiring them, wouldn't it?!
I have had my eye on those wonderful red rutile quartz earrings at rocks tv at the moment, someone was singing their praises, so maybe..
When I developed an illness last year, Jasper was suggested to me as a stone with particular healing properties, allegedly. The problem was finding some that I found remotely attractive, but I found a sweet green jasper piece and have put it in a bedside drawer! Well, as they say, every little helps! :mysmilie_687:
Click to expand...

Have you seen Dalmation Jasper? I love it. It's got a white body with black spots all over it just like 101 Dalmations!

The other one to look for is Picture Jasper. This is fascinating as the colours in the Jasper form to make a picture, usually a landscape or something and some are just incredible. Be careful though, these can be man-made also so you need to make sure you're getting the real thing!
 
Hi, well i'm loving the sound of picture jasper although i've never heard of it! How fascinating, dalmation sounds really interesting and very trendy! Maybe I will have to visit a gem/rock fair and see whats out there. :mysmilie_687:
 
:mysmilie_348: Ive taken a look, what a great site! I particularly like the sunset jasper and the landscape, Toby's designs are contemporary too which I prefer. Its amazing what is out there, so many thanks for the tip off x
 

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