"Look at the quality of this - look how translucent it is"

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TheManWithNoName

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I see this seems to be Gemporia's latest brainwave for supposedly showing the 'quality' of something.

Lots of shows recently have had presenters showing a translucent, bordering opaque, stone such as an Agate - and then holding a torch behind it, literally no more than 2 or 3 centimetres away, to supposedly show how 'clear' the stone is.

It's complete nonsense. If you hold a torch that close behind a piece of paper or a thinly cut piece of wood, the light will shine through it.

The fact that they need to force light through it with a torch shows just how cloudy the stone really is.

The real problem is this:

People either buy transparent gemstones for clarity - in which case, they'll buy gem quality stones such as garnets or tourmalines - or they buy translucent or opaque stones for their lovely patterns - in which case, they'll buy nice patterned Jaspers or Agates.

What Gemporia have is relatively boring stones like Branca Onyx or Chalcedony that offer neither - they're not clear and sparkly, but they're not translucent or opaque with attractive patterns on either - they're just boring plain translucent stones - so in order to make them look appealing or valuable, they're ramming light through it to make it look more appealing. Slight problem, nobody wears a necklace with daylight shining through their neck or with the sun shining 3 centimetres from their neck. So a boring stone remains a boring stone.

On the subject of boring stones, they were selling 'Watermelon Garnet' last night and hyping it up based on its supposed rarity. All that it was was opaque plain rounds of Garnet that had formed where red and green varieties of Garnet meet together on the rough underground. It's not a specific 'type' of Garnet like they were making out. It's no different to something like Ruby-Zoisite, where Ruby and Zoisite meet together on the rough - or Azurite Malachite - where Azurite and Malachite meet together on the rough.

Hyped up so that they could flog it for £80!
 
The current hype about all things "watermelon" is utter tosh, isn't it? Hattie had a very 1950s style "watermelon" agate bracelet (Brazilian) on the other day. Now, say what you like about agate being a "poor man's jade" but, as you say, there is some lovely carved stuff out there. It's plentiful - especially in the part of the earth's crust we call China - and far more affordable, i.e. not yet subjected to profiteering in the same way as jade. So I was curious. Damn thing was dyed.

On the translucency point, I agree. It's bonkers. Gemporia has a "glassy" necklace for sale (image 1). All fine (although why topaz, when zircon would have set it off even more?), 30g total silver and that colour is quite alluring.

Image 2 is a snap from one of the product videos. Goes to your point I think. Dark room, bright light - oh, look, it's translucent 🤷🏻‍♂️.

£259 listing, probably £149 in an auction. I think that, on both counts of "translucency" and colour, I'd rather spend £80 on a small grandidierite (image 3, not TGGC but reputable seller!).
 

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People either buy transparent gemstones for clarity - in which case, they'll buy gem quality stones such as garnets or tourmalines - or they buy translucent or opaque stones for their lovely patterns - in which case, they'll buy nice patterned Jaspers or Agates.

What Gemporia have is relatively boring stones like Branca Onyx or Chalcedony that offer neither - they're not clear and sparkly, but they're not translucent or opaque with attractive patterns on either - they're just boring plain translucent stones - so in order to make them look appealing or valuable, they're ramming light through it to make it look more appealing. Slight problem, nobody wears a necklace with daylight shining through their neck or with the sun shining 3 centimetres from their neck. So a boring stone remains a boring stone.
Some people love "boring" or cabochon-quality gemstones (if the stones have nice colour).

Chrysoprase, carnelian, low-end amethyst or aquamarine... They can look stunning. :love:
 
Some people love "boring" or cabochon-quality gemstones (if the stones have nice colour).

Chrysoprase, carnelian, low-end amethyst or aquamarine... They can look stunning. :love:

Aquamarine and Amethyst still have character in low-end mineral form though - particularly Amethyst when it has white matrix mixed in with it to form 'Dog Tooth / Chevron Amethyst - plus they are birthstones, so they'll always attract attention.

Carnelian has patterns of red/orange veins - so that's not exactly dull either. Chrysoprase also has characters.

Branca Onyx though is just a plain white translucent stone with little going for it visually.
 
Some people love "boring" or cabochon-quality gemstones (if the stones have nice colour).
Chrysoprase, carnelian, low-end amethyst or aquamarine... They can look stunning. :love:
Love them. Put together a little collection a few years ago. They look great in the sunshine. Rose quartz cabs from Madagascar are top notch. Clear and silky - properly translucent 😀. And I love green prehnite.
 

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Love them. Put together a little collection a few years ago. They look great in the sunshine. Rose quartz cabs from Madagascar are top notch. Clear and silky - properly translucent 😀. And I love green prehnite.
I'm a big fan of Prehnite too. It's such a lovely stone - especially when it has dark green Epidote inclusions in it. Lovely!
 

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