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What Is Goldstone?
Goldstone is a man-made colored glass that contains abundant, flat-faced, highly reflective inclusions. The reflective inclusions have a bright metallic luster, and their glittering appearance immediately attracts attention. This exciting appearance has made goldstone a popular man-made gem and sculptural material. It is often cut into cabochons, hearts, beads, spheres, pendulums, arrowheads, and small sculptures. It is a…
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Disclosure at the Time of Sale
Man-made opal simulants can be legitimate products as long as they are not presented to buyers as natural opal. If the name “opal” is used, their man-made origin should be clearly revealed. This can be done with a preceding adjective, such as “imitation opal” or “simulated opal”. Marketing them without disclosure could be considered as…
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Man-Made Opalite
The name “opalite” is used for a wide variety of man-made materials. Many of them would be properly labeled “imitation opal” or “opal simulant” in a retail setting. They do not have the same chemical composition and physical properties as natural opal; instead, they simply look like natural opal. Man-made materials called opalite range from…
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Natural Opalite
The name opalite was defined as common opal in geology and gemology glossaries as early as 1945. This predates the use of the word opalite as a marketing term for an imitation opal. It is defined as a natural common opal that does not show play-of-color. (The first use of the word opalite as a marketing term for man-made materials…
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What is Opalite?
Opalite is a name used in two different ways: 1. As a synonym for common opal (natural opal that does not exhibit play-of-color). 2. As a marketing term used for numerous man-made materials that have an opal-like appearance but are composed of plastic or glass.
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Asterism
Asterism is a type of chatoyancy in which the viewer sees the intersection of multiple cat’s-eyes, or a “star,” rather than a single cat’s-eye. Tightly packed, parallel inclusions that are oriented in two different directions will cause a star with four rays. If there are three sets of inclusions, the viewer will see a star…
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Purchasing Cat’s-Eye Gems
If you like cat’s-eye gems and want to shop for them, they are very easy to find on websites and in stores that specialize in loose gems. The customers who shop at these stores are usually jewelry designers and gemstone collectors. Cat’s-eye gems are rarely seen in the mass-production jewelry typically sold in department stores…
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Diffraction in Cat’s-Eye
Rare chatoyant specimens will have a coarse silk with just the right spacing to serve as a diffraction grating. These specimens will produce not only a cat’s-eye, but also a display of spectral colors caused by light passing through the coarse silk and being diffracted into the colors of the spectrum. More familiar examples of…
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Assessing the Quality of a Cat’s-Eye Gem
The best cat’s-eye gems have an eye that meets the following criteria: it is clearly visible it symmetrically bisects the cabochon it contrasts sharply with the stone’s bodycolor it moves smoothly as the stone is turned If a stone features all of the above criteria and has an exceptional bodycolor, then you have a fantastic cat’s-eye gem. The…
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Cutting the Cat’s-Eye
Anyone who cuts cabochons with the intent of producing a cat’s-eye stone must first find a material with a silk of inclusions that is capable of producing an eye. Then the cutter must examine the rough and orient the stone so that the silk will be parallel to the bottom of the stone within the…