Lee's Gems

Nothing Like an Earthquake to Ruin a Shopping Day!

2011-04-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yep, now I know, do not go shopping in an area that was all shook up the night before.

Vendors just do not go to work the day after a catastrophe.

The few we did find told horrific stories. One friend had 17 people that he knew die that night, several while running inside their cement house before it fell on top of them. Very sad.

We live less than an hour from Burma where there was a quake of 6.7. That evening I was sitting in my office chit chatting with our teenage daughter. Both our eyes widened as we scanned the room full of objects shaking and we said in unison "EARTHQUAKE!" then jumped up and headed for the front door. I barked orders for everyone to "get outside, NOW!" With kids scrambling for the door in front of me, I grabbed up two little ones by the armpits and made my way onto the porch with them both screaming in terror of the unknown. The wooden stairs to reach the ground shook violently or else my knees wobbling added to it as we crowded down them to get away from the house. The sounds of objects falling onto the wooden floor of the house was encouraging me to move more swiftly. Normally the house has provided us with comfort and safety but in an earthquake it is only a danger. As we reached the ground we were shouting about the corn field that sits next to the house, our best destination, then the earth stopped shaking. We stopped running and sat down on some benches in the front yard and looked back to the house. It looked fine. We were fine too, just a couple of the kids crying. We decided to just stay outside for awhile and breathe. I opened the front gate and moved the family car outside and parked along the road far from the area that the house would land in were it to fall. We did sleep inside that night, all of us fully clothed and ready to run, but it was very common the next day to hear that many people had slept outside with the mosquitoes for fear of the structure coming down on top of them in their sleep. I did leave all the bedroom doors open and made sure the path to the front door was clear. At 6:30 AM a small tremor made me spring to my feet while still in dream state just in time to realize that it had stopped already.

It had not occurred to me that our planned day of shopping on the border would have been better planned to be a later day. It was a ghost town. No miners brought rough stones in for us to look at, not one. We sat at an empty rented desk apparently just to make conversation with the locals. About 90% of the shops and vendors areas were locked up. Ruby Lane had just one vendor. I did manage to find enough goods to pay for the trip but all in all it was a pathetic shopping excursion.

We are, however, humbled by our own good fortune. It is very easy to be thankful just to be alive and have your family safe in such a situation. Our wooden home suffered no damages but the temple just a kilometer away lost a large piece of cement. Several Thai friends commented about how the houses of times past would be better for these times as they were built from bamboo (very flexible compared to cement) and the roof was straw so it would not hurt even if it fell on you in your sleep.

May you all be well and safe, my friends, best regards, Lee

Stars in Your Eyes?

2011-01-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I am old fashioned but I prefer a Star Ruby or Star Sapphire cabochon over any faceted gem I have ever seen. Old fashioned in the sense that faceted stones are a relatively new style of cutting compared to cabochons that have been the style for thousands of years. The cutting style, however, is not the key to my admiration as the true beauty of the star gem is indeed the phenomenon of light called asterism. A six ray star that glides all around the surface of the dome as one tilts it in the sun. Pure natural magic to my eye.
The more perfect is the star, the more mesmerizing is the effect. Several factors will determine the look.
The play of light is caused by the hexagonal shape of the crystal structure often made of silk-like Rutile inclusions found in corundum. The exception to Rutile silk is Hematite platelets seen in black sapphires from the Thailand/Cambodian border. If the stone is too clear the silk or the platelets will not be enough to make a star so we need the inclusions. When we are fortunate enough to have both Rutile silk and Hematite platelets we will have a double six ray that is naturally aligned to show a 12 ray star with alternating colors in the rays. The Rutile will often show white or light blue rays while the Hematite will often show yellow or even orange rays.
The star will be centered only when the gem cutter correctly orients the axis perfectly so that it is perpendicular to the face. Many stars are thus off center but this is of little concern as long as it is fairly close so one does not have to search hard to find it.
It is best when we can see all six rays. Often an inclusion will block the view of one ray or hair line fractures will distort the star to some extent. Many times the dome of the cab will be flatter than ideal and cause the star to become broader and less than sharp.
The exact dome combined with the necessary clarity and the axis oriented correctly will allow us to see a sharp star with the rays reaching all the way to bottom of the stone.
As in all colored gems, it is the color that dictates the price when all other factors are equal. The color highest in demand for a star is, without a doubt, red. Red corundum is better known as Ruby and a star Ruby of fine character is truly an exciting and rare gem that will command the highest price of all stars. The stronger the red, the better, however, often pink and purple will be secondary colors. Mogok Burma is the very top of origins that such red Star Ruby gems have been found.
The next most favorite color in the world for a star will certainly be blue. There is a great deal more blue than red star Corundum in the world and this we call Blue Star Sapphire. The finest blues come from two places, Sri Lanka and Mogok Burma. Sri Lanka is famous for its Ceylon blue while both locations have produced what is referred to as 'cornflower blue', the top blue in Corundum.
The most common colors found in natural star Sapphires are black and gray. It is far easier to find a fine quality stone in these two colors than any other. A few star gems are naturally purple, pink, green, yellow, orange, brown or white as well as a mix of shades and tones. Often the purples and pinks are also called Ruby like the red with Purple Ruby being called a masculine ruby and a Pink Ruby being referred to as a feminine Ruby. Usually these two colors are called Sapphires in America.
Today many star Ruby and Sapphire are heated to clear some excess inclusions which can sharpen the star. Borax flux is usually added to the recipe in order to heal some cracks. Too high of heat will eliminate the star and this practice is common when the dealer has a higher demand for faceted gems than he does for stars. Often a star needs no heat and is thus left completely untreated. On the other hand we have repaired stars that have been heated with leaded glass, a less desirable product, however still very beautiful in the short run. I wrote earlier in this blog about the leaded glass treatment done to stars, please refer to it for more tips and information of treatments.
A star can be lab created even in a natural stone. It is diffused into the surface of the polished cabochon and could be polished off in a re-cut. These diffused stars are usually easy to spot as they show in most any light and usually have wavy or crooked rays. These lab created stars are also seen in synthetic corundum, the most famous being called a Linde Star, a trademarked name. Production of these synthetics was stopped by the Union Carbide Company in the 70's when the Asians made so many synthetic sapphires with diffused stars available so cheaply that it was no longer worth it to make them with American labor. Today they are still produced in Asian countries as the demand for low cost Star Sapphire and Star Ruby is still strong. Medium grade Star Sapphires and Star Rubies are in constant demand as they are very affordable and have so much flashy character for the money.
Star Sapphires and Star Rubies of all grades have enjoyed a surge in demand as they are often more intriguing to look at than the more common gemstones. I could not begin to count the number of request I have had over the years for blue star Sapphires.
The demand for high grade natural star gems is even stronger these days than it was in the past as these rare gems have become even more rare as supplies have dwindled. My wife is a huge fan of Star Ruby thus I am always on the lookout for prized red star corundum. I acquired a stunning example recently, mounted in a gold ring, and was so impressed with it that I wanted confirmation from a laboratory that it was genuine and not diffused. I took it to AGIS laboratory in Bangkok, an organization that is famous for being reliable and is better priced than the most famous, GIA. Normally on a visit to a lab one only gets to talk with an office clerk that sits behind a security window, however, when I went in to pick up my report on this particular Star Ruby a gemologist came out of the back to shake my hand and talk to me. He was excited about the stone and proceeded to explain to me that three gemologist had studied it and they all concluded that this was a natural star with no evidence of treatment found. In his words, this was "the nice one". I decided to put this one away for awhile.
Stars will always hold a special place in my heart whether they are in gemstones or in the night sky. Fond memories of coming home from work late at night then laying on the mowed grass of my Ohio home with my young sons at my sides all gazing up at the bright star-filled black sky, dreaming together and being ever so thankful for natures wonders and the love of family. Somehow stars and their brilliance seem to hold this magical feeling that gives us hopes and visions of a bright and shining future. Wear yours in good health!

Rare Faceted Ruby

2011-01-01T00:28:00.000-08:00

Have you ever shopped for the best faceted ruby money could buy in Bangkok Thailand? Well, maybe not the very best but let's say a pigeon blood red, unheated, eye clean and over 5 carats. Sounded impossible to me.
Ruby is a category 3 gemstone which means they are almost always included and that has little effect on value. We expect rubies to be included. The only eye clean ruby I had ever seen were very small sizes and leaded glass filled rubies. Normally ruby is heated to help clear away some inclusions. Unheated and eye clean are generally never used in the same sentence to describe any ruby over a carat.
Though I do sell mostly ruby and sapphire, I previously never had any reason to bother asking what the very high end goods cost or even what was available. This last week I got a call to meet with an associate in order to find the answer.
After raising a lot of eye brows and listening to quite a bit of stammering ruby dealers, I did locate a stone that I doubted would be for sale that filled the bill. Over 6 carats, pigeon blood red, eye clean, unheated, untreated, from none other than Mogok Burma. The cut was good but I was surprised to see that the symmetry could have been improved with very little weight loss. Had to smile but refrained from shaking my head.
What does such a gem cost? Well, since I was not the actual buyer I am not in a good position to say but I will say that one can buy a nice home in many parts of the world with the price of just one carat of this six carat stone. I could not be sure if it was any influence of the price tag or simply the stunning beauty of this stone that made my heart beat so strongly. It compared to once while I was hunting and had hidden myself inside of a pine tree then had a huge 12 point buck white tail deer come within six feet of me and snort while looking right at me. I didn't move a bit but my heart pounded so strongly that I thought he would hear it. While looking at that ruby I also had to wonder if anybody there could hear my heart pounding as I certainly could. It would be interesting to make such a stone into a ring so that one could look at it whenever things got a little too quiet.

2010-09-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

What color of gold should you use??
As far as nature is concerned there is only one answer, gold colored. There is no such thing as white gold or rose gold in nature, it is all the same color, gold.
Today there is an extremely high demand for 'white gold'. Many people believe this is a natural option. The true demand for this white color comes from two other metals, platinum and silver. The cost of silver is very low but it will need cleaning as it will tarnish over time. Platinum will not tarnish but cost even more than gold.
White gold was created to be able to sell people a white metal that does not tarnish at a lower price than Platinum. A keen marketing idea as people would pay the same or even more for it than traditional gold while the cost of this new alloy was far lower than normal gold alloys thus boosting profits. This keen idea came with a number of problems, however. To become white, this gold was alloyed with a large amount of a base metal, nickel. People are allergic to base metal against their skin. To further complicate matters, the white color from a nickel gold alloy is not pretty as it is more accurately described as gray gold, a marketing plan doomed to failure. So the keen marketing idea of 'white gold' had two problems to overcome, people were allergic to it and it was ugly. They needed to somehow sugar coat this monster in order to sell it thus they came up with the idea that it would be plated with Rhodium, one of the members of the Platinum family.
Rhodium is an extremely expensive metal, far higher than plain platinum but plating uses only a tiny amount so the cost is negligible. It is a very strong metal and is also very chemically resistant. A thin plating of Rhodium over the unappealing white gold makes it look gorgeous thus many people then selected 'white gold' as the color of choice in their gold jewelry. A considerable amount of market trickery was employed and jewelers got richer. It is still going on today.
Ironically, the same Rhodium plating over silver keeps silver from tarnishing and looks and wears exactly like the finished nickel white gold jewelry and at a small fraction of the cost, PLUS the silver is much less likely to create an allergic reaction as the nickel white gold is likely to once the plating wears off AND the silver looks whiter and prettier than the nickel white gold after the plating wears off. Hmmmmm.
Plating always wears off, regardless of what it is, so any plated jewelry needs to be returned to the jeweler periodically for a new 'dip'. Often they will do this for 'free' or just a small cost. Many times customers will make a new purchase with this new visit to the store so this is a win-win situation for the jeweler as it requires little skill to plate something once you are set up to do it.
In European countries where more people had a problem with the allergic reaction to the nickel gold a new white gold was created, palladium white gold. Palladium is a precious metal, unlike nickel which is a base metal so this is a step in the right direction, it would seem. The cost is much higher than nickel white and is even much higher than traditional gold alloys but there is much less allergic reactions with palladium compared to nickel, however, the old problem remains that the color is just too gray. The finished project has little eye appeal as it is not as white as even the inexpensive silver thus the same solution is again employed, rhodium dip.
Can you see the difference in plated jewelry versus non-plated by your eye? Most people can spot it very easily. All our lives we have seen cheap costume jewelry plated with gold, silver and rhodium and many people automatically think 'cheap' when they see that plated look. Nothing can look so elegant as a high polished piece of precious metal, plating can never hope to duplicate that solid dazzling shine. Plating cannot be polished as it will simply wear off so once it is plated it is 'done'.
Now what about rose gold, also called pink gold or red gold? This is simply a gold alloy with a lot more copper and less silver. Copper is the lower grade of the metals used in traditional alloys. When it is increased it will have a redder color but will also give more people an allergic reaction and may tarnish a little as well. It is very pretty all by itself, however, so it requires no plating.
Ever hear of green gold? It is more of a light yellow as it contains only two metals, gold and silver. In 18k it is great to work with as a smith and a purist but the paler color is not popular.
The color of gold most people are used to seeing in the USA is really 58.5% gold with the remainder split between silver and copper. This is 14k yellow gold. The color is improved by adding more copper and less silver but this also makes it more brittle, more likely to tarnish and difficult to work with so in general the remaining 41.5% is split evenly with silver and copper producing a rather washed out gold color.
People are generally pleasantly surprised to see traditional 18k gold alloys as the color is more golden than the 14k they are used to seeing. Traditional 18k is 75% gold with the remaining 25% being half silver and half copper.
My gold smithing instructor makes jewelry for Thai people and generally uses almost pure gold such as 23k which contains over 90% gold and a small amount of silver. It is a very rich golden color and is often thought of as too soft by American standards but almost all Thais wear it and most Thais wear their gold everyday. There is virtually no demand for white gold here as these people believe that the more gold color their gold is, the better. They do not wear 14k and very little 18k. They could never accept the idea of mixing cheap copper into any of their gold. Some prefer silver, however, and some Rhodium plate their silver.
Perhaps I have thrown a tiny wet blanket over the current white gold craze by writing this but in the jewelry business I believe that full disclosure, whether it be about gemstone treatments or metal treatments is simple honesty. I believe many people have been misled about their gold and that is disturbing. Educated customers are happy customers that come back to buy more because they know what they are getting and are making an educated choice.
Wear your jewelry in good health, Lee

2010-03-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

How would you chose your jewelry to be made? Most people have no idea that they do have a choice let alone what the choices might be. The reason is absolutely not that people are stupid, they certainly are very intelligent. So intelligent that the ones making jewelry with high production/short cut methods are busy educating people that their methods are great and we need to look no further. Very little information has ever been made popular about what methods are the best because there is little profit in it. Big profits are in high production, not in using tools like hammers, saws and files.
Here is where I don't fit in with the crowd, I do not want to be filthy rich, ever. If you gave me a mega millions lottery ticket that could put millions in my hands my heart would run cold and I would run from such a burdensome responsibility.
I like what I can understand and what I know works the best. Unless I am walking, I have no interest in short cuts. Fire melts metals, hammers flatten and shape metal, saws and files do their obvious task. In the end I have a piece of jewelry that will be strong and true to the owners for generations. This makes sense to me. So here you can see how I spend my time. I have a huge supply of silver and gold coins and bars because, quite frankly, I have always thought banks were not to be trusted much. I do not borrow nor do I loan, thus I have saved over the years. The good thing is that banks can still be trusted and my coins make good jewelry after all.
When you look through my pictures here you will see how I get your piece of Sterling Silver jewelry started. The formation of an ingot is the step prior to when the hammer starts to swing.

2010-01-14T00:03:00.000-08:00

Ruby and Glass Castings! Not Ruby carvings!
These are on the market now, the price should reflect the low quality. A loupe can detect the casting seams and have you ever seen more bubbles in a so-called 'ruby'??

2009-11-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Being an American living in Thailand certainly has made life interesting. The ever changing gem world virtually revolves around this magical land. I love shopping the wide variety of gem markets here for the fun, adventure and great bargains. Traveling is a great way to learn and when it comes to gemstones and jewelry there is likely no better place to absorb information naturally than here.

All the best things in life are better when shared with another. I have such great fun when someone comes to visit with me here. Several friends that I have met thru gemology forums and thru my business of selling gems and jewelry have come here to share the adventure. I get a kick out of playing the tour guide and traveling companion, so much that I now am inviting anyone interested in gemstones and jewelry to come and be a part of it with me. I vow to keep our expenses low and any fee that I need to charge to be humble.
I have outlined several packages below so you can get an idea of what we can do together, however, there is no standard routine, it is all up to what we decide upon together. The options are more than I can type as well so the outline of packages is simply for information and ideas.

First and foremost, I am a husband to a beautiful Thai lady and a Daddy to six great children. We all speak at least American English and the Thai language. We live in a remote and rural village in the mountains of Chiang Rai. Everyone here knows us and is always delighted to see our visitors. Expect to be the center of attention at times. These folks are very playful and soon you will understand why this country is fondly nicknamed LOS, the Land Of Smiles.

I am also a metalsmith, I make modern jewelry by ancient techniques in Sterling Silver and 18k yellow gold. I do not consider myself to be a master in these arts but I am happy to show you what I have learned. My instructor is Thai and he is indeed a master so I am very grateful to have sat with him. Initial demonsrations are free, of course, and lessons are $10 per hour while I supply the materials.

In addition to making jewelry I am also a gemologist. Understanding gemstones is a very important feature of this business. Naturally I am willing to share identification techniques and offer guidance in the selection of gems in the markets, no additional charge.

Here are some locations and options. All charges include transportation to and from, lodging where applicable and a little something for me. Food, shopping and massage are separate, of course.

A.) The northern most point of Thailand, the Burmese/Thailand border town of Mae Sai is a 50 minute drive from my house. I prefer to drive my own car to get there but we could also take a couple of buses or rent a driver with a pick up. There we will find a wide variety of gemstones primarily from Burma. Synthetics are rampant so it is buyer beware. Tons, and I do mean tons, of jade in the form of cabochons, bangles, carvings and rough stone will be everywhere. The hard to find gem Maw Sit Sit will be there in quanity. Plenty of Spinel and Mong Shu Ruby. The rough stone market will offer unpredictable bargains. Hundreds of stone cutters and carvers live there as well as many metal smiths. I have been shopping this market and visiting this town for over ten years and am always happy to see my regular vendors and friends there.

Option #1.) We leave early in the morning so we arrive in time to get there by 9AM or so. Thais believe that the morning sales are lucky so they will slash prices, even below cost, to sell us something early. By their belief this lucky sale will help them sell all day long. You tell me what you want to see and that will determine the days activities. We can stay until the shops close if we have the endurance, foot massage is available in the street market at dusk. At the end of the day we can return to Chiang Rai.
Cost for the day trip is $70 for the first person and $10 for an additional person. For another $60 we can spend the night in a hotel and continue our fun there the whole next day.

Option #2.) We arrive there in the late afternoon and check into a hotel. There will be a little time for late shopping then when morning comes we will be fresh and ready to start hunting for lucky morning sales. Cost for the day and a half trip is $105. At the end of the day we can return to Chiang Rai.

B.) A trip to the stars, the Burmese/Thailand border town of Mae Sot is a 3 day minimum trip and I prefer to make it a four day adventure. We leave early morning and travel by taxi, bus and van, arriving in the small town by early evening and check into a hotel. The next day we will see a wide variety of shops selling gems and stones, especially Burmese Star Sapphires and Rubies. Lots of Maw Sit Sit carvings and quite a bit of jade will be there. Rare Trapiche Sapphires will be there as well as faceted stones including Mogok ruby, and rare specimens. There are large shops full of glass cases and then some shops are so quaint that there are no display counters, vendors goods are spread out on the floor which is where we will sit to look and buy. While anywhere in the gem market area, vendors on foot will approach us, often with a single stone for sale. If one is not careful the street vendors will surround them and walking away will become a difficult option. We should stay together and I will be in charge of crowd control. Often the second day is when the best buys are made if we restrain ourselves a little the first day. When they see us again the price we had offered and they had refused the previuos day is then generally accepted. I have also been shopping this market for many years and am well known there as well. For those especially interested in seeing the culture of these earthy folks I can arrange a visit to one of their homes. This four day trip will cost $280 for the first person and $70 for an additional person. Another option that I have not yet calculated would be to drive there in my car or a rental. It would be about the same amount of time but more freedom and more expense as well.

C.) Faceted gemstones and so much more, the world famous location of Chanthaburi. Said to be the heart of the worlds gem trade, this richest area of Thailand is loaded with options. The primary item for sale will be faceted gems. Treatments abound but you will see few synthetics. Not the place to buy Jade or Burmese stars.

Option #1.) Plan to spend at least four days on this trip. Once we arrive here in the afternoon from an overnite journey, we will check in to a hotel and then stroll the market. Shops are everywhere, gem dealers and stone cutters are more popular here than virtually anywhere in the world. The second and third day we will let them come to us as we sit at a desk in an air conditioned room. The gems will be carried to us for our inspection by employees of large dealers. We can work at our own pace and will likely eat our lunch at the same desk since it will seem that there is no way we can walk away from this stream of gemstones. We can take time out of these two days to visit the homes of stone cutters and gem treaters that I know. We can also shop for gem tools and equipment and we can visit the rough stone market for unusual finds from all over the world. Total cost for this trip is $320 and $70 for an additional person.

Option #2.) After a few days of this I would recommend we hit the beach! Not far away we will find a gorgeous beach known primarily only to Thai people. Expect attention. Spend the night. About $90 for this diversion.

D.) Bangkok! Much too many options to type out for this 12 million population city. We can discuss this one in person.

I could go on and on but these outlined give you the idea. I also want to stress that any of you are welcome to come here and have lunch with me and my family anytime! We will parade you around the village and I will take you out for a cold drink on a hot day. You get this far and you have earned it! There are lots of things to see that are not gem or jewelry related too. Let me know what you like and I will take it from there. Happy trails, Lee

Precious gems versus semi-precious gems, the clear difference.

2009-04-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

This top picture shows the girls at 3 weeks. I am pleased they are not identical as I can tell them apart easily by the hair. Aumpika's hair is a little bit lighter color, slightly red and is finer compared to Alishia's thick black hair. Aumpika on the right, Alishia on the left in this picture. Plus Aumpika's face is rounder and she is darker skinned. Alishia has a more oval face and very light skin. I have cancelled my plan of having their names tattooed onto their foreheads.
First day back home.

All three girls have what they want.
10 hours before delivery, somehow we knew it was our last chance to take this picture.

I am absolutely the luckiest guy I know and I am serious. My sweetheart of a wife had previously went out of her way to give me three great sons and a wonderful daughter. Since I waited until the age that most guys are already grandfathers before I decided to get married, the four children gave me tremendous satisfaction.
Even though I never voiced it but after three boys in a row, I secretly wanted another daughter, actually I really wanted a pair of twins, and most deeply but certainly never spoken, I wanted a pair of twin daughters.
My mother was the first love of my life and she was a twin daughter. How I admired my grandfather for raising those two daughters of his on his farm in rural Ohio, a beautiful life's journey.
Out of the blue on a bright autumn day while I was rushing to get ready to go to town my wife stopped me in the driveway of our farm in Ohio and began to whisper magic to me....another baby was coming. Tears of joy came quickly and I had to straighten up even more quickly before the boys noticed their daddy crying.
We readied ourselves for a trip back to Thailand as all of our children have been born there. The rural village we live in is full of family members and they have always made us feel very comfortable with each child. When May and I went in for her first check up with the doctor I asked only one question, 'did she think it may be twins?' and the doctor said no, it was just one baby and we could do ultrasound if we wanted to explore further. I have heard ultrasound is disturbing to babies so I let the idea go.
At eight months and May being almost the same size as our house, I asked again. This time the doctor found two heartbeats, one on each side and what felt like two heads, both pointing down. May and I both broke into tears as this was the happiest news there could have been for us.
That night we watched a movie and it happened to have a pair of Siamese twin girls in it, joined at the hip. I became a bit nervous but I just laughed with the boys and agreed with them that those twins were very beautiful.
Within another couple of days, and we told no one of our new secret, May's water broke in the middle of the night from one baby kicking around. Unlike when the previous baby broke her water and she insisted we first run errands, shop and then take a leisurely buffet lunch before taking our sweet ole time getting to the hospital, she said that we had to go NOW and I had to drive FAST. The roads were empty so we flew the 10 miles into town and they rushed her to delivery.
Within the hour the first daughter was born, I was relieved to see she was not physically joined to her twin and her appearance was that of a perfect baby. Only 10-15 more nervous minutes later and her twin sister appeared and she was also absolutely gorgeous. Within an hour and a half after we arrived at the hospital, I was holding an exhausted woman over the age of 40 that had completed the entire delivery of twins AND pushing out the afterbirth on her own power with no drugs and virtually no help from anyone. The doctor and nurses were in awe and requested to be informed of the exact yoga program that she had practiced daily during pregnancy. I am so proud of her.
The girls each have beautiful dark hair and perfect facial features, long elegant fingers and long legs. Both have good weight for twins, over two kilos each, nearly 10 pounds together, and were both fully developed so they did not need to stay in an incubator like many twins. We left the hospital with the doctors blessings after each girl passed all the test and showed that they could each make a dent in the huge supply of mother's milk that had come in like clockwork once they started nursing.
All of the family, seemingly all of the whole village here in Thailand, is so excited about this amazing new addition to our family. We are so very thankful and Leo's expression in the first picture sums up my feelings exactly.
It is my ultimate pleasure to introduce to you, the two newest of my precious gems collection, Alishia Maylee Little and Aumpika Wakanda Little. Warm regards, Lee

Can Star Rubies be Heated?

2009-04-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

While on the subject of rubies it seems fitting to talk about a type of ruby that we all thought was impossible only a handful of years ago....a heated star ruby with leaded glass filling in the cracks. Impossible because we believed that heat melts the very silk inclusions that cause the star, thus heating would make the star disappear. Many star sapphires and rubies are heated to clarify them of silk and remove the star then they are faceted simply because faceted rubies and sapphires were often more easy to sell than star cabochons. These days the trend is turning due to the rising demand of phenomenal gemstones.
With this information on heat melting silk away, I had always stated that my star stones were unheated. In reality that was probably actually correct but I did not know that it was even possible to be incorrect. The proof of no heat was the star, I thought.
One day while in the star gem market I ran into a vendor that had no booth but was new to the market and was simply walking around showing his box of star rubies to other vendors and some were buying. I was offered to examine them and was surprised to find no fractures in these reddish purple ruby/sapphires with nice bright, obviously natural stars. Normally speaking, star sapphires will show fractures, a few or a great many, when viewed with a loupe. Only the very expensive ones will have no fractures. These were all clear and clean.
Another odd thing was that there were often more dark inclusions on the top of the stone than on the bottom, as if the cutter had chosen the wrong side to be the table.
In natural star corundum (ruby or sapphire) the star goes all the way through the crystal so if the bottom is polished it will also show a star. This means the cutter can choose which direction is more beautiful to be the face. So why did these have worse looking faces than bottoms?
Low temperature heat with leaded glass. In all heating, lighter elements rise to the top, the black spots were lighter than ruby. These gems had been heated after they were cabbed/cut, thus the dark inclusions on the top. All the cracks and fissures were now filled with leaded glass giving the gems a near perfect appearance and more translucence. The star was still there as adequate silk remained behind at these low temperatures.
These repaired star rubies have now saturated the market. Careful examination must be made to know which you have. Sometimes you can spot a bubble in the glass with your 10x loupe and sometimes you can see the 'rivers of glass' on the surface like I described in the previous story about the leaded glass filled faceted rubies. Any time you cannot see any cracks you must be sure to examine very carefully. If there is a large sum of money on the line you should use a microscope or a high tech lab.
One vendor tried to trick me with an African Star Ruby that had been enhanced with leaded glass and happened to have the same basic color of a Burmese Mogok Star Ruby. Her price was in order, a bit low for such a beauty if indeed a Mogok but the 10x loupe quickly located an obvious bubble. When I handed it back and said 'pow mai', which means 'new heat treatment', she had trouble letting go of her dream of getting big money so easily and insisted I was mistaken and tried to put it back in my hand. I asked her if she was giving it to me as a gift and she quickly snatched it back and smiled. Saving it for another less suspecting buyer, no doubt.

Leaded Glass Filled Ruby

2009-03-28T04:23:00.000-07:00

A good number of years ago I walked unsuspectingly into the gem market area of Chanthaburi Thailand and saw people with piles and piles of large rubies everywhere. What were these new and plentiful gems? Many had little color for ruby and had a ghostly appearance I had never seen in a gem before. Others were top color and the prices were huge when it seemed they had just swept up after a storm of them. I did not buy any as they were far too suspect but I did meet up with a gemologist friend later that had also just witnessed the same curiosity. "Leaded glass filled" he said, "and not the kind of glass we see in flux healed rubies either"
As it turns out there were tons of ruby material in Africa that had so many fissures and cracks in it that it was basically worthless. The experienced gem treaters of Chanthaburi Thailand figured out that they could heat the severely cracked ruby with leaded glass and it was basically undetectable with gemological instruments such as refractometers, spectrometers, specific gravity readings and more. It created a somewhat marketable material especially until consumers get fed up with it and the price falls below where it is worth treating, which is a likely future event. But for now and for a good number of years yet to come, you will see beautiful glass filled rubies in places where they should not be such as in fine jewelry stores with no disclosure as to the exact nature of the enhancement. Others will and have already made it into a jewelers pickle which renders them back to a very ugly condition as the acid eats the glass.
How can we proctect ourselves from buying these short-lived beauties when we think we are buying quality rubies that will last many lifetimes? For starters, a 10x loupe can help a great deal. Often there will be bubbles in glass and that will be a huge red flag about this treatment. Not all will show bubbles with a loupe so it is not conclusive proof for no treatment, of course. Another tell tale observation with the loupe will be blue flashes. Turn the stone while looking at it with your loupe. Some leaded glass filled will show this color, natural untreated will not. One final characteristic will be slight variations in the sheen of the table, sort of like tiny wavy lines of a slightly different degree of reflection, rivers of glass. Beyond that you will need a microscope, a friend with a microscope, or a lab you can trust. The treaters know how we detect these frauds and are working to eliminate the bubbles and the blue flashes and the rivers of glass in order to create a more 'marketable' product. Buyer beware.

Flux and More Flux

2009-03-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I had the flux healed ruby information under my belt I was wandering around a gemstone market and saw a very lovely ruby in a case. It was about 3 carat and a very glowing red. I asked to see it and the lady brought it out and I immediately put my 10x loupe to it. I was stunned. Inside this very red stone was very translucent clarity and well defined flux like patterns. There also appeared to be a few comforting black spots. I say comforting because we all know synthetics will be perfectly clean, no black spots and no flux fingerprints, right?
Well, I asked her calmly what the price was and she looked me straight in the eye and with a twinkle told me $500 USD. Holy cow, over a hundred a carat in this location. If this was the real McCoy it was worth way more than that but $500 is a ton of money here soooo....
I told her the price was a little high but did she have any more. Her eyes lit up again and she removed a piece of parcel paper from inside to case and unfolded it. Inside were about 100 pieces, all absolutely gorgeous. Some quick math and a quick glance at the old rubber slippers she was wearing told me I had some room to negotiate. When she wouldn't accept my much lower offer I noticed another vendor, 2 booths down getting very anxious to catch my eye. I politely made my departure for the next lady and was intercepted by a man that insisted on a word in private. He told me I was about to be scammed and he could show me where to buy the rubies that I really wanted. Off we went on foot to a small jewelry shop. Much higher scale, well dressed employees and a clean shop. He explained in Burmese what I wanted and out came the rubies. The exact same look but with an even higher price. They even demonstrated with some 'test' to prove that theirs was real and how those others must be some kind of plastic or something. Suddenly I noticed the clock and exclaimed in a lie that I was to meet my girlfriend in 5 minutes and had to run. Run I did, circling back to the ladies with the rubies.
I found the second one that had been trying to lure me over. She had the same merchandise and accepted an even lower offer than the first lady had refused. Now I had about 300 carats of something. The original lady made her way over to watch the transaction and said she would now accept my original offer. Of course I said that the offer was now lower, a little lower than what I had just paid, in fact. She accepted it with a smile after a little pleading and now I had well over 500 carats of something I knew was interesting.
I needed a second opinion or more so I took some to my local lapidary club. The president was baffled and took one to show an 'expert' he would see next month. Several months passed and she was still checking on it. I didn't want to wait longer but wanted to sell them. I had a regular route where I set up a booth in various markets so I labeled them as synthetic and put them out there. Every gem lover always noticed them and had me pull them out. I enjoyed watching them as they noticed the inclusions. Several experts took me under their wing and told me that these were not synthetics and my price of $25 a carat was ridiculously low. I insisted that I was OK with that price and they were then delighted to relieve me of some. I traveled around to various jewelers and had many adventures with them trying to figure these things out. Definitely ruby but I was seeing inclusions in the microscope that I still have not seen again to this day. After several more months and half of them sold, one jeweler knew of a lab I could mail them to. He had to know as he wanted to buy all the rest if they checked out as natural as he thought they must be.
Into the scene steps Bear Williams of Stone Group Labs. After receiving the package, Bear called me and wanted to know where I had gotten these as they were highly unusual. The surprising diagnostic was a flame fusion ruby that perhaps had been heated then cooled quickly causing it to crack, perhaps then it had been reheated with Borax flux to heal the cracks. This type of ruby had not yet been documented as far as he knew. A little more than a year later there was an alert from a major gem lab that this type of stone had been observed. Now, quite a number of years later, many experts are still selling these as naturals at well over $100 per carat. I now sell them for $5 a carat retail in my eBay store. They do make an excellent study stone, are very cool just to look at and show and also make a very stunning piece of jewelry.

Flux Healed Hmong Shu Ruby

2009-03-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Pictured above is a flux healed ruby crystal from Mong Shu Burma, cabochon grade. Notice the 'candy coating' of melted Borax.

When I first started looking into gemology and the gemstone industry I couldn't help but notice the topic of Flux Treated Rubies. It was being treated as a new topic however, it may have been going on for several years by then.
What does this term, flux treated, mean? First off, flux is an additive used to help melt a substance at a lower temp than it would without it. We use flux when we solder plumbing pipes or weld steel. In silver and goldsmithing I use flux to help melt my alloys as well as to solder my pieces. The flux I use is simple Borax, not surprisingly, the flux used to treat rubies is often the same.
Coincidentally I built a home 45 minutes from the border of Burma where the rough Ruby material used in flux heated rubies was entering Thailand. The rough was from an area called Mong Shu. It was bluish/purple and badly cracked. Most of it had been unsellable thus far.
Borax had been found to reduce the thermal shock of heating stones, in other words, if you would sprinkle some of this white powder onto your rough stones before you heated them you would have less broken and cracked stones. This knowledge lead to a miraculous discovery. When you added Borax to your severely fractured Mong Shu rough and heated it to near melting point, your rough was no longer fractured!! Plus the blue/purple color had change to a beautiful ruby red!!
Now this was huge, not only because Mong Shu had lots of this rough but because little fine ruby had been found anywhere for a long time. Ruby with great color and no feathers/cracks was very rare.
How did it have no cracks? The flux melted, like it always does, and ran down into the cracks. Here it caused the ruby material on each side of the crack to melt and stick together, very similar to welding/soldering. Now the cracks were 'healed' turning a material from being fragile to being even more durable than a common ruby as they often have some feathers/weak points.
So then the labs had to come up with terms for this in their reports and in my opinion did a poor job of communicating. Some like to call this ruby that melted and welded together, 'synthetic ruby'. That may be scientifically accurate but is misleading to most people as it sounds like a man made ruby was added when it was not. Any natural ruby that has melted can be defined as a synthetic ruby. Others said there was a 'glass filling in the cracks' which is also misleading in my opinion as most of us would understand that to mean the cracks were still there but were now filled with the same thing we make windows out of. Later somebody said 'flux healed' and that seems much more easy to understand.
For years dealers complained about the process as it was certainly more than simple heat treatment but they could not stop the industry from accepting it. The truth was, they were beautiful, durable and still rare. Those are the three things that make a gemstone a 'gem'.
Now I see that the worlds most sought after Ruby rough, Burmese Mogok, is also heated with Borax. The price only seems to be affected at the very top end nowadays. One dealer friend here in Thailand was trying to buy a 2.5 carat ruby from another for $15,000 US dollars but the owner said he was giong to hold out for $25,000. I asked whether or not it was unheated Mogok, the answer was no, flux healed Mong Shu.

It's good to be back home again

2009-02-26T06:51:00.000-08:00

After a 9 day journey out of the country and away from my family and my home, hey, it's good to be back home again!
I actually have two homes, one is a farm in the great state of Ohio and the other is in a remote mountain village in the exotic kingdom of Thailand. It all started when I ate a vegetarian meal in a small quiet restaurant around the corner from the temple in Thailand. There I met a lady that changed my life, I quickly married her and we started making babies. I came from a great family but she had a better family than I had ever witnessed, even better than the Waltons. No way I could drag her away to Ohio and leave her there, we had to have two homes. I seriously considered selling the farm in Ohio that I had always planned on never selling but in the interest of our children she would not consider it.
So that put me here in Thailand starting a family and building a new house without a job. I had to make visa runs, leave the country for a moment only to step back in and be granted a new length of stay. It was during these visa runs that I noticed gemstones for the first time. The first time because mainly I was a farmer and a construction worker, I never had considered jewelry for any reason though I had stockpiled silver and gold for years due to not trusting the economy and bank. Now jewelry and gemstones is my livelihood. I am now a Registered Gemologist, a silver and goldsmith, a Power Seller on eBay and a beginning seller on Etsy. The silver and gold is being hand hammered one piece at a time into custom made pieces of fine jewelry.