This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 1 in 2017. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
Gemologists have got an advantage though they seem not to realize it. The objects of their investigation often show several planes. This advantage consists in the necessity of managing their work from a variety of angles and perspectives. They have to look from the table, from the pavilion, from the most convenient observation sides to focus on the points they consider as crucial. The gem must be shifted in the refractometer to evaluate the correct index. They must switch from tool to tool changing perspectives in search of additional data confirming or rejecting those they started from. They must prevent their evaluations from being based on prejudices and express their convictions only when the coherence of the investigation recomposes the whole prism.
The many papers I’m working with, scattered on my desk, are not gemstones. They are the contents in progress of the issue you are going (thank you so much for your attention) to browse. While editing I realize that my duty shares the advantage of the gemologists. In fact from the apparently confused and multisided contributions, from the variety of points of view, from the heterogeneity of the subjects, something consistent may emerge like a gemstone comes out as a whole despite earlier and unfinished facets seemed to be chaotic.
So I do hope the picture proves to be as complete as possible. How could we understand what is changing from flat and poor observation plans? And how, if the semantic space of the word “gem” is still disputed, can we define the primary object of our work? Producing techniques of synthetic diamonds are under daily implementation as Thomas Hainschwang shows. We were worried by CVDs in bigger sizes, now we fear them mixed in melee. Blue diffused sapphires looked like old stuff and now we find that synthetic white corundums are undergoing the same treatment spoiling the market in Bangkok. Gübelin introduces nanoparticles supposed to trace back the provenance of rough and polished emeralds. This should reshuffle the cards of the ethical certification game. The magma flaws relentlessly and we are one light year away from last issue and maybe two from next one.
By Paolo Minieri, published on Rivista Italiana di Gemmologia #1, May 2017.
