Faux gems can be a very good option, because they give us an inexpensive way to wear colorful, lush-looking jewelry without the hefty price tag that comes with the real thing. There's no reason to avoid faux gems -- what you do want to avoid is paying too much for misrepresented merchandise.
Materials Used to Make Faux Gemstones
- Today's imitation stones are often made of glass or plastic. A jeweler can easily detect those materials, so have the jewelry inspected if you think you might have purchased a fake.
- A real gemstone can be mounted in a solid-back setting, with foil placed underneath the gem to make it look more brilliant or change its color.
Composite Gemstones
Composite gemstones are made from a small piece of a desirable, genuine stone that's combined with an inexpensive or imitation gemstone. Opal jewelry is often with composites.Doublets are composite stones made with a large, inexpensive chunk of some kind that's topped by a thin slice of a desirable gemstone. The division usually isn't obvious until you look at the piece under magnification.
One type of doublet is assembled by sandwiching a colored bonding agent between two clear, inexpensive stones -- the added hue makes it look like a colored gemstone.
Triplets are composites that are assembled in three parts instead of two.
Creative Gemstone Names Can be a Signal
Descriptive terms are sometimes used before the name of a gemstone, like Oriental emerald (a green sapphire). An American ruby is a garnet. Australian jade is treated quartz. Question the authenticity of any gemstone that's advertised with an extra, descriptive name.More Misleading Gemstone Names
