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Help with Gemstones

Can someone help me identify these Gemstones on this

Sterling Necklace?  The necklace is not marked but tests

Sterling the stones I believe are rough cut polished and

shaped six sided rough rubies.  Maybe American Indian

made.

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Help with Gemstones

ooops, sorry, misread question.

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“Let’s work the problem, people. Let's not make things worse by guessing.” -Gene Kranz, Mission Control Director (played by Ed Harris), Apollo 13
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Help with Gemstones

You could test them for hardness, but I'm fairly certain that you will find these are so-called "Cherry Quartz" or "Strawberry Quartz" or "Ruby Quartz" (deceptive names, they're actually just colored slag glass with bits of sand, layers of color zoning and other inclusions to imitate real stone) mostly coming from China.

 

They come in a wide variety of colors and moulded shapes, again imitating carved, tumbled, faceted, cabochon and other shapes used for gems. The twisted bead spacers look modern manufactured, too.


My currently listed gem rocks
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Help with Gemstones

Probably dyed quartz or other hard material. Usually Jewelry manufacture out of silver would not have precious gems in it. There are of course exceptions. Some artisans will do this but they will probably be signed pieces. Usually sterling silver is adorned with semi-precious stones. Quartz is often dyed to resemble something more precious like ruby sapphire or emerald. Your piece is beautiful and will garner a higher selling price because its beautiful despite what it is made out of. But being a seller that is responsible for thier listing and wants to be credible. There are some very simple "Low Tech" ways to determine what your material is. The Scratch test is the most common way. If you have some steel hardness 5 (pocket knife), a piece of quartz like a crystal point hardness 6 to 6.5, a piece of tourmaline hardness 7 to 7.5, a piece of topaz hardness 8. You can scratch the stone in question to determine what it is. Like items will scratch eachother. Quartz will scratch quartz etc. If you can't scratch it move up to the next hardness piece. When it finally scratches it, You will have a better idea of what it is. If none work go for ruby hardness 9 and finally diamond hardness 10.

 

Testing in this way you want to be sure to scratch a part that won't detract from the value of your piece. Do it very small in an area that isn't too obvious or can be seen. This method can be applied to many different stones. The hardness of any stone will give you a better idea of what it might be.

TINKERSILVER
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Help with Gemstones

A quick low tech way to test a diamond without any electronic device. Is to get a common white piece of paper and draw a straight line with a pencil on it. Place the diamond face down or table side down on the line. If it is a diamond the line will take the shape of your stone. Square, round or any other shape. If it is some other material it will simply magnify the straight line. It is always suggested however that you use credible scientific testing equipment or purchase a lab report to verify what a stone is whenever possible.

TINKERSILVER
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