What are natural gems, treated, synthetic and imitations

What are natural gems, treated, synthetic
and imitations?
These terms come to define the way we have to find a gem; we can buy it loose, we can
have bought it already assembled in a jewel, natural rainbow moonstone can even come
from a long time ago from an old piece; we will always have the certainty that natural
smoky quartz may be any of the possibilities found before. This nomenclature has
always been confusing, sometimes due to ignorance of the seller and others due to
intentional omission; that's why one should keep insisting that the main quality that
should be sought from a jeweler should be trust as there are natural gemstones for sale.
Natural gem: It's clear! Is not it, any natural pink tourmaline without mediating at all
the hand of the man, except in its extraction?
Gem treated: Here the mess begins a little; by definition it is any treatment given to
natural London blue topaz to improve the characteristics of the loose gemstone that
give it beauty, usually color and transparency. However, here comes a nuance that is
what makes mystic topaz more complicated ... there are some treatments allowed and
others not; these differences are "legalized" by the international organisms of gemology
and jewelery. The difference between one and another supposes the "obligation" of the
seller of opals as there are opals for sale. For example, natural blue star sapphire
treated by heating will be allowed and in fact practically all the gems are treated as
origin, however that same sapphire treated by diffusion. It will be considered a gem of
much lower value and the seller must market it as sapphire dissemination and explain the
origin of that name. Of course in the end everything is based on the price of the stone;
and one should not be considered cheated if the price of the gem really corresponds to the
material sold, although ethically the seller must always say it, it should be noted
following the previous example that a sapphire diffusion should cost around 4-5 times
less than a sapphire heated, both come from natural corundums but one of them is
"accepted" and the other is not.
Synthetic gem: It is the lab created emerald with the same chemical characteristics as
the natural blue star sapphire.
Gem of imitation: Here the three previous coexist basically; Imitation stones can be any
stone that by its physical properties can be exchanged with another because it resembles a
gem of a much higher value. The best known example is that of the Zirconia (synthetic
gem) which the most common imitation of the diamond is.
For those who want to know more exhaustively all the possibilities of each definition
there are the treaties of gemology in which you can see virtually all types of gems, their
treatments, their synthesis and which gem can imitate another, it should be noted that as a
science of the nature that is, is in continuous development and research and many new
developments arise every year. I hope that all this information has clarified something,
although it seems a bit "traumatic" the fact that many of the gems that we thought were
not so natural does not mean they have no value or that they have deceived us, as I said
above everything depends on the professionalism of the seller.