FEATURE ARTICLE ENHANCED LAPIDARY MATERIALS FANCY COMPRESSED BLOCKS: THE LATEST TREND Helen Serras-Herman FGA We all love using natural untreated gem materials for our lapidary projects and jewelry artwork. We like the organic feel, the symphony of colors, the diversity of textures, the quality and the uniqueness, grateful to Mother Nature for creating all these beautiful rarities. esides the fact that some of the all-natural materials have become very limited or completely unobtainable Bfrom the mine sources, while others are getting harder to find uncut on the market or their prices have risen dramat - ically as is the case with turquoise, sugilite, gaspeite and ocean jasper, a new trend in lapidary materials has entered the market: natural enhanced lapidary materials . The traditional way of enhancing gemstones has been by dying or resin-stabilization in order to simulate a more ex - pensive and rare version of the same material, or to make soft and fragile materials harder so that they can survive the lapidary processes of cutting and polishing. Today, many of the natural gem materials have been color enhanced to look like some other natural material, and the results are “simulants” or “look-a-likes.” Although they are imitating another material, they are not “imitations” as are glass and FIGURE 1. Blocks by Colbaugh Processing. plastics, because they are of natural origin. Another en - hancement that we have seen in recent years in drusy gemstones, besides dying, has been coating with metals, sequently for less final cost, except for the desired thickness such as gold, platinum or titanium. and pattern. The slab is then easily shaped into geometric or free-form cabochons. But the most recent breed of enhanced lapidary materials comes in the form of fancy compressed blocks, comprised There are two main problems surrounding these stones. One of natural gemstone ingredients, metals, shells and resins, is the lack of disclosure. Although the original wholesaler some in stunning colors and unimaginable mineral combina - dealers or lapidaries may have disclosed information about tions never seen before. They are compressed with resin the nature of the rough, cabochons or beads, somewhere under heat and pressure and are durable to be used into jew - down the line, or especially with online sales of second and elry. Many of these enhanced gem materials are very attrac - third parties, information gets lost or blurred. The second tive with bold and eye-catching patterns, striking colors and problem is that appraisers are not familiar with these prod - unique designs—our natural world with a face lift! ucts, and consider all of them as “junk,” placing them in the same category as glass or plastic imitations. They should un - Coupled with a lower price point, which makes them an ap - derstand the origin of these materials, their properties and pealing alternative to the all-natural expensive gemstones, their current market value. these gemstones cut from fancy compressed blocks have become an instant hit among lapidaries and jewelry design - One of the reasons for disclosure, besides honesty, is for the ers. Figure 1. A great advantage the compressed blocks pro - lapidary, designer, metalsmith, or the final client or collector vide is that there is very little waste when slabbing them; to know how to take care of the jewelry set with these types even-sized slabs are easy to cut, compared to natural pieces of finished stones. How well will the stones wear once set that are irregular in shape, with inclusions, cracks and flaws into jewelry, especially into rings which take more abuse, or that the lapidary has to take into account and work around would they be best set in pendants and brooches? Will they them. There is no need for any special orientation of the endure a cleaning in an ultrasonic machine, the torch of the rough block material, which accounts for less labor and sub - jeweler, or a swim in the pool? GEMGUIDE - 1 - SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 LAPIDARY MATERIALS FIGURE 2. Natural Kingman turquoise compressed. FIGURE 3. Natural turquoise, infused with bronze. While many dealers of high-end gemstones and literature within the gemological world are focused on disclosure of enhancements of expensive faceted rubies, emeralds or di - amonds, the cabochon and bead market almost slides qui - etly under the disclosure radar. It is a huge market that affects a large percentage of sales in the commercial jewelry art and craft world. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides for the jewelry industry, with the exception of normal fashioning (cutting and polishing) it is the seller’s responsibility at all lev - els of commerce to clearly disclose to the buyer at the time of the sale whether the stone is natural or not. The seller must also provide all pertinent information about any en - hancement process when A) the treatment is not permanent FIGURE 4. Turquoise infused with bronze, finished. and its effects are lost over time, B) the treatment creates special care requirements for the gemstone to retain the ben - efits of the treatment, and C) the treatment has a significant effect on the value of the gemstone. My research for these types of gemstones started back in 2014 while I was looking at the booth of Keith Horst of A & K A great source of information is the Gemstone Information Gems and Minerals at a gem show in Arizona. Keith is a mas - Manual, 12 th edition, published by the American Gem Trade ter lapidary and teaches lapidary at the Yavapai College in Organization (AGTA), available to all on the Disclosure page Prescott, Arizona. He is recognized in the trade for his stun - at http://www.agta.org/info/index.html. There are sixteen ning cabochons, drusy cabs and unique natural surface ‘Gemstone Enhancement Codes’ supported by AGTA, and freeforms. I have great admiration for his work especially his when selling any gemstone, bead, or jewelry, one of these masterfully cut matched pairs for earrings. Looking through codes must be applied. Keith’s inventory many bizarre gemstones drew my attention. We started pairing the simulant pieces with natural gem - A vast majority of cabochons on the market today are treated stones, and a “natural vs. enhanced” story began to develop. with the fracture filler Opticon™, or polished with wax during After that initial encounter, I began looking for and finding the final step, facts rarely disclosed. Although I understand more “look-a-like” gem materials at other booths. that no dealer wants to put a sign in their booth stating that their stones are all treated, lapidaries and jewelry artists There are two main groups for these fancy compressed should let their customers know about their stones’ treat - blocks. One type comprises of small, natural nuggets of qual - ments and advise them of how to take care and protect the ity turquoise from Kingman, Arizona, which are compressed finished products. with resin into blocks, yet the outline of each nugget is still GEMGUIDE - 2 - SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 LAPIDARY MATERIALS visible. These compressed turquoise blocks (Figure 2) are cre - ated by Colbaugh Processing, Inc. (http://www.colbaugh.net/), a very-well known company that mines the only active mine for turquoise in Arizona: the Mineral Park Mine at Turquoise Mountain a few miles north of Kingman. The company is headed by Marty Colbaugh, the grandson of the original mine owner, S.A. “Chuck” Colbaugh, who first mined turquoise there in 1962. I had the opportunity to talk with Marty at his booth in Tucson, and he openly discussed the treatments used in his materi - als. I am very thankful to him for being very open in dis - cussing and disclosing all treatments. He was very emphatic that the all-natural turquoise blocks start with high-grade turquoise nuggets, and do not contain any dyes. Besides the all-natural turquoise blocks, he also creates com - pressed blocks of natural turquoise nuggets infused with bronze (Figure 3 and 4) or zinc that offer a very unique look FIGURE 6. Mohave green turquoise blocks. with tendrils of bright shiny metal, simulating natural turquoise with golden matrix inclusions from the Kingman mine or the Hachita mine in New Mexico. Figure 5. These have become extremely popular for use as cabochons and knife handles. The latest trend that Colbaugh Processing offers is a variety of dyed turquoise blocks, with or without infused bronze (for gold color) or zinc (for silver color), which are imitating another natural gem material. All blocks purchased directly from Col - baugh Processing weigh approximately 2.20 lbs and are cur - rently sold for $80 per pound. One variety called Mohave green turquoise (Figure 6) is a bright green dyed turquoise infused with zinc, simulating the rare bright green gaspeite [(Ni, Mg, Fe) CO 3] from Australia. Figure 7. FIGURE 7. Natural gaspeite. Gaspeite’s electric lime green to neon apple green color is due to its nickel con - tent. Slabs of natural untreated gaspeite are rarely available, and today may range in the $2 to $3 per gram at retail shows, while the Mohave green turquoise may sell for only $0.50 per gram. Most gaspeite cabs and beads are treated. Besides the blocks, it is offered di - rectly by Colbaugh Processing as bead FIGURE 5. Turquoise Sky, Hachita mine. FIGURE 8. Turquoise with abalone cabs. GEMGUIDE - 3 - SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 LAPIDARY MATERIALS FIGURE 11. Man-made dino bone cabs. FIGURE 9. Natural dino bone block. pany in Gilbert, Arizona, is known for selling natural and man- made gem material crushed into powder or into small chips that customers use for inlay projects in wood or pottery (http://stores.ebay.com/nichebox-rocks).