• Below is another post from our good friend and AJS Gems customer Joe the Aspiring Designer, with his research and findings on a certain cornflower blue sapphire he bought from us a while back…

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    Dear Arnold, Matt, Rung, and whomever else I might be missing:

    I hope this finds you all well. Despite the fact I cant indulge in my hobby of collecting colored stones due to this ever so great economy and the like, I do enjoy studying these things and what I have acquired. I am happy to provide proof of a discovery I have long since suspected, and I am pleased to announce to you my finding. I am sure youll agree. :-)

    I wanted to forward you a micrograph I took of a sapphire I bought from you guys back in the very final days of 2006. I have a portable digital microscope, and I managed to obtain this image at 95 magnifications. If you look in the lower left quadrant of the image, youll see what appears to be intact corundum crystals. If you notice towards the center left of the image, you can make out of there what appears to be something shaped like an intact biotite crystal.

    Cornflower Blue Sapphire Magnification

    I have another image at around 45-50 magnifications that shows what appears to be rutile needles that are intact. This stone was said to have been heated. When I first looked at it over nearly 2 years ago, I noticed things that suggested the stone was in fact unenhanced. I think this is a good illustration as to how if you do make an error, it is in favor of the end customer on the side of caution.

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  • The following is a post from Joe the Aspiring Designer, a longtime AJS Gems customer. Joe had been planning on purchasing a Burmese red spinel for some time, and here are his thoughts and discoveries on this gemstone.

    Dear Arnold, Matt, Rung and staff,

    I just got my 2.11 carat Burma spinel today. This is definitely an interesting piece to say the least, and I dont say that in a bad way at all. Ive been contemplating a spinel for a little bit now. I was debating the one that was featured in your newsletter that featured spinel, but I see someone didnt debate it as much as I did and bought it. Thats OK though. I am quite pleased with this spinel.

    Joe's 2.11 Burma Spinel

    My first reaction when I saw the thing through the bubble pack was there was a little too much tone. That was through the bubble pack. I thought to myself, watch this thing jump out when I take the bubble pack off. Sure enough, it jumped out all right…

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