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Coming to a Court Room near You: The Labradorite Litigations

If you recently bought red or green "new-find" labradorite on screen or on line as a natural-color gemstone, you may be in for a rude awakening. These feldspars may owe their beauty to the gemological equivalent of color implants - or, more crudely, dyeing.

By David Federman, Editor-in-Chief

Classic Oregon sunstone. Photo courtesy of Desert Sun Mining and Gems.

On the surface, the new red and green labradorite that you've been seeing on TV in astonishing abundance looks very much like Oregon sunstone, a fiery feldspar whose reddish-orange colors can rival spessartite garnet.

But surfaces can be deceiving. Evidence is mounting to suggest that the resemblance between Oregon-like and real-deal Oregon labradorite is nothing more than superficial - a result of sophisticated chemical face lifts in gemological beauty parlors.

Factory prettification would certainly explain why TV feldspars have been selling for a fraction of the price of their all-natural northwest American counterparts.

Sellers of TV labradorite say the steep price differentials have nothing to do with cosmetic improvement and everything to do with production costs and scale. Oregon material is much scarcer and more expensive to mine than the new look-alikes which are supposedly coming from cheaper-labor, less environmentally restricted mines in Tibet, Mongolia, and the Congo.

Nevertheless, says gemologist and gemology instructor Robert James (FGA, GG), "One has to wonder at the discovery of three labradorite deposits in close succession whose stones emulate Oregon's for color and appearance. What are the chances of such a sudden profusion for a previously rare gem known only to occur in one small area?"

The chances are slim to nil, especially when the source of finished stones is Thailand: the world's leading gem rehab center. TV labradorite, many consumers who bought it now believe, is just the latest gemstone fraud perpetrated on the world market by Thai gem renovation experts.

Red feldspar from Congo showing color concentrations on outer edges of stone. Photo courtesy of Robert James.

Treated green feldspar in immersion cell. Photo courtesy of Robert James.

Last month, James, who founded and heads the San Antonio-based International School of Gemology, was vilified by dealers and gemologists alike when he posted preliminary but nonetheless damning results of Raman spectrophotometer tests on a handful of TV feldspars. One specimen in particular seemed to confirm everyone's worst fears that stones had been colorized by surface diffusion of copper and iron.

"We broke three stones on purpose for various gemological tests," James continues. "It was instantly clear that the color was confined to the surface while the core of the stone was colorless. So we sent the stone to a lab for Raman readings of both the outside and inside. The spectra were dramatically different."

James' fears deepened when he put TV stones in a microscope and saw hematite platelets identical to those associated with Indian material. "Anyone who has studied Indian sunstone knows it is yellow or colorless," he notes. "So if some of the red and green TV labradorite was in reality from India that would further arouse suspicions of diffusion coloring."

Some of James' students posted his findings, including Raman spectra readings, at Gemology OnLine and reported back on the reactions. Dealers and gemologists immediately lambasted him, mostly on the basis of outsider status and his use of what they considered circumstantial and sketchy evidence.

TOP - Hematite ribbons in natural Indian sunstone. BOTTOM - Hematite ribbons in red treated feldspar. Photos courtesy of Robert James.

But many of James' students, as well as consumers who had invested in TV labradorite, flocked to www.YourGemologist.com because they shared his fear that network goods originally came from nature with none of the color and appearance virtues on which its reputation rests. "The beauty is phony, nothing more than a factory add-on," says one in a not-for-attribution interview.

Frustrated and angered by the ferocity of personal attacks against him, James has just purchased the very latest model Raman spectrophotometer and intends to run tests of TV material submitted to him by consumers.

In the meantime, the sunstone scandal deepens and widens, threatening the greatest public backlash ever because it involves TV networks and possible violations of FCC regulations and interstate commerce laws. "The chickens are coming home to roost," says one gemological lab worker who insists on anonymity. And he's not citing Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He's citing the obvious.

Hematite platelet in natural Indian sunstone. Photo courtesy of Robert James

Hematite platelets in treated red feldspar. Photos courtesy of Robert James.

If you talk to gemologists today - off the record, of course - and you ask them to theorize about the sunstone scandal, most give the same worst-case scenario: colorless and yellow labradorite is benefiting from the latest advances in treatment technology to give stones thick color rinds of red and green, as well as the schiller for which sunstone is famous. This is most likely accomplished by diffusing copper and hematite into stone surfaces.

And when you ask these gemologists why most of them let their imaginations run in the same direction, they usually mention two things - in this order: 1) the source of the "new-find" labradorite is Thailand, and 2) Thailand has elevated diffusion coloring of gems to a fine art.

Face it, when it comes to present day gemological scandals, many, if not most, lead to Thailand. That's why our suspicions were instinctively aroused by the fact that most of the "new-find" labradorite comes in finished form from that country. Indeed, when a buyer for a shopping network raved to me about this Bangkok-bought material in 2007, I told him to be wary of any claims that it was natural-color. When he asked me why, I reminded him that Thailand had soiled its reputation as a gem center by bringing tons of "new-find" padparadscha sapphire to the market in 2001.

Previously, padparadscha had been a very rare gem. But by using beryllium to induce pinkish-orange colors reminiscent of those in true padparadscha, the Thais had managed to flood the market in faux fancy colors in a matter of months. Worse, these fakes had gone undetected by many major gem labs.
Now "new-find" labradorite reminiscent of very rare Oregon sunstone was suddenly available in immense quantities - and once again the source was Thailand. I told the TV network buyer I was feeling "a creepy sense of déjà vu." Origin alone should have set off alarms, I continued. But it didn't.

I immediately consulted the standard gemological texts. All repeated certain long-held opinions. First, Oregon was the only reliable source of red and green transparent labradorite. Other large sources such as India and Mexico produced yellow and colorless varieties. No wonder marketers of the new labradorite claimed their goods were coming from new mines in Tibet, Mongolia, and the Congo. But when asked to show rough from these new sources, these sellers balked - or so it was reported by dealers and gemologists alike. Ironically, notes James, TV footage of digging in Tibet showed that the rough was straw-colored. Ergo, no one was seeing red from Asia or Africa until after stones were cut and polished.

Finally, Jewelry Television admitted that some labradorite it had been selling was heated and offered customers a brief return period. It may soon have to repeat the offer - and keep the returns window open far longer than before. Other networks will probably have to do the same.

As long as gem alchemy is alive and well in Thailand, dealer claims as to the integrity of their gems will have to be taken with skepticism. And if, as many suspect, the Chinese are also learning the joys of cooking, America, Europe, and nouveau riche Asia will have to erect a veritable wall of gemological self defense as a deterrent to scam and a means of protecting endangered public confidence in colored stones.

This was also sent out to our Colored Stone E-News mailing list members as an e-mail news blast. Want to receive the latest up-to-date information on the gemstone industry? Sign up for our Colored Stone E-News mailing list here.

May/June 2008 • An Open Letter to the Trade Concerning the Paraiba Scandal • 2008 Vegas Show Guide • May/June 2008 Index