Almost all sapphires on today’s market have been heat treated.
Stones of natural color can demand up to twice the price of color enhanced stones.
If a jeweler tells you his stones are natural, ask for documentation.
Treatments are totally legitimate as long as they are permanent and fully disclosed.

The great thing about heat treating is that it allows many more high quality stones to come to market, which not only increases selection, but it also helps keep prices reasonable. Keeping in mind that almost all of today’s stones have been heat treated, here’s a couple hot tips on these enhanced stones.

1. Talk frankly with your jeweler. If you ask them up front about treatments, they’ll be much more at ease to discuss them with you.
2. Get all treatments in writing on your bill of sale.
3. You can always take a sapphire to a professional gemologist. They can almost always tell if a stone has been heat treated. The trouble is he can’t always tell if it hasn’t. But the peace of mind from an impartial opinion is invaluable.
4. If you’re thinking a few minutes in the microwave will bring out the color of your sapphire, it won’t. But it could give you a couple hundred stones instead of one when it explodes.

Irradiation: Although not too much to worry about, this treatment is occasionally used to make colorless stones yellow and pink sapphires padparadschas. The treatment is not respected because it fades in sunlight and it could make the stones radioactive. Most corundum suppliers check for radiation and refuse stones displaying such treatment. We just thought you’d like to know.

Oiling and dyeing: This is probably the oldest of the color enhancements and is totally acceptable, again as long as there is full disclosure. It is only applicable on lower quality stones because there must be many surface cracks present in order for the oil or dye to penetrate the surface. If you see a lot of faint cracks, ask the jeweler to run the stone through his ultrasonic cleaner. If your assumption was correct, the cracks will be more pronounced and the color will have faded. Oiled stones are fine, they just need extra care in cleaning and when the oil dries up, you should have them professionally retreated.

Surface diffusion: The main trouble with this newer treatment, is that, although permanent, the enhancement is only skin deep. Extra care must be taken when wearing these stones because scraping or chipping will reveal the gray roots of your vivid blue sapphire. This treatment is very difficult to detect without professional examination, so, again, ask about all treatments up front and get them in writing on your bill of sale.

There are many high quality treated sapphires on the market and you can own them with pride and confidence. The trouble with treatments is not that they are done, the trouble is that most people don’t want to hear about them, which means jewelers aren’t inclined to talk about them. Do yourself a big favor, talk to your jeweler frankly about all the treatments listed above, and get any and all of them clearly stated in writing on your bill of sale along with any special care they may require. Better to lose the illusion of natural perfection than lose your money.

Answer to quiz: b