Beyond Real

On Transparency

We are extremely saddened to hear of recent events, about a certain jeweler who sold plastics and glass as natural, earth-mined gemstones. The buying public deserves to know what they are spending their hard-earned money on. As a practice, we in @artinjewels seek to be transparent in the components we use in every piece we make. As much as possible, we disclose any treatments we observe even in the tiniest of accent stones. We take our own photos—in plain old daylight—to give customers the most accurate representation of our products.

Old school but still useful.

As a little side note, though the Presidium Gem Tester is great for doing a quick check on whether or not your stones are plastic or glass, we believe a jeweler mustn’t stop there. Gem identification can be tricky even for trained gemologists. Thus, aside from the advice of our partner GIA Graduate gemologists, in the office we also employ tools like loupes, a refractometer, and a dichroscope just to be sure.

So… Is it Real?

Real is just the bare minimum. Years before we started @artinjewels, we searched for the right people to work with; met with them, observed how they source their gems, how they do their cutting, and how they treat their people. When it comes to building trust as an online business, we believe that being part of the process from end-to-end ensures that nothing slips through the cracks. Aside from partnering with experts who are also graduate gemologists, having a bird's-eye view of our gems' journey from rough to cut gives us full knowledge of their natural origin. But that's just the beginning. Determining and disclosing gemstone treatments (e.g. heat, irradiation, oiling, etc.) is the next step to providing full transparency so you know exactly what you're getting.

Future Forward

It is our hope that these recent unfortunate events dissuade other sellers from being negligent in curating their wares. Customers deserve better. We in @artinjewels acknowledge the importance of protecting our customers from buying something they never asked for, and so we promise to continue holding ourselves to a high standard, and to be humble enough to accept mistakes if they should ever arise.

Classic Tools Like a Refractometer and a Polariscope can help remove the guesswork in gem identification.

Anna K. uses several gemological tools to determine not just the type of stone but also the treatment/s, if any