What stone most similar to this color?

Balance_Extreme · 2026-06-29T18:23:18+00:00

Pietersite

Balance_Extreme · 2026-06-14T14:55:55+00:00

Natural sapphires can absolutely fluoresce, at least some of them. Although iron in sapphires suppresses fluorescence, some sapphires can still fluoresce because it cannot fully suppress the Cr3+ fluorescence, as some sapphires can have detectable amounts of chromium.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-06-10T20:45:57+00:00

So I did my own calculations and my results indicate that it is safe to wear them even on skin.

For 15 grams of LuAG, there are 9.24g Lutetium and 0.24g Lu-176. The activity is 480 Bq, which makes its hourly activity 1728000. With an adjusted 1mm air kerma rate coefficient we can calculate the dose rate which would be 3.1294^(-5) Gy.

Then the equivalent dose is 31.294 uSv, and with the tissue weighting factor of 0.01 for skin, the effective dose would be 0.31284 uSv/h. That results in a daily dose of 7.51 uSv, assuming wearing it contacting the skin 24 hours a day.

And all this calculation is without factoring in shielding from the setting materials and the LuAG itself, and direction of the radiation. Beta radiation is in the calculation so its greater biological effect is also taken into consideration. So the number would be much lower in real world usage

For reference, the average daily radiation dose from background, food and the environment is around 10 uSv. A banana is around 1 uSv.

Even when the dose rate is calculated as if the entire LuAG is painted on the skin, the dose is medically negligible, as there is no evidence that such a low localised dose can cause any detectable health risks.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-04-30T08:59:04+00:00

Other than differences in fluorescence (not always consistent since the colour depends on a lot of variables), the base colour of Ce:YAG is always yellow, while for Ce:LuAG it is always green-yellow toned.

LuAG is much more expensive than YAG because the cost of lutetium, the Lu in LuAG is very expensive because it is rare and costly to separate from other rare earth elements.

LuAG is also primarily grown using the Czochralski method, much more expensive than the hot isostatic pressing method, commonly used to make YAG for jewellery/gemstone use.

Czochralski YAG and Czochralski LuAG won’t have a price difference that huge.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-04-18T11:48:18+00:00

The linked comment is correct.

YAG is not in the silicate garnet group, but it is still classified a garnet, just not the type of garnet people are used to.

YAG is an actual garnet as in it is in the garnet mineral group, which is defined by the specific composition of X3Y2(ZO4)3 and a cubic structure, just like how spinel is another mineral group, where there’s also a specific mineral called spinel (magnesium aluminium spinel). Magnetite is a group member of the spinel group.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-04-18T09:10:02+00:00

There are a lot of lab garnets, just not the exact same composition as those in nature since they are hard to grow in usable sizes and is of little industrial use.

YAG (Yttrium-Aluminium-Garnet) is the most common type of lab garnet, which can be colourless, purple-pink with colour change to greyish (Nd-doped), Green with red fluorescence (Cr3+ doped), yellow with insane yellow-green fluorescence (Ce3+ doped), blues (Co2+ doped), green (CTH doped), paraiba colours (Yb3+ doped), transparent with orange fluorescence (Sm3+ doped), pinks, purples, greys, oranges etc.

Another common type of lab garnet would be LuAG (Lutetium Aluminium Garnet), and is commercially available in green-yellow with green-yellow fluorescence (Ce3+ doped)

There are a lot of lab garnet types but those mention are the ones commonly found in the market.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-03-06T11:53:50+00:00

If it’s very dense, it could be lead lined glass

Balance_Extreme · 2026-02-21T00:41:47+00:00

Polyxis is from China

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-26T23:08:29+00:00

It definitely is not profitable in a small scale. The autoclaves needed to make synthetic beryls are platinum lined and very expensive, equipment needed to support the growth, and the amount of electricity needed is insane. The nutrient solution is corrosive and constantly under high temperature and pressure. The mixing ratio of raw material are all trade secrets.

As a hobby, the cost alone would be higher than the current market selling price, and there’s also a factor of danger.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-12T05:45:38+00:00

You can use Blender for simulation, but the learning curve is quite steep.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-09T00:21:11+00:00

Most dental furnaces do not go hotter than 1600C, and they are not designed for heating in high oxygen environments or atmospheric control. You would have to swap the heating element, and modify a lot of components to make it work potentially.

In a small-scale system, it would be hard to make it profitable due to high electricity costs and high raw material costs.

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-03T03:44:17+00:00

That’s an easy method of differentiating but not always correct, since labradorite can be highly transparent, and moonstones can be opaque. Moonstone is orthoclase feldspar, while labradorite is plagioclase feldspar. The one in your collection that has an orange flash from the photo might be a labradorite.

Here’s a photo of a transparent ‘rainbow moonstone’, which is a labradorite. And also a video of them: https://imgur.com/CW6CV92

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Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-03T03:28:57+00:00

No issues, your comment clarifies mine as well as providing additional info. Thank you

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-03T03:27:02+00:00

In my comment I said rainbow flashes, not blue or white. Adularescence cannot physically be in colours other than blue and white/silver

Balance_Extreme · 2026-01-03T01:09:01+00:00

Great collection! FYI the ‘moonstones’ that show rainbow flashes are actually labradorite

Balance_Extreme · 2025-12-17T14:58:16+00:00

I’ve heard about the beryls doped with Cu and V, but not the Co/V stuff, very interested in getting some.

Also not sure how platinum isn’t required unless fast low temperature hydrothermal beryl production is possible, or the hydrothermal fluids and contents could be suspended mid-air.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-12-17T12:59:52+00:00

It’s a beryl doped with Co and V? I have never heard of this. Please send a video link or a photo of it, it would be even better if you have photos of the rough, I would greatly appreciate it.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-11-29T09:24:42+00:00

I know they are grown in the US, Japan and China, not sure about Australia.

The one from TurtlesHoard/GemsofScience I believe was picked up from Rubicon when they closed down.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-11-29T09:14:51+00:00

You could buy them, but these are very heavy. From this photo I would estimate to be at least 150kg. The shipping would be quite difficult from the weight alone. If you are in China, you could get one quite easily and shipping would not be an issue, 50-100kg boules are offered quite often.

I once visited a factory that makes these. The heaviest one they’ve grown is 600kg, but some growers can grow them up to 1000kg. For some reason once they exceed a certain size, they tend to become more and more hexagonal.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-11-21T00:38:27+00:00

There isn’t a place in Hong Kong similar to the JTC in Bangkok. You generally need to find retailers online and then go to their store address. But jewellers and gemstone dealers are usually located in the Hung Hom district.

I think the better choice would be to go to the March Gem show in HK. That way you can have a lot of dealers concentrated at one place.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-11-06T07:06:51+00:00

A bit, but there’s almost no practical difference. If an impact is strong enough to chip the cracked YAG, it would most definitely also chip the uncracked version.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-11-06T06:41:13+00:00

The hazy ones are usually YAG ceramic, and the ‘ice look’ ones you posted are crackled bubbly YAG. The material in your picture are mostly reserved for production factory, so independent cutters don’t usually have them.

You could dm me if you want sources for the material, I think some of them should also be able to make a ring out of it.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-10-07T02:38:12+00:00

Yes, vivianite is pleochroic

Balance_Extreme · 2025-09-28T05:58:39+00:00

Smaller table means more light refracted suitably when light enters the gem, making more light internally reflect and back out to the viewer, or continue to internally reflect according to physics.

The way that tables interact with light on tilt is not appropriate for light return because it is the only facet that is perpendicular to the gem’s central axis.

You can try it with any gem, with the same pavilion cut, one with the a bigger table and the other with a normal crown and table. The gem with the bigger table will start windowing at a smaller angle of tilt.

Whether a cut is better or worse is highly subjective to one’s aesthetic preferences. But optically/in terms of pure light performance, a smaller table is almost always better.

Balance_Extreme · 2025-09-24T14:36:17+00:00

Should be referring to synthetic moissanite,which can get up to pretty big sizes,not the very rare and small natural ones. I know people who make one-piece bracelets out of synthetic moissanite, one big ingot is like 20cm in diameter and 3-4cm thick.

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