"Peter W.. Rowe," <rec.crafts.jewelry@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:58rq54h7j8a4m7vecmi5okjou3ppplr9qs@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>Pass them through an international border (by post or in your pocket)
you
>>>stand a chance of getting them impounded.
>
> Oh? Not likely. At least not at the consumer level or with cut stones.
British Customs (I'm not sure what the agency is called this week) has
just
bought a very clever device for telling the origin of diamonds by some
sort
clever test, probably crystalography of some kind.
I gather that if you're even wearing too much expensive looking jewellery
they get to play with it. ****pments of diamonds all get to go through
it...
The UK government has a great deal of interest in blood diamonds as a lot
of
them come from Sierra Leone where HMG has just fought a short but nasty
war
and is busy spending loads of money on making sure it's a nice stable
democracy.
Guess where the bad guy's money came from...
> If you really want to be looking for threats to the diamond market,
forget
> about
> some new level of consumer awareness. That'll never happen. Instead,
> look to
> the future availability of good synthetic diamonds. That MIGHT have an
> effect
> worth noting. But despite a number of years of loud news stories and
> alarms,
> it's not happened yet. Either the crash, or the avialability of the
> synthetic
> stones. So far, you can get a limited supply of synthetic diamonds in
> bright
> yellows and orange colors. So far, not colorless. That may be a few
> years off
> yet. And whether it will affect the market for natural stones remains
to
> be
> seen. The wide availability of many synthetic colored stones hasn't
much
> hurt
> the market for the finest of the natural gems. if anything, it's raised
> awareness of those gems and demand for them.
I keep looking for these synthetic stones here in the UK, but, as I've
said before here, so far nobody seems to be interested in supplying them
to
jewellers in small quantities.
>>>Buy rubies, you can't fake them or manufacture them.
>
> what planet are you living on, William? Synthetic rubies have been
around
> since
> the late 1800s, and have been getting better all along. Some of the
> common
> types are easy to identify, but there are others that require a
> sophisticated
> commercial gem lab to positively separate from the natural rubies.
Then I must have misheard the chap at one gem supplier.
My mistake.
--
William Black
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
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