Characterization of the New Malossi Hydrothermal Synthetic Emerald

Abstract

A new production of hydrothermal synthetic emeralds, grown in the Czech Republic with Italian technology, has been marketed since December 2004 with the trade name Malossi synthetic emerald. Several samples were investigated by standard gemological methods, combined with chemical analyses and UV-Vis-NIR and IR spectroscopy. A comparison of this material with natural and other synthetic emeralds (the latter grown by the flux and hydrothermal techniques) reveals that Malossi hydrothermal synthetic emerald can be identified on the basis of microscopic features and chemical composition, along with the mid-infrared spectrum.

Application of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy to the identification of emeralds from different synthetic processes

“…These analyses are very close to those found in the literature (Table 1) [2][3][4][5][6]11]. On the other hand it is well known that in the synthetic emerald the concentration of Si, Al, and Be is very close to the ideal amounts and they are constant for each synthesis, whereas significant variations of chromophoric elements characterize the different synthetic growth methods.…”

“…Moreover, considering the importance of the emerald variety in the gemmological market several studies were performed to identify the origin of the emeralds by examining their chemical composition and, in particular, their trace elements [2][3][4][5][6]. However, the analytical methods generally used in mineralogy such as Electron Micro Probe Analysis (EPMA) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) for the light elements, require a detructive sample preparation and consequently they result not particularly suitable for gemstones, that obviously must be studied in non-destructive way.…”

The Characterization of Tortoise Shell and its Imitations

“…Some of the bands seen in the region around 900 nm may be interpreted as combination bands and/or overtones of OH-related vibrations (Adamo et al, 2005). This proposal is supported by the fact that the intensity of the OH-related band at ~3500 cm −1 correlates well with the intensity of the bands in the 900 nm region.…”

Characterization of emeralds by micro‐Raman spectroscopy

“…Synthetic emeralds are produced on an industrial scale starting from the late 19th century mainly using two synthesis methods: flux growth and hydrothermal growth . Recently, the Malossi hydrothermal emeralds gained space . Sometimes, analysis performed with classical gemmology techniques, even carried out by a trained jeweler, cannot reveal unequivocally if a gemstone is natural or not.…”

“…[16][17][18] Recently, the Malossi hydrothermal emeralds gained space. [19][20][21] Sometimes, analysis performed with classical gemmology techniques, even carried out by a trained jeweler, cannot reveal unequivocally if a gemstone is natural or not.…”