Planning on buying some gemstone beads to make your own jewelry?

This information is required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for any business operating within the United States that markets gemstones.

Failure to identify enhancement of natural gemstones, when present, is an unfair trade practice. 

ASBL) - Assembled Products made of multiple layers or combinations of manufactured and/or natural materials joined together. Example: opal triplets.

(B) - Bleaching The use of chemical agents to lighten or remove a gemstone’s color.

(C) - Coating Surface enhancements to improve appearance, provide color or other special effects.

(D) - Dyeing The introduction of coloring matter into a gemstone to give it new color, intensify present color or improve to color uniformity.

(E) - Enhanced This indicates that this type of gemstone is routinely enhanced. Since many enhancements are difficult or impractical to prove definitively, the approach taken in our printed materials and invoices is to assume, unless otherwise indicated, that such enhancement has been done to the particular gemstone material being described. If the particular type of enhancement is known, that enhancement symbol will be stated, rather than the “E” symbol.

(F) - Filling As a by-product of heat enhancement, the presence of solidified borax or similar colorless substances which are visible under properly illuminated 10x magnification.

(G) - Gamma/Electron Irradiation The use of gamma and/or electron bombardment to alter a gemstone’s color, which may be followed by a heating process.

(H) - Heating The use of heat to effect desired alteration of color, clarity and/or phenomena.

(I) - Infilling The intentional filling of surface-breaking cavities or fractures usually with glass, plastic, opticon with hardeners and/or hardened foreign substances to improve durability, appearance and/or add weight.

(IMIT) - Imitation Man-made products, fabricated in such materials as glass, ceramic or plastic designed to imitate or resemble the appearance, but not duplicate the characteristic properties, of a natural gemstone.

(L) - Lasering The use of lasers and chemicals to reach and alter inclusions in diamonds.

(N) - Natural Stones which are not currently known to be enhanced.

(O) - Oiling/Resin Infusion The intentional filling of surface-breaking cavities of a colorless oil, wax, natural resin or unhardened man-made material into fissured transparent/translucent gemstones to improve appearance.

(R) - Irridiation The use of neutrons, requiring an environmental safety release from the NRC, with the combination of any other bombardment and/or heat treatment to alter a gem’s color.

(S) - Bonding (Stabilization) The use of a colorless bonding agent (commonly plastic) with a porous gemstone to give it durability and improve appearance.

(Syn) - Synthetic These are man-made materials which have essentially the same optical, physical and chemical properties as a naturally occurring counterpart.

(U) - Diffusion The use of chemicals in conjunction with high temperatures to produce color and/or asterism (star-like) inclusions.

(W) - Waxing / Oiling The impregnation of a colorless wax, paraffin and/or oil in porous opaque gemstones to improve their appearance.