Jewelry store shelves are shining with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds worth thousands of dollars that catch the eyes of women everywhere, but for a small group of experts working in Turkey's first domestic gemology laboratory, these precious stones are just everyday objects.
Examining jewelry accessories to determine if they are genuine stones or not is part of the job of these experts, who ease concerns of both buyers and sellers.A year ago, the Istanbul Chamber of Jewelers (İKO) initiated a state-funded project in partnership with the Istanbul Development Agency mandating a certificate process for jewels before they go on sale. The laboratory opened its doors only three months ago, the result of a $2 billion investment in gemology studies in Turkey that further deals with the science behind these beautifully mesmerizing precious stones.
Based in the İKO headquarter in Istanbul's historic Çemberlitaş neighborhood, the laboratory is run under the coordination of Özge Nurhayat Günay, who welcomed us the day we paid a visit there. "Here, both gemstones and diamonds are examined for certification. Our laboratory is independent and not a profit-oriented one," Günay said. At present, only three gemologists are working there, responsible for quality control of the gemstones.
The experts apply state-of-art technology during the examination process. They place a value on the stones based on a number of factors which include cut, color, quality and clarity.
Hikmet Yazar, 46, a gemologist for 17 years, who was first introduced to this field in Germany, is one of the laboratory staff. "I examine whether a precious stone like this ruby is real one or synthetic," he said, holding the red stone under the microscope. "For rubies, it is important to know to what extend they were processed as its value greatly changes on this," Yazar continued. It takes only 15 minutes to see whether a ruby is synthetic or not. "The most challenging stones are sapphire and ruby as there are myriad types of forms."
Another gemologist, Emre Günay, was examining the elements in a diamond through a special device, the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR), providing material analysis in forensic and analytical labs. He said this step is undertaken especially for diamonds. Indeed, the arrival of these analytical devices is not new and in the past, it was much difficult to understand a diamond's authenticity due to the lack of current synthetic technology. Pointing that the number of gemologists is not high in Turkey, Ercüment Tandoğan said, "We first examine each product and then prepare a report for it."The laboratory's customers are merely jewelry shop owners but individual requests are also high. A customer wants to know if his stone is a real diamond, or if the gemologist could match it with another diamond. Nothing more. They do not care about the gemological aspects of their gem.
Necla Cengiz, a retired banking officer, is one of them. A true jewelry lover, Cengiz knocked at the laboratory's door as she was suspicious that her sapphire-diamond earrings were fake. "I paid a lot for them but I don't have a certificate. I wonder if they are fake or not," she said. "I will bring my ring with a precious red stone. It is a family inheritance and I want to know which stone it is. I do not know why but many women are interested in learning about the features of their jewelry," Cengiz continued.
Norayr İşler, the Chairman of the İKO, said: "In recent years, jewelry made of synthetic stones have brought problem for customers. Certification is important as here the staff carefully examines each stone and jewel and it does not take much time." A number of prestigious families as well as prominent names from Turkey's art and fashion scene bring their jewelry, some of which are quite old and a family inheritance, and ask which stone they were made with. "We also receive demand from Azerbaijan and Iran. The laboratory can also become an established gemology center, attracting Middle Eastern customers in the future."An ornamental dagger that used to belong to Libya's former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was also brought there for examination after it was found in an anti-smuggling operation. The dagger was first thought to be made of ivory and adorned with ruby, diamond and emerald but following a thorough examination, experts found it was made of mammoth teeth and the ornaments were identified as gold, silver, sapphire, amethyst and nephrite.
Next time you may want to know whether you diamond ring perfectly sitting on your finger is a real one or not.
