All of the gems sold by Blue Ceylon are naturally occurring minerals. We do not sell man-made, synthetic, artificial, or lab-grown material.

The majority of gem material offered by Blue Ceylon is natural . That is, once removed from the earth, the material has not been enhanced or treated in any manner to improve its appearance beyond the cutting and polishing process.

However, many naturally occurring gemstones do benefit from enhancement or treatment. Such treatments, as in the case of heating or irradiation, may simply “complete” a process of change that was taking place in the earth before the gem material was extracted. There are several methods of treatment and enhancement but not all are accepted or sanctioned by the gem industry and trade. Generally, the trade-sanctioned treatments are:

1. Thermal or heat treatment (also known as “burning”): By exposing certain gem material to high temperatures a marked improvement in their clarity, color, and phenomena can be effected. Various gem materials such as Sapphire, Ruby, Aquamarine, Tourmaline, Amethyst, Citrine, Topaz, and Tanzanite benefit from this treatment. In many cases it is undetectable even by laboratory methods.
2. Oiling: This treatment is most commonly found in Emeralds. It increases clarity and color by filling cracks within the stone with oil via surface fractures. In this treatment the gemstone itself is unaltered but its appearance is changed. Oiling is not a permanent treatment and a stone may need the process repeated after a few years.
3. Irradiation: Irradiating certain gem material will cause permanent changes in the color of the gems. Blue Topaz is usually irradiated (after first being heat treated) to bring about its vivid color, and many colored Diamonds get their intense colors through this treatment. Pink Tourmaline may also be irradiated to bring out a stronger color. Gems that have undergone irradiation treatment need no special handling.

Treatments that are not sanctioned by the industry and not represented in stones offered by Blue Ceylon are:

1. Dyeing: Subtle or radical changes in color may be effected by surface dyeing some gem material. It is frequently not permanent and subject to fading.
2. Surface Diffusion: A treatment in which color-affecting minerals are applied to the stone’s surface and diffused at a very shallow depth into the stone by heat. Since the treatment is only surface-related and does not penetrate the entire body of the stone it may be exposed when the stone has its surface altered through breakage or repolishing.
3. Beryllium Diffusion: This relatively new process involves diffusing color throughout the body of the stone with the introduction of the mineral beryllium during a thermal treatment. It is most widely seen in yellow and orange Sapphires and is an apparently permanent treatment that is undetectable except through costly laboratory methods.
4. Filling: Most often associated with Rubies and Emeralds, this treatment involves filling surface-breaking cracks in a stone with a foreign material in order to disguise the cracks and improve the overall clarity of the gem. The treatment may be permanently placed but the foreign material can change color over time and thus be discovered.