At Grandgemstones, we want our customers to buy with confidence.  While most of our gemstones are untreated, we believe in disclosing treatments applied to our gemstones. To help you understand these treatments, we have created this guide.  It explains several treatments that are applied to gemstones throughout the gem world.

Stone treatment is the attempt to improve the stone color and clarity by such things as removing the large to tiny inclusions or filling a crack in the stone. Treatments can even make the clear crystal stone appear colored! Some treatments are permanent while others are temporary. Some are affected by such things as light, water, cleaning solutions and even rough handling. We hope you find this list a valuable tool.

None : Indicates this particular gemstone has received no enhancement.

Coating : The use of such surface enhancements as lacquering, enameling, inking, foiling, or sputtering of films to improve appearance, provide color or add other special effects.

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

Filling : As a by-product of heat enhancement, the presence of solidified borax or similar colorless substances.

Heating : The use of heat to effect desired alteration of color, clarity and /or phenomena.

Infilling : The intentional filling of surface breaking cavities or fractures usually with glass, plastic, option with hardeners and/or other hardened foreign substances to improve durability, appearance and/or weight.

Lasering : The use of a laser and chemicals to reach and alter inclusion in diamonds.

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. (i.e., oil, man-made resin, cedar wood oil, Canada balsam, paraffin, etc.)

Irradiation : The use of neutron bombardment to alter a gemstone's color, maybe followed by a heating Process.

Diffusion: The use of chemicals in conjunction with high temperatures to produce color and/or asterism-producing inclusions.

Waxing/Oiling: The impregnation of a colorless wax, paraffin and oil in porous opaque gemstones to improve appearance.

Lead Glass Filling: By filling the fractures inside the ruby with lead glass the transparency of the stone is dramatically improved making previously unsuited rubies now fit for applications in jewelry.