Gyrosol?

I have bought some earrings to re-sale and was told the stone in them is
called a Gyrosol. I was later told they are Gyrosol quartz. Yet another
supplier with what looked like the same earrings said they are an opalescent
glass (this to me sounds like the most likely). Does anyone know if Gyrosol
is a true quartz and what it is?

I would love to be able to inform my customers correctly what it is they are
buying whether it is gyrosol or glass.

To see the earrings I am talking about
http://www.shelleym.co.uk/gallery/stearrings1.htm - 4th down.

Thank you
Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group

[It's hard to say what you've actually got from your description. There is a
natural quartz variety called "girasol" quartz (the word is also used to
denote certain opals); it's characterized by a milky sheen at certain
angles, much like moonstone, and is produced in Brazil. Your material might
be this, or it might be a simulant given a similar name. Quartz glass is
easy to make, and it's often used for beads, etc. If you're reselling this
material, it would behoove you to take some to a gemologist for
identification.]

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

I have bought some earrings to re-sale and was told the stone in them is
called a Gyrosol. I was later told they are Gyrosol quartz. Yet another
supplier with what looked like the same earrings said they are an opalescent
glass (this to me sounds like the most likely). Does anyone know if Gyrosol
is a true quartz and what it is?

I would love to be able to inform my customers correctly what it is they are
buying whether it is gyrosol or glass.

To see the earrings I am talking about
http://www.shelleym.co.uk/gallery/stearrings1.htm - 4th down.

Thank you
Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group

As far as I know Gyrosol is quartz but a very milky quartz that resembles
Moonstone. So they could be Moonstone too. I cannot tell from looking at
the picture how milky they look.

Greg
"ShelleyM" wrote in message
...
I have bought some earrings to re-sale and was told the stone in them is
called a Gyrosol. I was later told they are Gyrosol quartz. Yet another
supplier with what looked like the same earrings said they are an
opalescent
glass (this to me sounds like the most likely). Does anyone know if
Gyrosol
is a true quartz and what it is?

I would love to be able to inform my customers correctly what it is they
are
buying whether it is gyrosol or glass.

To see the earrings I am talking about
http://www.shelleym.co.uk/gallery/stearrings1.htm - 4th down.

Thank you
Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group

I hadn't thought of taking them to a gemologist. But that's a good idea.
Otherwise do you think I'd be safer to describe them as 'man-made gyrosol
quartz' - just to be on the safe side? I don't mind saying they're glass,
whatever they are they are very pretty.

Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group


"Andrew Werby" wrote in message
...
[It's hard to say what you've actually got from your description. There is
a
natural quartz variety called "girasol" quartz (the word is also used to
denote certain opals); it's characterized by a milky sheen at certain
angles, much like moonstone, and is produced in Brazil. Your material
might
be this, or it might be a simulant given a similar name. Quartz glass is
easy to make, and it's often used for beads, etc. If you're reselling this
material, it would behoove you to take some to a gemologist for
identification.]

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 06:46:58 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry ShelleyM
wrote:

Otherwise do you think I'd be safer to describe them as 'man-made gyrosol
quartz' - just to be on the safe side?

A wrong label, even if on the conservative or safe side, is still wrong. If
you don't know, then just tell buyers you're not sure what they are, or if
they're real, but that you liked them. That's a lot better than hedging and
calling them anything that they might not be, even if you're calling them just
glass.

If you've only got a couple of these things, that might be best. If you've got
several more, find the gemologist. then the cost to identify them will be
spread around several pieces, and shouldn't be much in any case, I'd think.
It's a simple test.

Peter

In the flesh they are slightly more milky than moonstone, not quite as opaly
but almost. Very difficult to photograph to get a really good idea of what
it looks like.

Well at least I know there is such a thing as Gyrosol quartz and it is a
natural stone, just not sure if that's what I've got despite being told that
it is - I don't trust all suppliers!

Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group

"grenner" wrote in message
...
As far as I know Gyrosol is quartz but a very milky quartz that resembles
Moonstone. So they could be Moonstone too. I cannot tell from looking at
the picture how milky they look.

Greg

"Peter W. Rowe"
If you've only got a couple of these things, that might be best. If
you've got
several more, find the gemologist. then the cost to identify them will be
spread around several pieces, and shouldn't be much in any case, I'd
think.
It's a simple test.

Hello Peter,

A simple test?
She wants to be sure if the stone is e.g. a glass, a quartz, a
moonstone....etc."
Now, in an unmounted stone there is not much of a problem. You can determine
the density, get a spotreading of the refractive index...etc.
Mounted in a piece of jewellery (as I see in the orginal vendors website),
that's another piece of cake.
As a (yes, amateur) gemmologist I would grab my microscope to look if there
are air-bubbles visible.
OK, then it's glass. But if not, it still could be a good quality glass. "or
quartz, or moonstone, or....".

If you don't see any tell-tale inclusions under the microscope, and you
don't want to use hardness-tests (!of course not, only in the case on the
backside of a cabochon) you can't make a descision. .
Than you could turn to X-ray analysis, but that is hardly a "simple" test.

Greetings,

Jaap

On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 20:46:29 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Jaap Bos"
wrote:


Hello Peter,

A simple test?
She wants to be sure if the stone is e.g. a glass, a quartz, a
moonstone....etc."
Now, in an unmounted stone there is not much of a problem. You can determine
the density, get a spotreading of the refractive index...etc.
Mounted in a piece of jewellery (as I see in the orginal vendors website),
that's another piece of cake.
As a (yes, amateur) gemmologist I would grab my microscope to look if there
are air-bubbles visible.
OK, then it's glass. But if not, it still could be a good quality glass. "or
quartz, or moonstone, or....".

If you don't see any tell-tale inclusions under the microscope, and you
don't want to use hardness-tests (!of course not, only in the case on the
backside of a cabochon) you can't make a descision. .
Than you could turn to X-ray analysis, but that is hardly a "simple" test.

Greetings,

Jaap


Hi Jaap,

I'll agree that if she needs a full gem identification, then yes, it's more
involved. But I think you're "making a mountain of a molehill" here. She was
told it was a quartz variety, and wonders if that name means some type of
moonstone, or if it's just glass. Now, since the name doesn't mean moonstone,
we probably can eliminate that possibility. Plus, moonstones don't generally
look the same anyway, so an experienced gemmologist could be pretty sure of
that just by looking. And that leaves, in this instance, just telling if it's
quartz or not. Quite possibly that could be done with just a loupe or
microscope, since the milky look of the stones will be due to natural
inclusions, and cab grade material will likely have other larger inclusions,
healed fractures, etc, , which one might be able to see easily enough to be
sure at least that it's a natural material, rather than glass. For more
certainty and detail, or if one can't just see what it is, then either a
polariscope (though I doubt the bezels are open backed for this) or
refractometer would do the trick nicely. I was, in my initial answer, thinking
of just a quick spot reading on the refractometer plus visual examination..
Although that's not a simple test for the lay person, owing to the lack of the
somewhat pricey instrument, for a gemmologist, who will no doubt have one
handy, it IS indeed a quick and simple test, unless the surface of the stone
isn't reachable due to the setting. But the earrings looked to me like the
stone should be quite reachable.

In any case, these points are partly just a matter of how completely sure one
needs to be in her case, and what sort of work she's asking for. We're not
talking about any exhaustive gem identification procedure with a complete
unknown, just the desire to verify whether the identification given by the
seller of the stones is true or not. Beyond that, is another whole "ball
game".

And qualtiy of glass? (grin). That's getting even a bit out of the realm of
gemology, and into rather subjective opinion territory.

cheers,

Peter

Thanks Peter - you're quite right it would still be a wrong label. I only
have a few of these left. I'll have to find out how much the gemologist
would charge and if it would be worth my while. Depends if I decide to buy
more or if my supplier has more.

Otherwise I'll carry on like I have been. So far I've been telling my
customers basically that I was told they were gyrosol quartz, but am not
really sure, they may be glass. I haven't lost a sale because of that yet, I
think they are pretty whatever they are and my customers seem to think so
too. I just felt it would be good to be properly informed - besides I
wondered what they were too - especially as I'd never heard of the word
gyrosol/girosol! I wonder now if gyrosol word is the UK equivalent of
girosol.

Shelley
http://www.shelleym.co.uk - remove nospam to e-mail me
http://forums.delphiforums.com/PCJewelry/start -our Polymer Clay Jewelry
Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKPolyClay/ - UK polymer clay group



"Peter W. Rowe" pwrowe@ixDOTnetcomDOTcom wrote in message
...
On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 06:46:58 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry ShelleyM
wrote:

Otherwise do you think I'd be safer to describe them as 'man-made
gyrosol
quartz' - just to be on the safe side?

A wrong label, even if on the conservative or safe side, is still wrong.
If
you don't know, then just tell buyers you're not sure what they are, or if
they're real, but that you liked them. That's a lot better than hedging
and
calling them anything that they might not be, even if you're calling them
just
glass.