I bought an Education set of Synthetic Emeralds from Biron Gems for $150 USD. Link Below.
The reason being is that I wanted to examine first hand various synthetics and compare them to the stones I have on hand and I must say that I don’t regret it at all. After viewing the limited imagery on the internet I had to see for myself and be able to zoom through a stone to see what the synthetics are really like with a microscope. I supply some images of the Biron Hydrothermal Emerald Below. I must say that the difference is easily observable. This stone looks like a car crash. Not natural at all.
What I see here is the observable fingerprint and two phase inclusions, also spiral growth helix patterns which I know can occur sometimes in genuine Emeralds but when it is in conjunction with the blobby two phase inclusions it’s pretty obvious even for a beginner like me. I’ve seen images in the below study but had to see for myself.
The thing is, I don’t see any of these features in any of the small collection of stones I have and after various basic tests I thought my stones may have been Biron created gems as they don’t show any reactions to long wave UV light or any change by looking with a Chelsea filter but every other stone in this box does glow red to some degree by the above mentioned basic tests.
After looking at a genuine Biron synthetic stone I am encouraged to believe my small collection may be genuine Zambian Emeralds because of what I am not seeing in the genuine created Biron Emerald.
I now have to get a better microscope to dig deeper.
When it comes to any of the other stones in the education set, it’s quite obvious various published unnatural features just with a 30x loupe. For me it is a great educational tool.