Evanston Review, IL
By RUTH SOLOMON rsolomon@pioneerlocal.com
Learning how to value jewelry is not as easy as it appears.
For starters, it helps if you aren’t wearing reading glasses. That’s the conclusion this reporter made after a brief lesson by gemologist Merrill Essex on how to appraise a gold ring.
Essex brought out three rings that she was in the process of appraising. She then brought out a 10-power “loupe” — a small magnifying lens. The idea is to hold the loupe about 3 inches from your eyes or glasses and then hold up the piece of jewelry, in this case a gold ring. Next, you rotate the ring until you see the markings.
After a frustratingly long time, the characters “14K” finally came into view.
The loupe also helps determine whether a piece of jewelry is solid gold or just gold plated, she said.
A gem to behold
Appraising is made up of two steps, Essex instructs.
“First you identify what you are looking at. Is it real or an imitation? Then you determine what species it is. Is it sapphire or termaline or garrant? Every gem has its own set of properties,” said Essex, who also apprenticed with Highland Park’s Leslie Hyman auctioneers for a year and worked with their resident gemologist.
Diamonds are in a league of their own. But many more gems are colored, she said.
Next, you determine how much it is worth.
Sometimes, Essex has bad news for a customer. For example, what was thought to be a topaz stone turned out to be glass, she said. Topaz is harder than glass, which wears more, Essex explained.
For her final exam, Essex was sent 20 unknown gems and told to identify them. She had to score 100 percent correct, she said.
That prompted her to recall her days as a student at Northwestern University’s business graduate school.
“That was as rigorous,” she said, “as any test I took at Kellogg.”