Alexandrite! Useful Info and a Short Rant
Posted in response to a customer inquiry:
Much of the Alexandrite currently available on the market comes out of either India or Tanzania, but the source of it is not always specified. There are other sources including Brazil and Sri Lanka. There is virtually no Russian-sourced Alexandrite commercially available at this time.
There are only 3 or 4 reliable/trustworthy sources for natural Alexandrite in the US. The two companies that we purchase our stones from have both been in business for more than 50 years now. Most of what we get in comes out of Tanzania (the color is preferable to Indian Alexandrite).
Owing largely to its price tag, we don't keep large stores of Alexandrite in house. The last batch we did get in the stones are of very good to excellent quality and color change properties (we do still have more of this great batch of stones in stock).
If you are looking to purchase Natural Alexandrite jewelry items (and we do have more than just earrings, we just haven't gotten the listings up on Etsy yet), we just ask (or recommend) that you do your due diligence first. There is an abundance of fake, misclassified and downright misrepresented natural and created Alexandrite on the market, especially on Etsy and eBay.
It angers me to see just how many people especially on Etsy totally misrepresent what it is that they're selling and have no clue about FTC guidelines when it comes to selling and listing gemstones. Some of them are simply ignorant but many/most of them intentionally mislead the consumer by labeling their "stones" as either created or natural Alexandrite.
Let me make one thing abundantly clear: Corundum-based "Alexandrite" is NEITHER created or Natural Alexandrite. Alexandrite is a chrysoberyl based stone, it is not corundum-based. As such, anyone claiming to be selling even Created Alexandrite that states or tells you that it is Corundum based is categorically misrepresenting what it is that they are selling.
It can be classified as simulated Alexandrite and, in most cases, any color-change properties are chemically induced using an inexpensive surface treatment. Lab-grown Corundum does not contain or exhibit any inherent color-change properties. There are hundreds if not thousands of listings on Etsy that "claim" otherwise. It's dishonest, deceptive and actually illegal to list it as such, but that doesn't stop people from doing so.
If you have more questions or if you would like to learn more about Alexandrite or other gemstones or jewelry items, please do let us know.
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