Lab NotesSummer 2024 - Volume 60, Issue 2, Summer 2024, Vol. 60, No. 2

Bicolor Chrysoberyl with Chrysoberyl and Alexandrite Zones

Hikaru Sato

Figure 1. This 0.73 ct octagonal step cut was composed of chrysoberyl and alexandrite. The alexandrite portion showed a color change from blue-green in fluorescent light to red-purple in incandescent light. Photos by Shunsuke Nagai.
Figure 1. This 0.73 ct octagonal step cut was composed of chrysoberyl and alexandrite. The alexandrite portion showed a color change from blue-green in fluorescent light to red-purple in incandescent light. Photos by Shunsuke Nagai.

Recently, the Tokyo laboratory received for identification service a bicolor 0.73 ct octagonal step cut measuring 5.33 × 4.37 × 2.74 mm. One zone was greenish yellow, and the other was blue-green in fluorescent light and red-purple in incandescent light (figure 1).

Standard gemological testing results, including a refractive index of 1.747 to 1.753, and Raman spectroscopy proved that this stone was zoned chrysoberyl, and more notably an extremely rare zoned chrysoberyl and alexandrite gem. Microscopic examination revealed the presence of fingerprints, straight graining, and two-phase fluid inclusions (figure 2). No evidence of coating or clarity enhancement was observed. This is the first time GIA has documented a stone composed of chrysoberyl and alexandrite.

Hikaru Sato is a gemologist trainee at GIA in Tokyo.

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Bicolor Chrysoberyl with Chrysoberyl and Alexandrite Zones