Featured Gems ID

Using my new gem tester I’ve tested a load of gems to try to understand what it’s telling me. It would appear contrary and indecisive at times and can change its mind at the drop of a hat but it’s at least giving me some idea of what I’ve got. These gems it’s given me some options and I’d like to check I’m interpreting it correctly. Please would you mind looking. I know the photos aren’t great , the light is dreadful but I’ll get better ones if they aren’t good enough.
1)Almandine- Is that Garnet?


2)Amethyst- gave me a few options but seems the most obvious.

3)Chrysoberyl or Spinel These are black.

4)Chrysoberyl or Spinel

5)Aquamarine, Chrosophrase,Emerald, Nephrite?

6)Ruby or Sapphire. Big lump is just over 1cm

Thanks for looking

 

The large one in the bottom photo looks like a star sapphire,take it out in the sunlight and you may see the star.

 

Great toy, isn't it. Pity it is indecisive sometimes. We can't say anything definite, just likely options.

Yes it is.

It does.

Either stone can be black.

Blue is more likely to be spinel.

Could be emerald.

I'm with Holly, could be star sapphire.

 

You aren’t usually far off!

 

It’s dark at the moment but I will in the morning.
Looking closely it has a spider web type pattern. I’ve tried to photograph it but can only get the pattern to show under a strong light so just ignore the bright spot!

 

As AJ confirmed, almandine a type of garnet. Do the black stones test out of the range for tourmaline (schorl)? Aquamarine is chrysoberyl*; they look like aquamarines to me. Green stones look like chrysoprase. The amethysts speak for themselves. Corundum has a hexagonal crystal structure. Your red stone is the right color for ruby & has that hexagonal divot in it with parallel lines showing around it. I would have to wonder whether lab grown stone.

*See correction below.

 

It needs a focused light source,led and fluorescent usually don't work.The spider web is actually the hexagonal crystal structure.

 

Aquamarine is beryl and not chrysoberyl they are 2 different minerals.

 

Sorry, I sit drinking coffee, corrected. Getting a late start & haven't been through my first cup yet. Holly is absolutely correct: aquamarine & emerald are beryl. Chrysoberyl is something else; alexandrite is a variety of chrysoberyl. Still look like aquamarines to me, maybe topaz.

 

So a ruby and a sapphire are basically the same thing -corundum -in a different colour?

The darker green ones (at 5) or the pale blue ones (at 4)?

 

No idea. I bought a random bag of stones that someone had pulled out of the surrounds. It had Amber,pearls,cameos,gemstones,glass and plastic in it!

 

Exactly. And 'fancy sapphire' covers all the other colors this mineral can be.

Amethyst & citrine are the same thing, quartz, different colors. In this case, a lot of what looks like citrine now started life as the much more common amethyst.

The pale blue looks like aqua or light blue topaz.

 

Number 4 looks like heat-treated aquamarine or spinel; both have more green in them than irradiated blue topaz does. Number 3 looks like chrysoprase. The black ones could be tourmaline, spinel, or even garnet. Some pyrope garnets look black if they're big enough.