What’s In a Name?
Just because the person trying to sell you that emerald cut piece of glass called it aquamarine, doesn’t mean it is the real deal. You may have heard the words, “mass aqua” and thought, what a deal! Well, maybe for the swindler, but not for you. Mass aqua, blue borosilicate glass, is one of the aquamarine counterfeits that sometimes try to trick its way into acceptability. Others misnomers include Siam aquamarine, which is really a heat treated blue zircon; synthetic aquamarine, which is either synthetic corundum or spinel (natural spinel is a resplendent gem that rivals ruby, but it is also one of the most often created synthetically), Nerchinsk aquamarine, which is blue topaz and Brazilian aquamarine, yet another name for blue topaz. But you have to be especially wary of that last one, since some of the finest real aquamarines come from Brazil. However, not everyone is out to beat you out of a buck. Sometimes these misnomers are used innocently enough as trade names by reputably vendors. You might consider this as a tribute to natural aquamarine--the natural gem is so remarkable that it has inspired imitators. The key, of course, is knowledge. As an informed consumer, you will know that a mass aqua is just glass and should be priced accordingly. Don’t let the names fool you.
