Imitation Precious Stones: Doublets

To give better wearing quality to paste imitations the doublet was devised. This name is used because the product is in two parts, a lower or back portion of paste and an upper or top portion of some cheap but hard genuine stone. Garnet is probably used for this purpose to a greater extent than any other material, although quartz or colorless topaz will do very well.

The usual arrangement of the parts can be seen in Fig. 15, the garnet covering only a part of the upper surface, namely the table part and a small portion of the sloping surface of the top. In high class doublets the hard mineral covers the paste to the girdle. (See Fig. 16.) The color of the garnet does not interfere seriously with that of the paste.

If a "diamond" doublet is desired the slice of garnet is made nearly as thin as paper and it covers only the table of the brilliant. It is thus practically colorless. A thin slice of red garnet over a green background is not noticeable, as all the red is absorbed in passing through the green material beneath. With a blue base, the red upper layer may give a very slight purple effect. With yellow a slight orange tint results and of course with a red back no perceptible difference would result.

The two materials are cemented together, by means of a transparent waterproof cement. The triplet, described in a previous leeson, is even better than the doublet and more difficult to detect. Both the file test and the sunlight-card test serve to detect doublets, as well as paste imitations, except that in the file test with the fully protected doublet the back of the stone must be tested with the file, as the girdle and top are of hard material.

In the sunlight-card test of a doublet (the refraction of garnet being single like that of glass), single images of the facets will be had on the card when the sunlight is reflected onto it. A reflection of the lower or inner surface of the garnet top can be seen also and this serves to still further identify a doublet or a triplet. The appearance of this reflection is much like that received on the card from the top of the table. It is larger than the reflections of the smaller facets and is but little colored.

Tests for Doublets. A trained eye can also detect a doublet or a triplet by noting the difference in the character of the surface luster of the garnet part and of the glass part. Garnet takes a keener and more resinous luster than glass. By tipping the doublet so that light is reflected to the eye from the sloping top surface, one can see at once where the garnet leaves off and the glass begins. Even through a show window one can tell a doublet in this way although here it is necessary to move oneself, instead of the stone, until a proper position is obtained to get a reflection from the top slope of the doublet.

If the garnet covers the whole top of the imitation then it is not possible to get so direct a comparison, but even here one can look first at the top surface and then at the back and thus compare the luster. It is also well to closely examine with a lens the region of the girdle, to see if any evidence of the joining of two materials can be seen. Frequently the lapidary bevels the edge so as to bring the line of junction between real and false material at the sharp edge of the bevel. Boiling a doublet in alcohol or chloroform will frequently dissolve the cement and separate the parts.

The dichroscope also serves to detect the false character of doublets and paste imitations, as neither shows dichroism. As rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and in fact most colored stones of value, show distinct dichroism, this test is a sure one against these imitations.

Triplets and doublets too may be exposed by dipping them sidewise into oil, thus removing the prismatic refraction almost completely, as the oil has about the same refractive index as the stone. One can then look directly through glass and garnet, or other topping material, separately, and each material then shows its proper color. Thus zones of color appear in a doublet or triplet when under the oil. A real gem would appear almost uniform in color under these conditions.