Featured Thoughts on this newer looking 14K ring

Can you show an example please @Ce BCA ? My vision is nowhere near as good as it once was!

 

I don't have a photo tube on the scope so I can't take any useful photos through it, sorry. But it is like night and day compared to my loupe (which is an decent Belomo). Even at the lowest resolution (7.5x) the scope is both much clearer and easier to see with than the loupe at 10x - hallmarks you can't read with the loupe become instantly much clearer and easier to read.

With the right light you can see the inclusions in stones, even the growth patterns in some stones under polarised light so you can sometimes see if amethysts are natural or lab grown. You can see growth lines on larger lab rubies (if the setting allows) etc. Today I was convinced some stones should be amethyst, but the meter was saying tourmaline, checked with the microscope and inclusions were indeed consistent with tourmaline.

You are best off trying one out somewhere so you can get a sense of how good they are. Also when I bought mine about 7 years ago I took advice from a gemmologist and went for a high quality used scope instead of a new one. I got an early 90's model Nikon for £800 on ebay, the current version of the same scope is £12,000 !

 

oops. I probably should have said high quality. Yes, you are absolutely correct. I never thought of a monocular scope!! I'll have to buy one and check it out when time allows. As it is, I have a digital I use for photographing details and enlarging on my desktop and a traditional microscope. I don't buy jewelry nearly as much as I used to so they are collecting dust right now. The new property is keeping me well occupied, and I am definitely getting rusty and forgetful. Thank you for giving a much better solution