Meet Tracy, Aronstam’s on-premises graduate gemologist – She’s a gem!

Tracy is all about the inner – and outer beauty of our gemstones. As a graduate gemologist from GIA, she’s trained to use some of our more technical instruments.

The most valuable and useful instrument to any gemologist is the microscope. Your average jeweler’s loupe has a 10x magnification.  Our microscope allows her to see up to 60x. Using its overhead lighting, Tracy can see any surface imperfections in either your gemstone or your mountings. It also provides darkfield illumination which allows Tracy to see inside the gemstones — and the inclusions that make your gemstone unique.

A refractometer is another useful tool in our gemologist’s arsenal of equipment. This tool allows Tracy to test how the light goes through a gemstone. In many cases, it is the easiest way to ascertain differences between gemstones that look alike, such as a blue topaz and an aquamarine.

One of Tracy’s favorite pieces of equipment is the dichroscope.  This small piece of equipment allows her to view the pleochroism of a gemstone, meaning viewing different colors on different axes. Iolite is a great example, which is almost colorless form one angle and a beautiful bluish-violet from another.

Aronstam Fine Jewelers is also lucky to have a Sarin DiaScan system, allowing Tracy to scan your diamond to create a computer rendered image of its shape and facets. This system also can estimate a cut grade according to third party laboratories such as the Gemological Institute of America or the American Gem Society.

These fantastic tools, along with more basic ones, such as a scale, Diamond Lite box, polariscope, and a UV light box are just a few of the tools our Aronstam Fine Jewelers has at its disposal. Tracy and others here use them daily to identify, grade, and match gemstones, or to appraise family treasures.

Sometimes the science of jewelry is just as fascinating as the jewelry itself!