Moonstone Cleaning and Polishing

 

Introduction:

Thank you for your purchase.  Your treasure hunt has arrived and now the fun begins!  As this material is still dirty from the mine, the first thing you will want to do is wash it thoroughly in warm water and a little dish soap.  It is best evaluated while wet and under a good light source, such as a desk lamp.  This should give you a really good look at what you have.
 

A breif background about moonstone:

Moonstone is the most well known variety of orthoclase feldspar. It characteristically exhibits a milky floating blue light known as adularescence or the schiller effect. This lovely sheen is due to a combination of orthoclase and albite arranged in layers. Light reflected from the layers if they are not too thick is responsible for the unusual optical properties.

Moonstone shows an almost magical play of light as its characteristic feature. It owes its name to this mysterious gleaming which appears different whenever the stone changes its position in movement. Experts call this the “adularescence”, and in earlier times the phases of waxing and waning moon were though to be discerned in this phenomenon.

Specimen from India shows cloudlike plays of light and shade on beige brown, green, orange or simple brown background. These subdued colours in combination with the fine shine make moonstone an ideal gemstone for jewellery with a sensuous and feminine character.

Many mystical and magical connotations surround this stone. In several cultures, like for example in India, it is considered a sacred and magical gemstone. In India Moonstone is also appreciated as a “dream stone”, as it is supposed to bring about sweet and beautiful dreams. In Arab countries women often were Moonstone sewn into their garment, because there this gemstone is appreciated as a symbol of fertility.

Moonstone symbolises a holistic view of man and woman. Its soft shine will support the emotional and dreamy tendencies of a person. The associations thus involved make Moonstone of course the ideal stone for lovers, reputed to bring forth feelings of tenderness and to protect true love. It is also reported that wearing a Moonstone will further intuition and your sensitivity for others.
 

What should I do next?

After you have washed them in warm water and dish soap (this works very well in a strainer), there should be some moonstone in plain sight but the matrix often conceals very nice moonstone hidden within.  Hold each piece up to the light to see if it has gem potential otherwise you could overlook something valuable.

Next, remove the matrix.  The easiest way to remove the matrix on the rubies is to tumble them.  If you do not have a tumbler, the matrix pieces can be also be carefully broken open with a hammer to reveal the moonstone within.  Because the matrix is not very hard, another good method is to flake the matrix off with a knife or a heavy sewing needle.  A dremmel tool with a diamond tip will also work, but it is a bit tedious.

It is not important which method you use and sometimes you may need to use more than one method to fully remove the matrix; the important thing is that sometimes the best stuff is found inside the matrix.
 

How can I tell if they are good?

The three factors of value for emeralds are Clarity, Color, and Cut (the 3 C's).

Clarity:  How well you can see light through the stone and (relative) absence of flaws.

Color:  The color scale is used to describe the color tones of a gemstone. For color gemstones, the color is measured by tone and hue. Color is the most important criteria in determining the value a colored gemstone. More important than clarity and cut, even subtle differences in hue can correspond with marked variations in valuations

Cut:
     -en cabochon - cut smooth and rounded, used for opaque stones like turquoise
     -faceted - cut with sparkling polished planes, like a diamond