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News and Information

Some interesting facts related to our business appear on this page. The content will evolve with time.

Geolite Receives 2010 Best of Evergreen Award

Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement NEW YORK, NY, November 5, 2010 -- Geolite has been selected for the 2010 Best of Evergreen Award in the Precious Metal Jewelry category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA). The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2010 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity.  Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties. About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising. The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America. SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association CONTACT: U.S. Commerce Association Email: PublicRelations@uscaaward.com URL: http://www.uscaaward.com

 New synthetic vanadate garnet

We've been experimenting with the crystal growth of a new garnet-structured material, a calcium sodium magnesium vanadate garnet Ca₂NaMg₂V₃O₁₂, and published a paper on it in the Journal of Crystal Growth (T.F. Ciszek, “Growth of Alkaline-Earth Vanadate Garnet by Synthetic Contact Metamorphism with Molten V₂O₅-Na₂SiO₃ Acting on Dolomite,” J. Crystal Growth 287 (2006) pp. 323-325).  It is a pretty orangey-red color, as shown here in the photo of a drusy crystal cluster.  If you would like to see more details about this material, a preprint of the paper can be viewed at vanadate garnet preprint.   

Carats, Karats, Carrots?

Sometimes there is confusion about the terms "carat" and "karat" as they are used in describing jewelry.  A carat (ct) is a unit of weight used for gemstones. It probably originates from the carob seed which, because of its remarkable uniformity in size and weight, was used in early times as a comparison weight for gemstones.  It takes approximately 5 carob seeds to weigh 1 gram.  Now, the carat is defined as exactly 1/5 of a gram.  For very small stones, the carat is further subdivided into 100 points (e.g. a 1/4 carat stone weighs 25 points).

1 carat = 100 points = 0.2 grams = 200 milligrams = 0.007 ounces.

A karat (kt, or k) is a completely different animal used to describe the fraction of pure gold in a gold alloy.  Pure gold is said to be 24 kt gold. A number smaller than 24 means the gold is alloyed with other metals (usually copper and silver) . If the alloy is 1/2 gold or 50% gold, it would be called 12 kt gold (12/24 gold).  A typical 18 kt gold item might contain 18 parts gold, 3 parts copper, and 3 parts silver for a total of 24 parts.  This is the same as saying it is 75% gold, 12.5% copper, and 12.5% silver.   We probably inherit this cumbersome system from the old practice of subdividing ownership of a merchant vessel into 24 shares.  One reason for confusion is that sometimes the spellings carat and karat are used interchangeably.  However it is spelled, if applied to gemstones it is the weight; if applied to gold it is the fraction (in 1/24's) of pure gold in the alloy.

Padparadscha Sapphires

The rarest and most valuable fancy color sapphires (colors other than the stereotypical blue) are exquisite orangy-pink or pinkish-orange gems named "padparadscha" after the lotus blossom.  The exact color has always been a matter of debate: different dealers and different laboratories around the world disagree on the exact color described by this term.    Perhaps this is partially because the lotus blossom itself can have a range of color shades.  Natural padparadscha sapphires (sometimes called pads) sell at a premium, nearing the price for a fine blue sapphire.   Prices of several thousand dollars per carat are not unusual.  Although the exact color description is debated, the beauty of these rare gemstones  with their delicate blended pink and orange shades is universally esteemed.   Found originally in Sri Lanka, pads have become collectors' items which are bought up as quickly as they are found.

Lotus blossom photo by Yasuko Seki	Pinker version of the lotus blossom

Geolite's laboratory-grown, padparadscha-colored fancy sapphires are produced by slowly cooling high temperature solutions containing the aluminum oxide that is common to all rubies and sapphires along with coloring (doping) compounds such as titanium oxide (it is chromium oxide that colors both ruby and conventional pink sapphires, depending on the concentration level).  The single crystals of our padparadscha sapphires grow motionless, submerged in the liquid, without the rotation and harsh thermal perturbations present in melt-grown crystals by the Czochralski pulling or Verneuil flame-fusion techniques.  Rotation and thermal perturbations cause banding and other defects that detract from the clarity of the material.  Gems cut from Geolite man-made sapphire crystals are exceptionally bright, and we are able to bring them to you at a price that is a small fraction of the cost of natural padparadschas. They have the same hardness, composition (aluminum oxide), density, etc. as natural sapphire, but are grown in the laboratory instead of in the earth's mantle.

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Information Resource on Gem and Jewelry Related Topics 

The Ganoksin Project,  http://www.ganoksin.com/index.htm

Open to the public, free of charge - a substantial library of articles, publications, reports, and technical data on gem and jewelry related topics; as well as a sizable collection of art and jewelry galleries, for both the casual visitor and the professional.