General Provisions
The gemological examination is a fairly new type of forensic examination, despite the fact that gemological examination itself and the science of gemology have been known to mankind for a long time.
The need to introduce this type of examination is caused by an increase in requests to establish the characteristics of precious, semi-precious stones, and the origin of research objects, to establish the value of precious, semi-precious stones from pre-trial investigation bodies and courts.
The subject of gemological examination is factual data on the objects of study and documentation that provides comprehensive information on the objects of gemological examination.
The objects of gemological examination are precious stones of the first and fourth order, precious stones of organogenic formation, semi-precious stones (first and second order), decorative stones and products made of them, jewellery with inserts of stones and raw materials (diamond, amber, etc.).
Tasks solved by gemological examination
The main tasks of the examination of precious stones are to determine:
– classification characteristics of stones (stone products and stone inserts in jewellery);
– qualitative characteristics of stones, stone products and jewellery with stone inserts;
– origin of stones;
– refinement of stones;
– country of origin for amber;
– deposits of decorative stones;
– compliance of stone marking with its actual product characteristics;
– compliance with marking and packaging of stone products with normative and technical documentation;
– compliance with the quality of stone products with standards, and specifications.
Issues to be resolved during forensic gemological examinations
- – Are the stone samples provided for research precious, decorative, natural, synthetic or imitation? If so, which one?
- – What are the qualitative characteristics of the stone samples provided for research?
- – What is the origin of the stone samples provided for research?
- – From which deposit were the decorative stones provided for research extracted?
- – What is the country of origin of the amber provided for the study?
- – Were the samples of stones provided for research refined?
- – What is the cost of stones provided for research?
- – Do the marking data correspond to the actual product characteristics of the stones?
- – Does the quality of the stone product meet the requirements of standards and technical specifications for organoleptic characteristics?
Gemological examination may be asked other questions.
The condition for the examination is the provision of research objects (stones, stone products, jewellery with inserts with stones).
