Tattoo Removal + Business

Here is an interesting article on tattoo removal. A few months ago I remember having an interesting conversation with a Swiss expert who is familiar with Laser Ablation Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy. He said that the instruments were not only capable of detecting light elements but also removing tattoos.

Rachael Barron writes:

Laser maker takes stake in ink developer as two pair up on tattoo removal.

There are things in life one can’t help but regret. Like that snake tattoo on a forearm that circles the name of an ex-girlfriend. The options: live with it, or go though a painful and expensive removal process.

Laser maker Candela hopes to change all that. The company said Thursday it will be adding to its arsenal of tattoo removal technology the development of a new light-based device. The device’s design will work in tandem with a specialized ink in development geared for easier tattoo removal.

The news underscores innovations that could benefit from a mess of tattoos going mainstream on Hollywood actors and NBA players in recent years.

It come as part of a deal signed with the ink’s developer, privately held Freedom-2. Candela also said it made an investment in the West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based ink maker, but financial details were undisclosed.

If all goes as planned, the combo should allow people with a change of heart the ability to remove a tattoo with a single laser treatment.

Much of the removal ability lies in Freedom-2’s ink. The ink is basically a micro-encapsulation of color pigments within colorless polymer beads. A single laser treatment is expected to break up the beads, allowing the body to naturally expel the dye.

It’s a way better alternative when one considers what’s currently available. The most common technique is laser surgery. Here, doctors pulse light through the top layer of skin, where the light’s energy is absorbed by the tattoo’s pigment and breaks down. The broken-down ink is then absorbed by the body.

But make no mistake, at least at this point, it’s not a one-time deal. Different lasers are more effective at removing certain colors or work better on different skin shades. As well, there is only so much laser energy the skin can tolerate in one sitting. As a result, it can take about six to 12 treatments to achieve removal. And the price can range from about $1,000, to $5,000 and beyond, depending on tattoo size and location.

About a quarter of adults age 18 to 50 in the United States have a tattoo, and almost 20 percent of them have debated removing it or covering it up, according to the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Candela already has one removal device on the market known for its abilities to clean away black, blue, and green tattoo pigments. It also is readying to unveil its next-generation model in February that the company says will remove an even wider palette of colors. The expected price tag is in the range of $85,000 to $150,000, according to equity research firm Maxim Group.

But perhaps such machines will gradually become a thing of the past with such breakthroughs as inks trying to be offered by Freedom-2.

The company has been testing its ink’s removal prowess, including on its CEO Martin Schmeig (now that’s devotion). Freedom-2 said it plans to have its ink on the market this year.

Candela’s stock rose $0.12 to $12.60 in recent trading.

More info @
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20818&hed=Tattoo+Removal%e2%80%99s+Investors

How To Separate Frequently Encountered Colorless Stones

- Visual observation: (10x lens) Look for color, luster, cut, doublet/triplet junctions, if any.

- Determine optic character: Single refractive (SR) / Double refractive (DR) / Anomalous Double refractive (ADR) / Aggregate (AGG).

- Spectrum: Many colorless stones may have diagnostic spectrum.

- Microscope: Inclusions may be diagnostic, but look for inclusions that differentiate natural and synthetic, doublet / triplet.

- Fluorescence: Look under shortwave and longwave for diagnostic colors.

- Immersion cell: Use immersion cell and high refractive index liquid to separate doublets/triplets.

- Refractometer: Confirm spectroscope reading with refractometer.

The colorless stones, which may resemble one another in appearance and values, are:

Diamond

- Hardness: 10
- Specific gravity: 3.52
- Refractive index: 2.42
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: negative refractive index, dispersion, luster, look at the girdle plane; cleavage, inclusions, weak to strong fluorescence in long wave (may be inert). Diamonds may be treated. Sapphire, synthetic sapphire, spinel, synthetic spinel, zircon, synthetic lithium niobate, synthetic rutile, synthetic yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), synthetic gadolium gallium garnet (GGG), synthetic strontium titanate, synthetic cubic zircona (CZ), topaz, quartz, and glass may look like diamond. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Synthetic cubic zirconia

- Hardness: 8.5
- Specific gravity: 5.60 – 6.0
- Refractive index: 2.15 – 2.18 (average)
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: negative refractive index, dispersion, luster, orange flash on the pavilion, girdle, inclusions, fluorescence. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic strontium titanate

- Hardness: 5.5
- Specific gravity: 5.13
- Refractive index: 2.41
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: negative refractive index, dispersion, luster, girdle, inclusions, fluorescence, rounded facet edges. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic gadolium gallium garnet (GGG)

- Hardness: 6.5
- Specific gravity: 7.05
- Refractive index: 1.97
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: negative refractive index, dispersion, luster, girdle, color, inclusions, fluorescence (strong orange yellow (LW) and yellow (SW)), rounded facet edges. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG)

- Hardness: 8.5
- Specific gravity: 4.58
- Refractive index: 1.83
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: negative refractive index, dispersion, luster, girdle, inclusions, fluorescence (variable). Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic rutile

- Hardness: 6.5
- Specific gravity: 4.25
- Refractive index: 2.61 – 2.90
- Optic sign: Uniaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.287
- Other points: negative refractive index, strong dispersion, luster, doubling of back facets, inclusions, rounded facet edges. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic lithium niobate

- Hardness: 5.5
- Specific gravity: 4.64
- Refractive index: 2.21 – 2.30
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.09
- Other points: soft, negative refractive index, luster, inclusions. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Zircon (high type)

- Hardness: 7.5
- Specific gravity: 4.69
- Refractive index: 1.93 -1.99
- Optic sign: Uniaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.059
- Other points: dispersion, negative refractive index, luster, inclusions, doubling of back facets, spectrum. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Syntehic spinel

- Hardness: 8
- Specific gravity: 3.63
- Refractive index: 1.728
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: dispersion, vitreous, luster, inclusions, fluorescence. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic Moissanite

- Hardness: 9.25
- Specific gravity: 3.22
- Refractive index: 2.65-2.69
- Optic sign: DR
- Other points: Color, luster, fluorescence, inclusions, doubling of back facets. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Sapphire

- Hardness: 9
- Specific gravity: 4
- Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.77
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.008
- Other points: vitreous, luster, inclusions, fluorescence. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic white (colorless) sapphire

- Hardness: 9
- Specific gravity: 4
- Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.77
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.008
- Other points: vitreous, luster, inclusions, fluorescence. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Glass

- Hardness: 5.5
- Specific gravity: 3.70
- Refractive index: 1.60 – 1.66
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, soft, inclusions (gas bubbles, swirls), luster, spectrum. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Assembled Stones

Doublets / Triplets

Diamond composites (diamond / diamond)
- Refractive index: 2.42
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Immersion (Look for differences in color and luster between the sections), polishing marks.

Synthetic corundum or spinel on / synthetic strontium titanate
- Other points: Look for differences in color and luster between the sections, gas bubbles)

The Art Of Faberge

By A Kenneth Snowman
New York Graphic Society Ltd, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
ISBN 0-8212-0609-5
1953 / 1962

New York Graphic Society writes:

Carl Faberge, goldsmith and jeweler to the Imperial Court of Russia in the years before First World War, was a consummate craftsman, a virtuoso artist in the design and production of exquisite objects. It was his good fortune and ours, comments the author of this magnificently illustrated study of his work, that he was born into an age still able to afford him. When the new Soviet government took over control of private business after the war, Faberge himself is said to have asked, with characteristic lack of ceremony, for ten minutes grace ‘to put on my hat and coat’. He died in Lausanne in 1920, an exile from his country and his work.

The photographs in this volume include a selection from the collection of the Kremlin Museums of the fabulous Imperial Easter Eggs presented each year to Tsarinas, and objects from the British Royal Collections at Sandringham, from other museums, and from the most important private collection in the United States: jewelry, flower studies and animal carvings in semi-precious stones, a dazzling assembly of snuff boxes, cigarette cases, parasol handles, inkwells, clocks and lorgnettes, chess sets and letter openers.

How To Avoid Mistakes

Warren Edward Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway writes:

'What counts for most people in investing is not how much they know, but rather how realistically they define what they don't know. An investor needs to do very few things right as long as he or she avoids big mistakes.'

How To Separate Frequently Encountered Blue Stones

- Visual observation: (10x lens) Look for color, luster, cut, doublet/triplet junctions, if any.

- Determine optic character: Single refractive (SR) / Double refractive (DR) / Anomalous Double
refractive (ADR) / Aggregate (AGG).

- Spectrum: Many blue stones may have diagnostic spectrum.

- Microscope: Inclusions may be diagnostic, but look for inclusions that differentiate natural and
synthetic, doublet / triplet.

- Dichroscope: Different cutting orientations of natural and synthetic corundum may be revealed by dichroscope.

- Fluorescence: Look under shortwave and longwave for diagnostic colors.

- Immersion cell: Use immersion cell and high refractive index liquid to separate doublets/triplets.

- Refractometer: Confirm spectroscope reading with refractometer.

The blue stones, which may resemble one another in appearance and values, are:

Synthetic blue quartz

- Hardness: 7
- Specific gravity: 2.65
- Refractive index: 1.54 – 1.55
- Optic sign: Uniaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.009
- Other points: Color, inclusions, interference figures, if seen, spectrum. Common look-alikes include aquamarine, blue spinel, blue sapphire, blue topaz, and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Iolite

- Hardness: 7.5
- Specific gravity: 2.60
- Refractive index: 1.54 – 1.55
- Optic sign: Biaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.009
- Other points: Color, pleochroism, inclusions. Iolite may be treated. Common look-alikes include amethyst, tanzanite, blue sapphire, blue spinel, blue tourmaline, tanzanite and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Beryl (aquamarine)

- Hardness: 7.75
- Specific gravity: 2.70-2.90
- Refractive index: 1.56 – 1.59
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.005/9
- Other points: Color, inclusions. Aquamarine may be treated. Common look-alikes include blue topaz and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Beryl (maxixe-type)

- Hardness: 8
- Specific gravity: 2.70 – 2.90
- Refractive index: 1.56 – 1.59
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.005/9
- Other points: Color (unstable color; fades), inclusions. Maxixe type beryl may be treated, and may look like aquamarine, tanzanite, synthetic blue quartz, and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Blue topaz

- Hardness: 8
- Specific gravity: 3.56
- Refractive index: 1.61 – 1.62
- Optic sign: Biaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.010
- Other points: Color. Blue topaz may be treated. Most gem quality stones are relatively clean. Blue topaz may look like aquamarine, blue sapphire, blue spinel, iolite, synthetic blue quartz and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Apatite
- Hardness: 5
- Specific gravity: 3.18
- Refractive index: 1.63 – 1.64
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.002- 4 (average)
- Other points: Color, spectrum, dichroism, inclusions. Gem quality stones may be relatively clean. Apatite may look like blue spinel, blue sapphire, blue topaz, blue tourmaline, and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Tourmaline
- Hardness: 7
- Specific gravity: 3.05
- Refractive index: 1.62 – 1.64
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.018
- Other points: Color, inclusions, pleochroism, doubling of back facets. Tourmaline may be treated. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Common look-alikes include blue sapphire, blue spinel, apatite, blue topaz, tanzanite, iolite and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Tanzanite (Zoisite)

- Hardness: 6.5
- Specific gravity: 3.35
- Refractive index: 1.69 – 1.70
- Optic sign: Biaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.009
- Other points: Color, pleochroism, inclusions. Tanzanites may be treated. Gem quality stones relatively clean. Common look-alikes include blue sapphire, iolite, tourmaline, amethyst and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Spinel

- Hardness: 8
- Specific gravity: 3.60+
- Refractive index: 1.718
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, spectrum, inclusions. Gem quality blue spinels may be clean. Common look-alikes include blue sapphire, blue tourmaline, iolite, tanzanite, amethyst and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic blue spinel

- Hardness: 8
- Specific gravity: 3.63
- Refractive index: 1.728
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, inclusions, Chelsea color filter, fluorescence. Standard identification techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Sapphire

- Hardness: 9
- Specific gravity: 4
- Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.77
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.008
- Other points: Color, inclusions, fluorescence, spectrum. Use microscope to separate natural from synthetic. Sapphires may be treated. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Common look- alikes include tanzanite, blue spinel, blue topaz, blue tourmaline, synthetic blue quartz, iolite and glass. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Synthetic sapphire

- Hardness: 9
- Specific gravity: 4
- Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.77
- Optic sign: Uniaxial negative
- Birefringence: DR; 0.008
- Other points: Color, inclusions, fluorescence, spectrum. Use microscope to separate flame fusion from flux from hydrothermal stones. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Benitoite

- Hardness: 6.5
- Specific gravity: 3.67
- Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.80
- Optic sign: Uniaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.047
- Other points: Color, inclusions, fluorescence, spectrum, dispersion. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Blue zircon

- Hardness: 7.5
- Specific gravity: 4.69
- Refractive index: 1.93 – 1.99
- Optic sign: Uniaxial positive
- Birefringence: DR; 0.059
- Other points: Color, inclusions, spectrum, doubling of back facets, negative refractive index reading, luster, abraded facet junctions. Common look-alikes include blue sapphire, blue topaz, aquamarine, synthetic blue quartz and glass. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments / identify the stones.

Blue diamond

- Hardness: 10
- Specific gravity: 3.52
- Refractive index: 2.42
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Rare; Color, inclusions, fluorescence, spectrum. Blue diamonds may be treated. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Analytical techniques may be required to detect treatments.

Synthetic blue diamond

- Hardness: 10
- Specific gravity: 3.52
- Refractive index: 2.42
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, inclusions, fluorescence, spectrum. Synthetic blue diamonds are produced by high pressure high temperature method. Gem quality stones are relatively clean. Analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Synthetic blue cubic zirconia

- Hardness: 8.5
- Specific gravity: 5.65 +
- Refractive index: 2.15 +
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, negative refractive index reading, luster, dispersion. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Glass

- Hardness: 5.5
- Specific gravity: 3.70
- Refractive index: 1.60 – 1.66
- Optic sign: SR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Color, soft, inclusions (gas bubbles, swirls), luster, Chelsea color filter (for cobalt rich stones), spectrum. Standard / analytical techniques may be required to identify the stones.

Assembled Stones

Doublets / Triplets

Corundum composites (natural crown/synthetic base)
Refractive index: 1.76 – 1.77
Birefringence: DR; 0.008
Other points: Immersion (Look for differences in color and luster between the sections)

Synthetic spinel soude (spinel / spinel)
- Refractive index: 1.728
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Look for differences in color and luster between the sections, gas bubbles)

Garnet topped doublet (glass)
- Refractive index: 1.76 +
- Optic sign: SR/ADR
- Birefringence: -
- Other points: Look for differences in color and luster between the sections, gas bubbles)

Gemstones

By Eduard Gubelin and Franz-Xaver Erni
2000 GeoScience Press Inc, Tucson, Arizona
ISBN 0-945005-36-9

GeoScience Press Inc writes:

This book offers the reader a deep insight into the fascinating world of gemstones. It provides an exact description of the individual gems and goes into their origins and their extraction. In this graphic style, Eduard Gubelin reports on the events deep inside the Earth aeons ago that led to the creation of these superlative, sparkling natural products and their colorful radiance. Even if these wonders of Nature can be reduced to chemical formulae, they nevertheless lose nothing of the fascination that they have had for humans since time immemorial.

Franz-Xaver Erni offers the reader a spellbinding tale of how gemstones have loyally accompanied humans throughout history. How gemstones have served women as jewelry and men as symbols of their power. The loveliest of gems adorn women’s jewelry as well as the crowns and insignia of worldly and spiritual rulers.

Throughout ages, individual gems have been allocated to the months of the year and to the signs of the zodiac and imbued with special healing powers in popular imagination. This book offers qualified answers to all questions relating to gemstones; it is not only an exciting read but also a reference work that can be consulted as required.

About the authors

Dr. Eduard J Gubelin is one of the foremost gemologists in the world.

Dr Franz-Xaver Erni is a freelance journalist (PEN).

The Great Book Of Jewels

By Ernst A and Jean Heiniger
Edita S.A, Lausanne, Switzerland
1974
ISBN 0-517-18132-0

Edita S.A writes:

Through all of the recorded history, jewels have exerted a powerful influence on affairs of men. The Great Book Of Jewels is the first book to capture all the history, romance, intrigue, and enduring beauty of precious stones, from their earliest history to present. The editors, Ernst and Jean Heiniger, aided by a team of nine distinguished gemologists from the world’s foremost museums have amassed a wealth of jewelry lore and scientific fact which they illustrate with man’s most dazzling gems, all newly photographed especially for this book.

Obtaining permission to take these photographs and plotting the historical provenance of the gems required a double genius for diplomacy and persistence. It was also the source of a rich yield of anecdotes, retold in the introduction. Almost five years in the preparation, this work is the result of painstaking research, infinite patience, and thousands of miles of air and automobile travel to three continents. The gemstones you see in this book lie closely guarded in museums, private collections, and darkened bank vaults all over the world. Many have never been available for public inspection.

Synthetic Star Stones

In 1947, the Linde Company began producing synthetic star corundum by the Verneuil (flame fusion) process. Star boules were made by adding 0.1-0.3% of titanium oxide to the mixture. After the boules have cooled, they are reheated to a temperature of 1100-1500ºC for a period of several hours to several days. This causes the titanium oxide to be exsolved in the form of needles arranged in intersecting sets, just like the natural star corundum. The stones, which are known as Linde Stars in the trade are currently produced in several colors, with red and blue being the most common.

For many years they were produced in the United States and often had engraved “L” on the base of the cabochon, which stood for Linde. Today the stones are produced in several other countries as well.

Identification of synthetic star corundum is not a problem because the needles are more evenly distributed and stars appear too good. For now synthetic star is produced by the flame fusion process, and the stones show curved growth lines and gas bubbles characteristic of this process.