Fingerprint with rectilinear healing pattern. This healing pattern of right angles indicates the fingerprint lies on or near to a prism face (parallel to the c axis). As fingerprints form at more oblique angles relative to the c axis, the angles of the healed zones also become more oblique. Fingerprints lying perpendicular to the c axis will display triangular or hexagonal symmetry.
Natural Sapphire • Sri Lanka (Ceylon) • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Diffuse Fiber Optic + ShadowingPhotographer: E. Billie Hughes • Image Number: A-001-9359-1 • Date Posted: 30 September 2016
Roedder, E. (1962) Ancient fluids in crystals. Scientific American, Vol. 207, pp. 38–47; RWHL*.
Eppler, W.F. (1959) The origin of healing fissures in gemstones. Journal of Gemmology, Vol. 7, No. 2, April, pp. 40–66; RWHL*.
An arrow points the way. This fingerprint creates an arrow pattern decorating an unheated Madagascar sapphire.
Natural Sapphire • Madagascar • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Fiber Optic: Diffuse ObliquePhotographer: E. Billie Hughes • Image Number: A-001-8448-1 • Date Posted: 15 August 2016
Eppler, W.F. (1966) The origin of negative crystals in gemstones. Journal of Gemmology, Vol. 10, No. 2, April, pp. 49–56; RWHL*.
Melted crystals surrounded by heat-altered fingerprints in a heat-treated Madagascar sapphire.
Natural Sapphire • Madagascar • Enhancements: Heat (H) • Lighting Conditions: Diffuse Light Field + Fiber OpticPhotographer: Patharaphum Sudprasert • Image Number: A-001-8832-1 • Date Posted: 30 August 2016
Hughes, R.W. (1997) Ruby & Sapphire. Boulder, CO, RWH Publishing, 512 pp.; RWHL*.
A network of coarse negative crystals forms in a fingerprint pattern in this spinel from Myanmar’s Mogok Stone Tract.
Natural Spinel • Myanmar (Burma); Mogok/Namya • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark FieldPhotographer: Richard W. Hughes • Image Number: A-001-6895-1 • Date Posted: 01 June 2016
Gübelin, E.J. and Koivula, J.I. (2005) Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, Volume 2. Basel, Switzerland, Opinio Publishers, 830 pp.; RWHL*.
Transparent birefringent crystals and heat-altered fingerprints in a sapphire of unknown origin.
Natural Sapphire • Not Determinable • Enhancements: Heat (H) • Lighting Conditions: Diffuse Light Field + Crossed PolarsPhotographer: Richard W. Hughes • Image Number: A-001-6792-1 • Date Posted: 26 May 2016
Gübelin, E.J. and Koivula, J.I. (2005) Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, Volume 3. Basel, Switzerland, Opinio Publishers, 672 pp.; RWHL*.
A fingerprint inclusion in a natural spinel from Vietnam, Luc Yen mines. The individual channels of a fingerprint are actually tiny negative crystals.
Natural Spinel • Vietnam • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark FieldPhotographer: Richard W. Hughes • Image Number: A-001-6195-2 • Date Posted: 27 April 2016
‘Scuse me while I pierce the sky. A negative crystal cuts through a fingerprint against a sky blue backdrop in this unheated Sri Lanka sapphire.
Natural Sapphire • Sri Lanka (Ceylon) • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark Field + Diffuse Fiber OpticPhotographer: E. Billie Hughes • Image Number: A-001-6390-1 • Date Posted: 06 May 2016
Iridescent fingerprint in a sapphire. The rectangular healing pattern suggests that this fingerprint lies parallel to a prism face.
Natural Sapphire • Sri Lanka (Ceylon) • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Fiber Optic: ObliquePhotographer: Patharaphum Sudprasert • Image Number: A-001-5883-1 • Date Posted: 19 April 2016
A classic scene in a Sri Lankan sapphire, where a secondary “fingerprint” surrounds a primary negative crystal. The basal pinacoid faces feature triangular growth markings, while the interior contains two v-shaped diaspore needles and black plates of graphite.
Natural Sapphire • Sri Lanka (Ceylon) • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Fiber Optic: TransmittedPhotographer: E. Billie Hughes • Image Number: A-001-6088-2 • Date Posted: 26 April 2016
Etch marks of the surface of a natural (in the left portion of the photo), along with a fingerprint inclusion within the gem itself (right side of the photo). Note the identical pattern of the etch marks and the negative crystals within the fingerprint, both reflections of the underlying atomic symmetry.
Natural Sapphire • Myanmar (Burma); Mogok • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark FieldPhotographer: E. Billie Hughes • Image Number: A-001-5334-4 • Date Posted: 28 March 2016
A delicate fingerprint decorates the interior of this blue sapphire from Madagascar. This represents a secondary inclusion, one that formed via the healing of a fissure after the host gem had formed. Its undamaged nature demonstrates that this stone has not been subjected to high-temperature heat treatment.
Natural Sapphire • Madagascar • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark Field + ShadowingPhotographer: Richard W. Hughes • Image Number: A-001-5693-2 • Date Posted: 08 April 2016
Natural Sapphire • Madagascar • Enhancements: None Detected (None) • Lighting Conditions: Dark Field + ShadowingPhotographer: Richard W. Hughes • Image Number: A-001-5693-1 • Date Posted: 08 April 2016
