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Tanzanite is generally eye-clean to very slightly included. It is
standard procedure for all Tanzanite to be routinely heat-treated;
this process will melt some inclusions and therefore augment
the quality of clarity. Clarity is a subjective term,
however the following is how the gem industry describes
it: |
Opaque: the gemstone will not transmit light through it.
Translucent,
or cloudy: the gemstone transmits light, but
you cannot see clearly through it.
Heavily Included: the gemstone is transparent, but the gemstone is littered with
inclusions, which are very visible without magnification.
Moderately
Included: the gemstone is transparent, but there
are several inclusions, which are visible without magnification.
Slightly Included:
the gemstone has some very minor inclusions, which may be visible
without magnification.
Very Slightly
Included (Eye-Clean): the gemstone has some
very minor inclusions that are not readily visible without magnification.
Some Inclusions may be visible without magnification once you
see them under magnification and know exactly where to look.
Very Very Slightly
Included: the gemstone has some very very minor
inclusions which are difficult to see under magnification.
Loupe Clean
(Clean): no inclusions were seen using 10x magnification.
However the gemstone was not examined microscopically. The gemstone
may be internally flawless or flawless.
Internally
Flawless: the gemstone was examined under a
microscope of at least 40x magnification, and no inclusions
were seen. The gemstone has some external blemishes.
Flawless:
the gemstone was examined under a microscope of at least 40x
magnification and no inclusions were seen and the gemstone has
no external blemishes.
The measure of visibility
through a Tanzanite is known as its transparency. It is an often-overlooked
characteristic when discussing gemstones
of all varieties. Tanzanite can sometimes be very lightly included,
most commercial quality ranges from transparent to translucent.
Transparency is designated
as follows:
Transparent - objects look clear through the gemstone.
These gems
boast superb brilliancy in spite of any inclusions they
may contain.
Semitransparent - objects appear somewhat hazy or
unclear through the gemstone.
Translucent - objects are hard to see through the
gemstone. Light can pass all the way through, but it
is fairly diffused.
Semi-translucent or semi-opaque - a small fraction
of light passes through the gemstone.
Opaque - almost no light passes through the gemstone.
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