Legal Disclosure on Treatments and Terms

1. Treatments

 Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories sells a variety of Lab Created gemstones in our Jewelry. It should be understood that Lab created gemstones have been around since the early 1900s. The disclosure of these gemstones origins have been increasingly more regulated to ensure public confidence in the Gemological industry. It should be assumed by the buyer, that any lab created gemstone may have some treatments in their creation process and after. For these reasons Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories will disclose any known treatments in the advertising and sale of our products, however it should be assumed that all lab created gemstones may have some treatments and therefore proper care should be taken to ensure the longevity of your beautiful jewelry. 

Popular Treatments are: 

• Bleaching
• Cavity filling
• Colorless impregnation
• Dyeing
• Fracture filling
• Heating
• Irradiation
• Lattice diffusion
• Sugar and smoke treatments
• Surface modification

Because these processes either yield non-permanent results or require special care, the FTC asks the seller to make full disclosure to the buyer at the point of purchase. In today’s world, treatments are a fairly common practice that is not always disclosed to Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories. We at Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories will always disclose any known treatments, however the buyer is to understand that not all treatments are visible and detectable and therefore some treatments may have been done to our gemstones, both Lab Created and Natural without being disclosed to Affordable Luxury Jewelry & accessories, therefore we can not be 100% sure that all treatments are being disclosed to us at Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories. 

Some people in the trade disapprove of any introduction of a foreign substance into or onto gem material, but nature’s work isn’t always perfect—and it’s certainly not always acceptable commercial quality. So most jewelers do sell treated goods. For them, it’s a matter of offering a customer a treated stone that’s appealing rather than a natural stone that’s not.

Outside the jewelry trade, treatment of natural materials is widespread and beneficial. Without oiling, wood furniture would splinter; without dyeing, cotton clothing would be all the same color; without tanning, leather would remain pretty much as it is in its natural state. 

The same is true of gems. Many lasting treatments make gems more beautiful and durable. They also make more gems available to more people—and at lower prices. The list of popular gems routinely treated includes amethyst, aquamarine, chalcedony, citrine, emerald, jade, lapis lazuli, opal, pearl, ruby, sapphire, tanzanite, tiger’s-eye, topaz, turquoise, and zircon. If the trade limited the supply to only those specimens naturally beautiful and durable enough to use as gems, the mighty and rich would still be the only ones to own them. 

Some treatments are permanent and others fade over time or are damaged by some household chemicals. Because we can not be 100% sure that a stone has not been treated in some way before it came to Affordable Luxury Jewelry & Accessories, it is best to take precautions on the care of your gemstone jewelry to ensure its longevity. 

Section 23.24 of the US FTC guides is titled “Disclosure of treatments to gemstones.” In part, it reads: 

It is unfair or deceptive to fail to disclose that a gemstone has been treated if: 

(a) the treatment is not permanent. The seller should disclose that the gemstone has been treated and that the treatment is or may not be permanent; 

(b) the treatment creates special care requirements for the gemstone. The seller should disclose that the gemstone has been treated and has special care requirements. It is also recommended that the seller disclose the special care requirements to the purchaser; 

(c) the treatment has a significant effect on the stone’s value. The seller should disclose that the gemstone has been treated.  

• Source: Gemological Institute of American

2. Term defined

 Diamond Equivalent Weight is used in the description of many items of jewelry that we list. This term is used to allow a customer to understand the true size of a non-diamond gemstone called Moissanite. While 1 Carat weight is a term equivalent to (.2) grams of actual weight of the gemstone, we give a Diamond Equivalent weight (DEW) to assist the customer in understanding the actual gemstone size. We also list the measurements of the actual gemstones for full understanding. This term is not an ACTUAL WEIGHT OF THE MOISSANITE GEMSTONE. The gemstone Moissonite is a lighter weight stone than a Diamond and therefore the same exact size Diamond gemstone will weigh a little more than its equal sized Moissanite gemstone. 

3. Certificates of Authenticity 

Due to the un-reliabilty of certification companies that currently certify Moissonite gemstones, we have decided to not issue certificates with our Moissonite gemstone jewelry until we can have GIA certify the stones, which they do not currently do. Our jewelers check every Item that we sell and do stand behind the product as being exactly as described in our description. Our jewelers verify that all Moissonite gemstones are actually a good quality Moissonite gemstone, so no need to worry. We only purchase the best quality Moissonite and we verify that it passes a test with a "Diamond Selector II" detector.