The World of Jewelry and Gemstones

Did you know that a ruby is simply a red sapphire? Sapphires are found in every color of the rainbow. Every sapphire is made of the same substance – aluminum oxide. Pure aluminum oxide is transparent. Trace elements within the sapphire cause the various colors. Small amounts of chromium result in a ruby. Blue sapphires contain iron and titanium. The reason rubies are much rarer than blue sapphires is because there is far less chromium in the earth than iron and titanium.

Ebay is a marketplace that is full of counterfeit products. Be very careful when shopping on Ebay. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Excerpt from CIOToday.com article:

“Tiffany & Company, the famous New York-based jewelry retailer, is suing San Jose, California-based online auction firm eBay for allowing its Web site to be used to sell counterfeit jewelry.

The landmark lawsuit also alleges that eBay, in addition to facilitating sales of fake Tiffany goods, also makes millions of dollars from fees charged for counterfeit sales.

Two years ago, Tiffany bought several hundred items on eBay and found that three quarters of the items purchased were counterfeit.

The Tiffany lawsuit, which originally was filed in 2004 in a New York State court, is expected to go to trial by the end of this year, according to press reports.”

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