Alexandrite was originally discovered in the Ural mountains of Russia in the early 1840s, approximately forty years before Edison’s discovery of the incandescent light type lightbulb. Before 1880, the only type of light used by households of both the rich and the poor after sundown was the flame of oil lanterns and candles.

At that time, Russian Alexandrite was a gem owned and worn strictly by the royal family.  Alexandrite was described as having the color of Emerald during the day and the color of Amethyst at night. The original Russian description was slightly changed in the western world to “Emerald by day, and Ruby by night”, when the stone was observed under the orangey-yellow light of candles.

I recently had a discussion with Craig Lynch GG, of Ouellet & Lynch, regarding the use of correct, historically proven types of lighting that doesn’t leave room for mistakes when it comes to the testing, evaluating, imaging and displaying of Alexandrite and other color change gems & minerals. Lynch is an expert in his field, specializing in rare, high-value & unique gemstones, such as Blue Color Change Garnet, Russian Demantoid & Dragon Garnet (*).

Color change stones are typically displayed and/or photographed using 2 types of light:

1. “Neutral white light” , which mimics daylight when sun is at it’s highest and/or brightest point in the day. This is typically generated by lightbulbs producing temperatures in a range between 5000° - 6500° Kelvin.
2. “Incandescent light”, by definition, is the type of warm light produced by old-fashioned lightbulbs. It is typically produced in a range between 2700° - 3000° Kelvin.

The use of incandescent light is the core problem. In order to mimic the light temperature of the candle flame (not to be mistaken with the actual temperature of the flame itself) you need a light source producing light in 1900° to 2100° Kelvin.

 In the vast majority of cases, most people (including professionals), have been using the wrong light source. In reality, there is a fairly substantial difference in the appearance of a color change gemstone when viewed under the proper light temperature (1900° - 2100° Kelvin) versus the wrong light temperature (2700° - 3000° Kelvin).