As the old adage goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ultimately, in the world of jewelry, the unwitting buyer uses his or her naked eye to decide which baubles are the most beautiful and worthy of wear. The expert jeweler and gemologist, however, know that each gem is subjected to rigorous scientific examinations and standards to determine its value and authenticity.

As the number of methods for altering gems grows with technology, methods to counteract counterfeiters, who can take a worthless stone and alter it to make it appear like a more expensive gem, are essential to gem buyers and traders. They must be able to detect artificial stones.

Gemologists assess gemstones based on several standards such as chemical composition and purity. Chemical composition plays a significant role in evaluating gems, as two of the same gemstone can differ chemically. One of the most well known methods of non-destructive testing for detecting gem quality is X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. Increasingly in demand, XRF spectroscopy is an ideal technique for fighting the battle against fraud.