Rare Blue sapphire, emerald, and coral producing molluscs are found in Chilka Lake, of Odisha state on the east coast of India.

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Will a Gemologist or Geologist ever believe this???

NO…

But it shall be not less than a miracle for anyone.

Our family friend Dr. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal went for a family tour to Odisha, there they visited Chilka lake also. Chilka lake is a beautiful brackish water lagoon (water that has salinity than fresh water, but not as much as sea water) covering an area of over 1,100 km². It’s known to be India’s largest coastal lagoon.

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

There, they took a boat to take a view of lake, in boat coxswain and his helpers showed them mollascks in a plastic tub. They claimed that these molluscs may contain precious gemstones like Sapphire, Coral, Emerald and Pearl. To check the luck they broke the shell with a wooden hammer, and did take out some green, blue, red stones out of them. They charged good amount for each stone claiming them to be natural.

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

They told that they are having license from government for the extraction of these gemstone bearing molluscs from the lake.

They also showed red crabs in a plastic, tub which was covered with a net, they claimed that these are found in this lake.

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Dr. Anurag knew that practically it’s not possible to get such gemstones from molluscs, but being an inquisitive person he purchased some of the stones to share his experience with me.

He told that these cheat people are fetching undue amount from laymen by telling false stories.

I did the analysis of those gemstones, they were 11 stones. 2 red, 1 milky white, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 sky blue and 5 pearls.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

Photo by: Adv. Anurag Kumar Aggarwal

All of the stones except pearls showed the properties identical to glass, filled with gas bubbles and swirl marks.

Red stones were to imitate coral, as were semi-translucent, having white striations as visible in natural corals, and were cut in cabochon (capsule like) cut, as corals are generally polished in.

 

Gas bubbles and swirl marks

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Gas bubble and a burst bubble

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

White striations were deliberately made to imitate coral.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Dark Blue stone was to imitate Blue Sapphire, and was cut in double cabochon. That was also full of gas bubbles and swirl marks.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Light blue stone was to imitate Turquoise .That stone was also filed with number of gas bubbles and swirl marks.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Green stone was to imitate emerald. Again cut in double cabochon, and was full of gas bubbles and swirl marks.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Pearls were appearing to be cultured one, which are available in market for mere 50-60 INR. Which were claimed to be natural pearls by those people. Nacre layer was peeling out from those pearls.

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Photo by: Meenakshi Chauhan

Although for a trained gemologist it’s just a 2 minute job to catch the game, but a layman would pay high for this fake magic.

Natural emeralds and sapphires forms deep inside the earth curst, and are to be mined from there. Corals are found in sea but not from molluscs, that too in well-polished form.

Pearls are found from molluscs and there farming is also done, but natural pearls are not practically possible from this breed of molluscs as shown in the pictures.

These cheat people are deliberately putting these stones inside molluscs with tweezers and then killing them brutally to earn illegal money.

Red Crabs were rare Red Ghost crabs specie, Odisha forest department is planning to include this specie of crab in the Schedule IV of the Wild Life Protection Act 1972 for its conservation.

This cheating business is flourishing well in Odisha. I hope some concerned authority shall take some action soon to stop this working. Such activities are defaming our country also, as foreign tourists do visit this lake.

Author:

Meenakshi Chauhan (meenakshi@gjepcindia.com)
Indian Gemological Institute - Gem Testing Laboratory (IGI-GTL)
Jhandewalan, Delhi
(Project of GJEPC)