I Bought "Beryl" Gems---But What Did I Really Get??

I am a huge fan of Beryl gemstones, which are considered precious gems, especially Aquamarines and Emeralds. And I've had my eye on the beautiful soft pink Morganite lately.  So I saw some gems for sale online, and took and chance and bought them.  The pictures looked nice, and the seller is a popular one online.  I bought five heart briolettes and five briolettes in all the colors of Beryl----Aquamarine, Green Beryl (not emerald), Morganite, Heliodor (yellow Beryl) and Goshenite (colorless Beryl). 

I waited awhile to get the package (11 days---they waited 9 days to even mail it, for some reason).  It arrived Saturday, and I could barely wait to see them!  I ripped the package open, and took a look at the very tiny stones (I was expecting them to be small).  And...

...well, to say I'm disappointed is an understatement.  And the more I looked, the angrier I got!   I took pictures of the stones---these are very close-up to show the detail, but you can enlarge the pictures when you click on them: 

HEART BRIOLETTES:

In  sunlight---which is which?

The five stones are SO faint in color that I could barely tell which was which.  The green stone was the most colorful, followed by the blue, then pink, and the other two I'm not quite sure what color they are.  OK, fine, I know Morganite is a very pale pink...

HOWEVER, I could see with the naked eye that the green and blue stones had DYE MARKS at the drill holes!  I got my loupe and could REALLY see the sloppy dye marks at the edges of the holes, and throughout the lengths of the drill holes.

Green and Blue Dye in Holes

Obvious Dye Marks, and THAT's supposed to be Aquamarine?!

SO Obvious in Green and Blue

Now, genuine Green Beryl is NOT treated.  It's not enhanced.  It is mined, faceted and sold as is.  I found a wonderful website from a gemologist and gemcutter named John J. Bradshaw, and he has all the information about gemstones that anyone could need, plus pictures.  Per his site, he says regarding Green Beryl:

Clarity:  Green beryl is of Type I clarity.  By definition, gems of this type grow extremely clean in nature and usually have no eye visible inclusions...

Treatments:  No treatment (N) would be the case for the green beryl colored by iron...

Here is his info on Aquamarine (blue beryl):

 Clarity: Aquamarine has Type I clarity.  By definition, gems of this type grow extremely clean in nature and usually have no eye visible inclusions.

Treatments:
-Heating (H) is done to convert any ferric iron that imparts a yellow color to ferrous iron which imparts the more commercially desirable blue color.  This treatment is routinely done and is stable.  The treatment is undetectable but assumed in all blue aquamarines.

So the ONLY treatment done to genuine Aquamarine blue Beryl stones is HEAT, which brings out the blue color.  NOT dye.  And there is NO treatment done to Green Beryl stones.  And they are eye clean.

Inclusions, chips and obvious DYE on these

There is very visible evidence of dye on the blue and green stones.  The other three---it's hard to say, but possibly on the pink.  But really, if two of them out of the five are obviously dyed stones of some sort, then I don't trust any of them.

The stones I bought also all have visible inclusions----like bubbles or little fractures or something like that. Chips at the drill holes.

Okay, on to the next five...

BRIOLETTE CUT STONES:

The 5 Colors of Briolettes

At first glance, the colors look somewhat more saturated.  Of course, these are thicker stones.  I looked at them in the light.  And the yellow stone, supposedly Heliodor, exhibited a bright rainbow effect---JUST LIKE some sort of mystic coating!  The bottom part of the stone had a lot of little inclusions, like it was shattered inside---at first I thought it was quench crackled (a method used to dye quartz).  I took it out of the bag and looked at it with the loupe and yes, it has a coating on it.

Hard to capture the coating - it was like a deep Sunset color in person

Heliodor should NOT have pink, orange and purple rainbows on the surface!

What enhancements are done on Golden Beryl (heliodor)?  Certainly not mystic coating!!  Here's gemologist John J. Bradshaw's description:

Golden Beryl:  yellow to golden beryl colored by ferric iron.  This color can be induced through irradiation of beryl containing iron or it can also happen naturally.  There is no test to separate treated from untreated material.  Alternate names for golden beryl are yellow beryl or heliodor.

And for morganite:

Morganite:  pink beryl colored by manganese.  It is typical of morganites when found in nature to be an orange-pink or peach color.  Allowing the stone to sit in daylight for a few days to a week will alter the color to a pure pink.  Heating will have the same result.

And Goshenite (Clear):

Goshenite:  colorless beryl.  This variety has no impurities to impart any noticeable color.

And the clear briolette stone also had some "rainbow" color effects in the sunlight, possibly from a coating. Looking at this picture, it appears to be green dye in the green stone's drill hole. I didn't notice that until looking at the picture:

Rainbow Effects on Clear Stone - Like a Prism "Suncatcher"

Rainbow on Clear--more obvious in person

 The green stone in this packet had a huge air bubble in it, and was very poorly faceted. VERY.

The blue stone looked exactly the same as some blue "hydroquartz" glass that I had.  It was very blue, not aquamarine blue at all.  Poorly faceted and lots of pits and tiny chips. It really looked nothing like aquamarine.

WHAT DID I DO?

Well there was NO WAY that I would try to sell these gems in jewelry!  I'm not going to try to pass off obviously dyed stones of some sort as "green Beryl" or "aquamarine".  Only unscrupulous people would do that!  So I contacted the person I purchased these from, and was very polite, and said I wanted to return them because the blue and green hearts were dyed, and the golden beryl was coated.  That's all I said.  I expected the seller to be horrified (as I was!) or at least ask me for pictures or more information,  or be apologetic. NO, that didn't happen.  Instead I got a terse response that said "I'm sorry your beryl gemstones won't work for you."  OMG!  AS IF these are beryl gemstones! Wow.

I just want to let everyone know that you must BE CAREFUL when buying any gemstones from ANY seller online.  In person is really the best way to buy gems.  Obviously this well-known seller didn't care that they are selling fake gems, and were in fact defensive about it.   I certainly sent these back, but I'm certain that this seller will continue to sell these "Beryl gemstones" including the ones I returned!

SO, WHAT ARE THESE STONES?

I didn't bother to take them to Rio Grande Jewelry or to another gemologist to have them tested.  The dye marks are SO obvious as is the mystic coating.  NO WAY are these Beryl gemstones!  These are possibly quartz, very possibly glass, but certainly NOT Beryl.

Really, every jewelry designer on Etsy or elsewhere shouldn't have to have every gemstone they purchase from a dealer tested by a gemologist!  It is the responsibility of the dealer to KNOW what they're selling, to be SURE if their gemstones that they purchased wholesale are genuine!  THEY should have them tested.  THEY should stand behind their gemstones. THEY should have examined these obviously dyed fake stones when they received them from the wholesaler, and sent them back!  The buck SHOULD stop there.  But sadly, that's not the case. And even worse--some sellers just simply don't care!

Buyer Beware!!  
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UPDATE:  I followed this seller's (ridiculous, almost draconian) return instructions to the letter---meaning I had to return the items IMMEDIATELY  and enclose a note with my name, address, the order information, order number, date of order, reason for return, do I want a refund or exchange, and MORE, even though I also enclosed the order info that was sent to me AND I contacted the seller before returning.  I mailed the package the next business day which was a Monday, and it was delivered TO HER RESIDENCE on Wednesday at 11am.  She supplied the return address and I could see it was a residential address, not a PO Box or business address.  So I waited all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, and heard not one word of acknowledgement of receipt from the seller.
So I sent a "convo" and politely said the package was delivered and when will my refund be processed.  She responded that she "hasn't had time to check her mail" and would refund whenever she could "check the package".  Um WHAT??  So I googled her address and saw the "street view" of her house, complete with its own freestanding mailbox out front.  So she doesn't check her own mail each day??  Mail sits in her curbside mailbox for days??  Especially when she knows to expect a return?!  I am SURE that's not the case.  So I waited another 24 hours, heard nothing, and had to file a Paypal "not as described" case (thank God I used Paypal to buy this!).  In fact, I called Paypal and told them what was going on first, and THEY told me to open a case, and they escalated it immediately FOR me, giving her 10 days to respond or refund.
Incredibly, I never got any response from the seller until 8 days later, when she sent a convo to say that "she couldn't get Paypal to work" (???) and then two days after that, my refund was processed.  
WHAT A TERRIBLE SELLER!!  Disgraceful!  She is STILL selling these "beryl" stones.  She is a MESS. I haven't named the seller here, and no I did NOT leave any feedback, as I wrote about it fully here.  If you are wanting to know who to avoid, I'd be happy to share this info if you just ask me via email.  Otherwise, you could probably figure it out anyway.