United States Jewelry Guides

Four wordings for a filled stone, and two variety names the text calls out

A supplier's name for a stone — on the invoice, in their own listing, on the parcel label — becomes the seller's own description the moment it is copied into a listing. Two places in the United States Jewelry Guides deal with names of that kind by naming the fault directly: §23.25(d) for a stone that contains a filler, and §23.26 for a variety name that belongs to a different material.

A name that arrives with the goods

A stone can reach a seller with its name already fixed: on the invoice, in the supplier's own listing, on the parcel. When that name is copied across, it becomes the description the buyer reads, and §23.1 of the United States Jewelry Guides states that it is unfair or deceptive to misrepresent the type, kind, grade, quality, quantity, metallic content, size, weight, cut, color, character, treatment, substance, durability, serviceability or origin of an industry product.

Two subsections go further than that general statement. Instead of describing a category of conduct, they name the wording. §23.25(d) names four ways of describing a stone that contains a filler or bonding material such as lead glass, and states which of them are unfair or deceptive and on what condition the remaining one is available. §23.26 names two variety names and gives them as examples of markings that may be misleading.

Both subsections are about the description rather than about the stone. Editing a listing does not change what is inside the stone, and a supplier's invoice does not settle which varietal name is the correct one.

Four wordings for a stone containing a filler, and what §23.25(d) says about each

The subsection, in the United States Jewelry Guides, concerns gemstone products containing a filler or bonding material such as lead glass. The right-hand column reproduces the position the recorded text takes; it is not a judgement about any particular listing.

Wording used in the description	What §23.25(d) states
The plain gemstone name, unqualified	Describing such a product by the unqualified gemstone name is stated to be unfair or deceptive.
Treated [gemstone name]	Named in the same list: describing such a product as a treated gemstone is stated to be unfair or deceptive.
Laboratory-created [gemstone name] or synthetic [gemstone name]	Also named in the list: describing such a product as laboratory-created or synthetic is stated to be unfair or deceptive.
Composite [gemstone name], hybrid [gemstone name] or manufactured [gemstone name]	Item (4). Available only where the term is qualified to disclose clearly and conspicuously that the product does not have the same properties as the gemstone named and that it requires special care.

Watch out

The fourth wording carries two disclosures, not one

In the United States Jewelry Guides, the condition attached to composite, hybrid and manufactured is written as a pair. The term is available where it is qualified to disclose clearly and conspicuously that the product does not have the same properties as the gemstone named, and that the product requires special care.

The two halves fail in different directions. A description that says the material differs from the named stone but says nothing about handling has supplied the first and not the second. A description that adds a care instruction but leaves the buyer to assume the material is the same has supplied the second and not the first. Quoting the subsection with either half missing states something the subsection does not.

Clearly and conspicuously is part of the condition itself, in the same sentence as the two disclosures, rather than a separate recommendation attached afterwards.

The two variety names the text gives as examples

§23.26 of the United States Jewelry Guides states a rule and then illustrates it. Both illustrations have the same shape: a colour word placed in front of the name of a different variety.

Marking and describing are covered in the same sentence.: §23.26(a) states that it is unfair or deceptive to mark or describe an industry product with the incorrect varietal name.
Green amethyst for prasiolite is one of the examples.: §23.26(b) lists the use of green amethyst to describe prasiolite among its examples of markings or descriptions that may be misleading.
Yellow emerald for golden beryl is the other.: The use of yellow emerald to describe golden beryl is listed in the same place and in the same terms.
The recorded list stops at two.: Only these two pairings appear in the source read for this page. A longer catalogue of trade names is not part of it, and no such catalogue is supplied here; a name outside the two examples is not settled by this page.

Which of the two subsections an inherited name points to

The rows below map a supplier's wording onto the provision of the United States Jewelry Guides that addresses it. They record what that text states; they do not state what any seller should write.

Situation	Choose	Why
The paperwork says the stone contains a filler, and the listing carries the plain stone name.	Read §23.25(d), where the unqualified gemstone name is the first wording addressed.	The subsection states that describing a product containing a filler or bonding material such as lead glass by the unqualified gemstone name is unfair or deceptive.
Treated is about to be added to the plain name, on the assumption that it is the safer of the two.	Read the same list, where treated gemstone wording appears alongside the plain name.	§23.25(d) names treated gemstone wording as one of the descriptions it addresses for a product of that kind.
The supplier calls the stone laboratory-created or synthetic.	Read the same list again; that wording is in it too.	For a product containing a filler, laboratory-created and synthetic wording is named among the descriptions the subsection addresses.
Composite is intended, with one explanatory line to support it.	Compare the line against both parts of the qualification the text states.	Item (4) makes the term available where the qualification discloses clearly and conspicuously that the product does not have the same properties as the gemstone named and that it requires special care.
Nothing has been added to the stone; the question is only whether the variety name is the right one.	Leave §23.25(d) and read §23.26 with its two examples.	§23.26 states that marking or describing a product with the incorrect varietal name is unfair or deceptive, and gives green amethyst for prasiolite and yellow emerald for golden beryl as its examples.

Where this page stops

Each line marks a boundary of the reading above.

One country. Part 23 is a United States federal instrument issued under the authority of 15 U.S.C. 45–46. It sets no rule for the European Union, the United Kingdom, Turkey or any other market, and nothing here is carried across to them.
Not legal advice, and not a sufficiency test. This page states that these provisions exist and what their recorded text says. It does not state what a seller should write, whether a given description satisfies a subsection, or how a regulator would read one.
The Guides state their own standing. Part 23 says of itself that it does not confer any rights on any person and does not operate to bind the FTC or the public, so a departure from them is not an automatic penalty on this source; the FTC would first have to establish a Section 5 violation.
Two examples, not a glossary. The source gives green amethyst and yellow emerald; a page that added more names would be adding them from somewhere else.
When a treatment has to be disclosed at all is governed by §23.24, which states three separate conditions, and that question is not covered on this page.
General wording rules for laboratory-created stones are not covered here, and neither are diamonds.
The app does not identify materials. Nothing in the product examines what a stone is made of, and no output distinguishes a filled or composite stone from a solid one; no result should be read as that kind of finding.
The source is dated. Every statement above was read from the recorded text on 2026-08-19 and describes that reading, not the state of the document today.

Questions

Why can a lead-glass filled ruby not simply be called a ruby, and what is wrong with 'green amethyst'?

§23.25(d) of the United States Jewelry Guides states that describing a gemstone product containing a filler or bonding material such as lead glass by the unqualified gemstone name is unfair or deceptive, and it names treated gemstone wording and laboratory-created or synthetic wording in the same list. Composite, hybrid and manufactured are left available only where the term is qualified to disclose clearly and conspicuously that the product does not have the same properties as the gemstone named and that it requires special care. Green amethyst is separate: §23.26 states that describing a product with the incorrect varietal name is unfair or deceptive and gives green amethyst for prasiolite as one of its two examples. This is a description of the text rather than legal advice, and it covers the United States only.

Is treated ruby treated differently from the plain name for a filled stone?

Both appear in the same list. For a product containing a filler or bonding material such as lead glass, §23.25(d) of the United States Jewelry Guides names the unqualified gemstone name and treated gemstone wording among the descriptions it states to be unfair or deceptive.

What has to accompany the word composite?

Two disclosures, stated together: that the product does not have the same properties as the gemstone named, and that it requires special care. §23.25(d) of the United States Jewelry Guides states that they are to be made clearly and conspicuously, and it makes the term available on that qualification.

What does the text say about yellow emerald?

§23.26(b) of the United States Jewelry Guides lists the use of yellow emerald to describe golden beryl as an example of a marking or description that may be misleading, alongside green amethyst for prasiolite. Those two are the examples the source records.

Can the app tell whether a stone is composite before I write the listing?

No. Nothing in the product examines a stone's material or reports on it, and no output separates a filled or composite stone from a solid one. The naming question is answered from what is known about the goods, not from an image result.