THE EXPERT ASSESSMENT OF SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE PEGMATITES OF THE DEPOSITS OF THE YELISEYEVSKY ORE FIELD)
Authors: Slyvna O. , Korotaiev V. , Baranov P. 
Published: December 2022

The purpose of the article is to characterize the problematic issues of regulatory and legal support for the circulation of semi-precious stones with regard to improving the assessment of their quality and value, to propose directions for their solution using the example of written pegmatites of the Eliseiv field. Methodology. The methodological basis of the research is general scientific and special methods of scientific knowledge. The method of system-structural analysis made it possible to investigate the norms of domestic legislation regulating the extraction, production and use of precious and semi-precious stones, control over operations with them and the rules of their attestation, to express a number of critical remarks about the lack of regulations, technical instructions and price lists regarding pegmatite as a semi-precious stone stones of the second order. The use of statistical, mathematical, physical and other special research methods made it possible to investigate written pegmatite within the framework of forensic gemological examination in view of its physical, technological and aesthetic properties, as well as to distinguish groups based on established quality criteria. Scientific novelty. The regulatory and legal problems are identifieded in the legislation of Ukraine in determining the status, cost, confinement to a specific deposit of semiprecious stones. On the example of pegmatites of the Eliseiv ore field, the solutions in the expert evaluation of semiprecious stones are proposed, including the identification of quality criteria, the creation of reference collections, the formation of price lists taking into account the consumer properties of products. Conclusions. The legal framework in the field of regulation of extraction, production and use of precious and semi-precious stones, control over operations with them and their certification was analyzed. The problems of regulatory and legal provision of expert evaluation of semi-precious stones, in particular, written pegmatite as a semi-precious stone of the second order, are outlined. The cause-and-effect relationships of regulatory and legal support for the circulation of semi-precious stones in the context of improving the assessment of the quality and value of semi-precious stones (on the example of Eliseiv pegmatites) have been proven. Directions for solving the problems of regulatory and legal provision of expert evaluation of semi-precious stones are proposed using the example of written pegmatites of Eliseiv field. At the same time, it was established that written pegmatites are occur in different genetic types, but granite pegmatites are of greatest commercial interest due to their high decorative characteristics. The quality criteria of written pegmatites (color, size and shape of ichthyoglypts, smoothness, pattern) were defined, on the basis of which decorative varieties of pegmatites were selected: light pink, light brown, do purple, parquet pink, purple tiger, pink leopard, light gray, brown-pink looped). It was established that the absence of state standards (price lists, technical conditions, quality criteria) for pegmatite creates certain difficulties in observing the main principles of forensic examination – the completeness and objectivity of research. It has been proven that currently the most priority task is the development of methodological recommendations for the forensic gemological examination of semi-precious stones.