What qualifies us for evaluation and independent testing?
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- We are ambassadors of handcraft, whose task is to support people's creativity and at the same time to maintain traditional values and purity within a given craft (in our case jewellery making).
- The Czech Republic has always had a very good reputation in the world as far as traditional jewellery is concerned, but unfortunately with the import of goods from abroad, this craft has declined quite a bit and is currently teetering on the edge in terms of traditional integrity and quality.
- In order to raise the jewellery industry in the Czech Republic back to the level it was at a few decades ago, we decided to first cleanse the Czech environment of fraud and deception of customers in the materials used, and for this purpose the project "Beadmakers on the pillory" was created, where we show the blatant problems and fraud of jewellery manufacturers and sellers of jewellery materials, who balance on the edge of the law, or even in the vision of easy money on cheap goods from abroad, went beyond it.
- For more information on the Handicraft Ambassadorship project, please visit handmadeyouth.com and in this video:
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Does the evaluator have any education and experience in the field at all?
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- Ondřej Mangl is a graduate of the Faculty of Science of Charles University in the prestigious field of Chemistry in Natural Sciences (now only Chemistry), for which he received a Bachelor's degree.
- During his studies at the Faculty of Science of Charles University he was involved in the development of a new type of MRI contrast agents (agents for the detection and treatment of cancerous tumours) and has thus a lot of knowledge and experience in the field of medicinal chemistry and biochemical processes in the body that lead to the development of diseases and their subsequent treatment.
- While studying and preparing his bachelor's thesis, he also became familiar with dozens of analytical methods and techniques from all branches of chemistry - inorganic, organic, physical, analytical and biochemistry, and thus knows how to correctly and competently determine the composition and structure of various types of substances.
- Since 2007, while studying in high school, he has been dedicated to spreading knowledge and understanding of natural sciences to the general public and is the author of thousands of edits, hundreds of photos and dozens of articles on the Czech Wikipedia. See author page and edit list page.
- Even in high school, he was intensively involved in all natural sciences (especially chemistry) and participated in the Chemistry Olympics and the correspondence chemistry seminar, in which he consistently ranked higher, and thanks to this, he annually secured participation in the camps of the most talented young chemists and biologists from all over the Czech Republic in Běstvín and at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague, where he had the opportunity to personally meet the greatest personalities of Czech and foreign science during their lectures.
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How exactly do we detect the presence of heavy metals or fake minerals?
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- We use a highly sensitive XRF spectrometer to determine the heavy metal content and mineral composition, which is capable of determining the elemental composition of the surface of any object with an accuracy of 0.001%. The great advantage of this type of analysis is its non-destructiveness - the measured sample is not damaged in any way, it is only exposed to X-rays (similar to what we do with X-rays in the hospital).
- We can determine heavy metals directly on the surface of all types of metal jewellery components, as well as in any surface plated materials (be it plastic, glass or anything else that has any metallic colour on the surface). Because it is the surface of the material that comes into contact with the skin, the XRF method is very sensitive and reliable in determining the heavy metal content of the surface layer.
- Specific limits apply to heavy metals under the REACH and RoHS directives issued by the European Union, which define health-safe goods and any other with above-limit levels must not be offered for sale throughout the EU. For skin contact within jewellery, the content is 0.1% for lead and 0.01% for cadmium.
- As far as mineral beads are concerned, our company has more than 1,500 specters of genuine natural and artificial minerals at its disposal, and we are thus able to confirm in the vast majority of cases whether a mineral is natural or artificial and, in the case of characteristic minerals, to directly identify the specific species on the basis of a comparison of the spectra and visual analysis.
- The only problems in determining the authenticity of minerals by XRF analysis usually arise only with quartz minerals, which are similar in composition to glass. Unfortunately, variously colored and specially decorated glass beads cannot be reliably determined by XRF analysis and it is necessary to combine several types of analyses in order to confirm or exclude the authenticity of the alleged mineral.
- If you are interested in a demonstration of the spectrometer in practice, be sure to watch the full video series where we talk about everything in more detail.
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Do we also offer certificates for the goods?
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- Yes, we are able to issue certificates based on XRF analysis in Czech or English.
- Health certificates according to the REACH and RoHS directives for the content of heavy metals in metal beads or components or any surface-coated materials, or certificates issued according to the same directives for banned chlorinated or brominated substances (PCB - polychlorinated biphenyls, PCDE - polychlorinated diphenyl ethers, PBB - polybrominated biphenyls and PBDE - polybrominated diphenyl ethers) contained in plastics or silicones.
- Health certificates according to REACH and RoHS directive measured and evaluated by XRF analysis for goods from our offer costs 50 CZK incl. VAT per certificate - i.e. one item in one colour and one language. Since different platingd may contain prohibited substances, certificates must be issued separately for each colour. It is also possible to contact us and ask us to measure an item outside our offer and then issue a certificate. In this case, the price for the analysis and certificate would be 300 CZK incl. tax.
- We are only able to issue a mineral authenticity certificate based on XRF analysis for minerals that can be uniquely identified by this analysis, othrtwise, it is necessary to take into account that the certificate issued according to XRF will not be the only one needed to uniquely identify the stone. There are also minerals that need 3-5 types of analysis to determine the mineral variety. Please be sure to consult with us in advance before ordering and issuing a certificate.
- We offer a certificate of mineral authenticity for mineral beads offered by us for 100 CZK incl. tax. In case of interest in measuring and determining or confirming the alleged mineral variety outside our offer, it is possible to arrange the measurement and subsequent issuance of the certificate, in which case the amount of 600 CZK incl. tax. If the customer would only need a simple written confirmation of the mineral supplied to us for analysis without a certificate, then only CZK 300 incl. tax. If we were unable to reliably identify the mineral, no amount would be charged.
- If you have any questions about certificates, please contact us at koralky@koralkykatlas.cz or by phone at +420 731 812 481.