Those are cool.  Do you have a diamond tester? 

thanks OMC, my sister agrees that they are probably indian, the jeweler she took them too did test them for diamonds, and they are.  she knows the patina is valueless, but just likes the look.  the jeweler also said he believed they were cast pieces.  she prefers old old rose cut/mine cut diamonds to modern cuts, and most of the jewelry she buys is old-edwardian, victorian, etc. i think because of the cut of the diamonds she thought they were older than the earrings probably are.

thanks OMC, i'll let her know, i think she'll still love the earrings anyway, but she might have paid a bit more than she would have liked...

WOW!  Those opals have some fire to them!  Very, very nice!

good questions auntie dammit, i dunno, these two are the only pics my sister sent me.  i think you might be right though about the closed back, they show so much color and flash.

here is a really cool (1920's?) ring of 10kt gold and created rubies.  i believe this is another estate sale find.

That is awesome!  I don't care if they are created or not.  That is a neat ring!

yay, squigs likes it.  to u OMC.    i don't know if i can tell the difference btwn created precious/semi-precious stones and natural.

OMC I am with you on what you are saying.  Though IMO sapphires can fall into the category as "as beautiful as" and just cheaper.  Emeralds in particular are hard to find a good natural one.  Rubies are a shot in the dark too.  My grandmother's birthstone was rubies and I saw natural and created in her collection.  One of my favorite rings of hers was a created ruby.

This setting is just so cool.  I love the little etchings around the whole thing.

All synthetics are in general "top colour", whereas most natural stones are not, of course. In addition, normally included stones such as emerald and ruby are flawless when synthesized - and therein lies the main clue to the stone's origin.

Is it easy to tell? It depends. In general, not for certain without at least a loupe, although when you consider that a natural ruby like the one you have posted, with "perfect" colour and clarity, would be worth several tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands per carat, the chances of having one set in a 10k ring are not very high.

Any totally eye-clean emerald is suspicious just because it is eye clean.

Sapphires, as clgwli noted, are in general better quality in nature (or if you want to look at it another way, top colour, clean sapphires are a lot more common than emeralds or rubies or alexandrites of comparable colour and clarity grades). However again, finding a 10 ct perfect blue sapphire in a sterling silver ring is indicative of something being amiss.

Once one learns how to recognise them, "old" synthetic rubies and sapphires (popular in the 1910 - 1930 period) are relatively easy to spot, but definitive identification requires a loupe and some expertise.

Some recent synthetics are really difficult to distinguish from top quality natural stones, to the point that to reassure the jewellery industry and its consumers the manufacturers have sometimes agreed to add dopants that are uniquely present in the synthetic stone, facilitating identification. However detecting the dopant requires sophisticated spectrographic equipment, and it is not something a layman or even a professional can do "on the spot". Once again, the most evident clues are likely to come from dissonance between the stone and its environment (owner and/or setting).

After OMC's reply what can I say?

Honestly looking at the stones and knowing what was affordable by the family, it as really easy to tell which was created and which was not.  The created were very clear compared to the others.  Particularly with the ruby the created were more of a deep red than the naturals that seemed to have traces of pink in them.  So personally the only reason why I could tell the natural from created was because what was affordable to us as a family would never be that good of quality if that makes sense.

I've looked at a ton of sapphires as well (DH's birthstone) but again it's purely anecdotal stories there.  I've been rather impressed with the created sapphires.  In some cases I've like the created more than some naturals.  Not to say that all naturals are bad, but it's been easier locally to find good looking created vs natural.

I'm in awe at what OMC does know.  Truly amazes me with your knowledge there!

For what it is worth, I am learning to "see" and "read" other colored gemstones differently from the way I do diamonds and colored diamonds.