What is a treated Ruby?
The down side is that this flux material can melt and penetrate any cracks or fissures in the Ruby. This will improve the clarity of the Ruby by filling in the cracks, but it will decrease the value of the stone since it is a foreign material. Beryllium Diffused Ruby. This treatment is more commonly used on Sapphire rather than to treat Ruby gemstones.
What is a fracture filled Ruby?
Jan 22, 2019 · Many of the rubies that could be repaired with this new fracture-filling technique are of impressive size, with many stones over 5 carats. Since the treatment is easy to detect, it is almost always disclosed and the price is adjusted accordingly. So these fracture-filled rubies sell at a fraction of the cost of untreated rubies of similar color.
What is the fissure filled Ruby treatment?
Ruby is one gem that has been heat treated for many decades, this treatment is used for almost 95% of the rubies that reach the gem and jewelry markets. Gem experts accept this treatment since, it does not affect the durability of the gemstone. The enhancement that heat treatment does on the clarity and color of the ruby is permanent.
What are glass filled rubies?
Ruby – Numerous surface-reaching fractures are filled with a glass to lessen their visibility and make the gem more transparent than it really is. In some cases, the amount of filler glass can be significant in a treated ruby.
What is the purpose of filling rubies?
Over the years, ruby has been sub- jected to heat treatment to change its color and/or improve its clarity; fracture healing to improve clar- ity and get a higher yield from naturally fractured rough; glass filling of cavities to improve appearance and add weight; and diffusion, dyeing, coating, and synthetic ...
What does Treated ruby mean?
Treatments can improve the colour and clarity of Rubies which make them more desirable in the final market. In a nutshell, “Treat Ruby Gemstones” means to alter the Ruby in some way in order to make it more beautiful.Jan 5, 2011
What is ruby glass filled?
About 10 years ago, rubies with a new form of treatment known as “Lead Glass Filling” came on to the market. This treatment involves taking non-gem quality rubies and filling cavities and fractures in them with lead glass which alters the construction of the stone.
What does fracture filled ruby mean?
Traditionally treated rubies that contain glass have minimal amounts of glass present, either as residue in surface reaching fissures (as a result of very high heat techniques) or in fractures that have been filled with glass (called "fracture-filled" or "in-filled" ruby) to reduce their visibility or reflectivity.
What temperature does ruby melt at?
An Overview of RubyGeneralUltraviolet fluorescencered under longwaveStreakwhiteSpecific gravity4.0Melting point2050°C15 more rows
Do rubies need to be heat treated?
You should assume your ruby is heated. Rubies that have a report from an independent laboratory like GIA confirming there is no evidence of heat command a premium due to their rarity. Rubies that have been diffused or are glass filled are worth less than heated rubies.
Is glass filled ruby good?
While, Natural Rubies with average quality ranges between 200$-500$ per carat. Good Color: The color of Glass-filled Rubies is also fine because its fractures and cavities are filled up by lead and other metallic oxides. These repairs give Glass-field Rubies a good transparency and also a good color.Jun 5, 2015
Is a lab created ruby real?
Lab-created rubies are considered real because they are not much different from the natural ones. Rubies that are artificially produced are not the same as fake rubies, as they have different chemical structures from natural rubies.
How can you tell if a ruby is glass filled?
1:505:27How to Classify a Lead Glass–Filled Ruby by GIA - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThis is a telltale sign that this treatment has occurred you also might see large gas bubbles insideMoreThis is a telltale sign that this treatment has occurred you also might see large gas bubbles inside cavities inside the stone. Or flattened bubbles that are confined to wide fractures.
Are fracture filled rubies worth anything?
Probably 90% or more of the ruby in today's market has been fracture-filled in this way. Prices range from about $30.00 a carat here in Thailand to hundreds of dollars a carat at retail jewelry outlets. But whatever the price asked for these fracture-filled stones, they should be avoided at all cost.
What does Filled mean in gemstones?
Fissure filling, also known as fracture filling, is the process of filling in small fissures on the surface of a gemstone. Fissures are small, narrow gaps on the surface of the gem. The treatment improves the clarity of the stone by concealing these tiny cavities.Jun 24, 2020
Are Filled rubies valuable?
A lead glass filled ruby is worth under $10 a carat compared to a natural ruby which currently goes for a few thousand dollars to several thousand dollars a carat. But the lead glass-filled stones are being sold at natural ruby prices!
What is the best treatment for rubies?
Heat Treatment . Heat treatment is done to improve both clarity and color of rubies. Sri Lanka rubies become a more intense red, Thailand ones lose their brownish color, and Möng Hsu rubies (not to be confused with Mogok rubies) from Myanmar lose their dark, unattractive cores.
Can you make a white sapphire into a ruby?
Of the three most common treatments, diffusion is the least popular and the most controversial. Sellers usually resort to this method when heat-treatment is ineffective. The rubies are heated and have beryllium added in at high temperatures. In essence, a white sapphire can be made into a ruby, depending on how and if the corundum will take the treatment.
Does silk fade?
Silk can show rainbow colors that fade with heat-treatment, and even dissolve at higher temperatures like other inclusions. It often leaves behind some types of traces due to the high-melting point. Traces of silk are usually easy to spot due to their specific orientation. Photos by Ted Themelis.
What is a ruby gem?
Natural rubies like all other natural stones will have inclusions and fissures (cracks) within the stone. Rubies are expensive gems and you will have to accept the fact that, these flaws will in most cases be visible to the naked eye. Over the years, gem manufacturers have studied and tested various treatments that can be used to better the appearance of natural gems. Ruby is one gem that has been heat treated for many decades, this treatment is used for almost 95% of the rubies that reach the gem and jewelry markets. Gem experts accept this treatment since, it does not affect the durability of the gemstone. The enhancement that heat treatment does on the clarity and color of the ruby is permanent.
How durable are rubies?
The stones look gorgeous, if you wanted to get such a gem through the conventional heating treatment, you would end up paying at least 100 to 150 times more! Durability: By nature, rubies are extremely durable. They boast of a hardness factor of 9, making them a wee bit less harder than diamonds.
What is the hardest gem to wear?
You should know that diamonds are the hardest gems to be used in conventional jewelry. However all this durability and hardness deserts the fissure filled ruby. Fissure filled rubies are infact composite stones that combine corrundum (ruby mineral) and plain glass. The stones can scratch or chip easily.
Can you heat rubies?
Heating: Conventional heat treatment of rubies is done without adding any chemicals into the oven. But in the process used to fissure fill rubies, silica (glass) salts are added to the crucible that contains the rubies. The oven temperature is turned way up and this causes the silica salts to melt and become molten.
What is a cavity filling?
– filling surface-reaching fractures or cavities with a glass, resin, wax or oil to conceal their visibility and to improve the apparent clarity of gem materials, appearance, stability, or in extreme cases—to add to a slight amount of weight to a gem.
What is the second step of gem treatment?
This is sometimes followed by a heat treatment to further modify the color. This second step also known as a “combination treatment .
What is the Federal Trade Commission?
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has established a set of consumer guidelines outlining the need for treatment disclosures and special care requirements, and countries around the world either adhere to similar guidelines, or have regulations of their own.
What is the chemical used to alter / reduce a component of, or the entire color, of a por
Bleaching. – a chemical used to alter / reduce a component of, or the entire color, of a porous gem. Some gemstones are bleached and then dyed, a form of “combination treatment.”. 1. The most commonly encountered bleached gems include:
What is surface coating?
– altering a gem’s appearance by applying a coloring agent like paint to the back surfaces of gems (a treatment known as “backing”), or paint applied as a coating to all or a portion of a gemstone’s surface with the effect of altering the color . 1.
What color is tanzanite?
Tanzanite – Though rarely used, tanzanites have been coated to improve the intensity of their blue-violet color. Classic tanzanite exhibits a deep, purplish blue color (left). Pale tanzanite, and other pale stone species are sometimes coated with an ink-like substance to try to deepen and improve their color (right).
Glass-filled rubies appear in investigative report (2010)
San Francisco - A TV news report claiming that lead-glass filled rubies were sold without proper disclosure at Macy's stores aired earlier this week on the West Coast, marking at least the second time that the stones made consumer news headlines...#N#Lean More - National Jeweler Article#N#(If this article is not found in the above link, trying searching the website or online).
Putting Things in Perspective
Yes, MANY Rubys are glass filled, especially those coming from Madagascar. This is similar to the Oiling of Emeralds, and improves the clarity of the gemstone by filling cracks. Unlike Oiling, this glass filling is more stable when ultrasonic and/or steamed cleaned. However, the trade does believe that treatments/enhancements should be disclosed.
Why is ruby treated?
A ruby like any other gem stone is almost always treated in some way or the other to enhance it' s beauty. The treatment enhances the color and/or the clarity of the gemstone. Contrary to what many gem and jewelry lovers believe, ruby treatment is not a new practice, it has been done for many decades now. The earliest form of treating ...
What is glass filled ruby?
This is also basically a fissure filling process used to treat ruby gems but, some important details need to be understood.
Where is ruby found?
It is the junk material that would otherwise have been discarded. Natural unheated ruby was found in Africa in significant amounts in the mines of Tanzania as well as Mozambique – the Winza mine ruby of Tanzania and the Niassa ruby from Mozambique.
Do rubies need to be heat treated?
This treatment is accepted by all gem experts, gem and jewelry providers do not even care to mention that the rubies that they sell are heat treated. You can just take it for granted that they are always treated.The subsequent ruby treatments that were developed, involved heating but they did more than that to the gem.
Why do people use gemstone enhancements?
Gemstone enhancements are applied to gems to improve their appearance and wearability. Some of these procedures have been used for centuries, while others are recent. People in the gem industry choose treatments based on the gem type and the desired effect. Although some gemstone enhancements are commonplace, the gem-buying public remains ...
How does blue topaz get its color?
That doesn’t mean these gems are radioactive or otherwise harmful. Most blue topaz gems get their color in a two-step enhancement process. First, radiation modifies electron sharing between certain atoms in the crystal structure of colorless topaz, which turns the stone brown. Next, heating creates a stable blue color.
Is radiation a scary word?
Now you know why some in the gem industry are nervous about full disclosure. Radiation is a scary word. Revealing that a gem was irradiated will likely drive away customers. But just as with heating, radiation enhancements duplicate what happens in nature.
Do emeralds have internal fractures?
Some gems, notably emeralds, have internal fractures. Light reflection off their surfaces seriously affects the clarity and brilliance of these stones. Simply filling these fractures with a substance with similar optical properties makes these tiny cavities transparent.
Who is Donald Clark?
Donald Clark, CSM founded the International Gem Society in 1998. Donald started in the gem and jewelry industry in 1976. He received his formal gemology training from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the American Society of Gemcutters (ASG). The letters "CSM" after his name stood for Certified Supreme Master Gemcutter, a designation of Wykoff's ASG which has often been referred to as the doctorate of gem cutting. The American Society of Gemcutters only had 54 people reach this level. Along with dozens of articles for leading trade magazines, Donald authored the book "Modern Faceting, the Easy Way."
Ruby Treatments & Enhancements
Heat Treatment
- Photos by Ted Themelis – Heat-treated Mong-Hsu ruby Heat treatment is done to improve both clarity andcolor of rubies. Sri Lanka rubies become a more intense red, Thailand ones lose their brownish color, and Möng Hsu rubies (not to be confused with Mogok rubies) from Myanmar lose their dark, unattractive cores. Moreover, this is a stable and permanent treatment; meaning the e…
Fracture Filling
- Cavities and fractures can cause a huge loss of clarity in rubies and other gemstones, which is why fracture-filling treatments exist. The first is fracture-filling with colored, lead glass. This can improve not only the visible clarity but the color in certain instances. Note that the treatment has a caveat of not being durable, and can be damaged...
Beryllium Diffusion
- Of the three most common treatments, diffusion is the least popular and the most controversial. Sellers usually resort to this method when heat-treatment is ineffective. The rubies are heated and have beryllium added in at high temperatures. In essence, a white sapphire can be made into a ruby, depending on how and if the corundum will take the treatment. It brings into question whet…