In the last few years the Gemological Community has been in a quandary trying to deal with the new ruby treatments that are on the market. How can we inform our clients, the public about the extent to which the ruby is now being altered without making everyone so worried about rubies that they will not want to own one?
There is now a way that a ruby treatment specialist can take ruby that was unsalable due to large cracks and fissures and bond it together with a filler so that to the unaided eye it looks like it’s natural, untreated ruby counterpart. These specimen quality ruby crystals are selling wholesale to dealers starting at around $5.00 per carat. For the unscrupulous dealer this is a windfall as the same $5.00 per carat rubies are then being sold for hundreds of dollars per carat.
Except for the fracture filling of diamonds in the late 1980’s, I can’t remember in my career a single thing that has so shaken the gems and jewelry industry. Suncoast Gem Lab has the gemological equipment to test rubies to tell if they have been filled and treated. Give us a call to have us check out your ruby to see if it has been treated with the composite material.
Your Master Gemologist Appraiser
i have a ‘reconstituted’ ruby [from india, bought there by relative in 1931]. it is/was set in a 10k gold ring in i932. is it worth anything?
Hi Marian,
Without seeing the ruby I can’t give you an opinion of the value but I can give you some history of reconstituted ruby. About 10 years ago there were new ruby deposits discovered in Mozambique and Madagascar. The rubies were not of “gem” quality and were considered to be more like gem gravel. Back in the 60’s the people that specialized in heat treating ruby and sapphire to improve their color began to fill in small fissures in the surfaces of that material (ruby and sapphire) which is the mineral corundum with glass. Back about 20 years or so ago there was a new find of ruby discovered in Myanmar which is the country that was formerly Burma. This new find had more surface breaking fractures than one would normally accept in a ruby but the treaters were getting more and more experienced with filling the surface fissures with glass and so they were able to fill these Burma/Myanmar stones with a relatively stable glass filling. Enter the Mozambique/Madagascar rubies that had even bigger fissures still and leave it to science and sure enough the treaters came up with a method to fill these very large fissures with a new glass filling that is a different type of glass that melts at a lower temperature and is not stable at all. The Gemological community and in particular Chris Smith of the American Gemological Laboratory in NYC came up with the term “reconstituted ruby” do describe this new infilling process for the rubies from specifically that location.
So, in answer to your question, there were no reconstituted rubies in 1932. Either your ruby is reconstituted and is much newer than that or it is not what the gemological community is calling reconstituted ruby today. If it is indeed reconstituted ruby then the value depends on the amount of infilling material that is in the stone. I have a number of these stones in my office and I would be happy to meet with you and take a look at your stone and tell you what you have. Give ma a call at the office and we can set up a time for you to bring it in for examination.
Tom Seguin, G.G., A.S.A.
Master Gemologist Appraiser
Suncoast Gem Laboratories
4016 Cortez Road West, Suite 1201
Bradenton, FL 34210
ph: 941.756-8787 | fax: 941.751-6698
SuncoastGemLab.com
i have the same question
i DO know that this ‘ruby’ was purchased in india in approx. 1932, by my father –he paid, in a market, only a few cents for it. so, is it a ruby?