[Jewelry making - Article 00868] - Re: [Orchid] Glass-filled rubies

[David L. Huffman]

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>        Isn't there a simple test to detect? perhaps water 

Hi Ringman;

    I don't know of any fluids or special lights that would reveal the
    glass filling, but I've been able to indentify them by looking at
    them under high magnification. What you'll see is that where the
    cracks are filled, the filler polishes down a little, so you see
    these crevices and pits where the level drops a bit but it's
    polished.  The color is kind of suspicious, especially when you see
    one of those dead-on-red rubies in a cheapo mounting.  More like the
    color of a lab grown, but not as transparent. One trick I've heard
    they're doing is taking lab grown material, heating it and quenching
    it to crack the crystal, then filling it. Why?  To make cabachons!
    Usually, good ruby cabbing material is a good color, but not good
    transparancy.  So, you can get a better margin by fracturing and
    filling lab grown than by mining and cutting good cab rough. 

David L. Huffman

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