Any experience with BE treated rubies?

[Indylady]

I know many of us are treatment purists. I recently accidentally purchased a very high heat pair of rubies, and I actually kind of love them for what they are. They’re quite pretty! From what I’ve heard, these rubies can be a lot more delicate and prone to chip or break, but I don’t have a citation for that. Any other tips on BE treated/high heat rubies? I think I’d like another one. I’ll always be on the lookout for high-quality low-heat/traditional heated or unheated rubies, but it’s exciting to get a little size for the buck and fun to try something new.

 

[Avondale]

I think you may be confusing flux healing with lead glass filling. The latter is done at relatively low temperatures, actually. Is there a reason you’re concerned about beryllium diffusion in particular? IIRC your rubies were from the Greenland deposit and I don’t remember beryllium being used for them.

 

[Indylady]

Hi @Avondale - I don’t think the Greenland rubies were BE treated - I think they are a high heat. I am looking for (and not trying to avoid) a flux or filled ruby - I’d love to see one in person.

 

[shelovesinclusions]

I have a BE ruby. The consequences of high heat are definitely evident when looking at it under a loupe, so I tried to be extra careful when setting it. That being said, the girdle and pear tip are not very thick, so I was sweating bullets when putting it into a setting. I'm thinking BE treatment doesn't weaken them much because I didn't chip it at all and I am a novice using rudimentary tools.

 

[marymm]

I have a 7ct+ Ruby which is composite/lead glass -- it was represented as flux filled at the time of my purchase -- for reference, here's a couple pics + AGL Composite Brief -- it does look a bit better in person fwiw

 

[Indylady]

I have a BE ruby. The consequences of high heat are definitely evident when looking at it under a loupe, so I tried to be extra careful when setting it. That being said, the girdle and pear tip are not very thick, so I was sweating bullets when putting it into a setting. I'm thinking BE treatment doesn't weaken them much because I didn't chip it at all and I am a novice using rudimentary tools.

Very interesting!! What do you mean that it’s evident? Does it look cloudy?

 

[Indylady]

I have a 7ct+ Ruby which is composite/lead glass -- it was represented as flux filled at the time of my purchase -- for reference, here's a couple pics + AGL Composite Brief -- it does look a bit better in person fwiw

Very cool! Thank you @marymm!! I love the spread.

 

[shelovesinclusions]

Very interesting!! What do you mean that it’s evident? Does it look cloudy?

It is cloudy. The main thing is that it has these inclusions that look like microscopic explosions with a sort of frosty halo around them. There is a picture in the Lotus database of inclusions that matches what I see precisely.

 

[Avondale]

Hi @Avondale - I don’t think the Greenland rubies were BE treated - I think they are a high heat. I am looking for (and not trying to avoid) a flux or filled ruby - I’d love to see one in person.

I'm asking because you mentioned "From what I’ve heard, these rubies [very high heat] can be a lot more delicate and prone to chip or break". Which is something that's known for glass filled rubies, they're quite fragile and the treatment is not stable. But glass filling happens at low temperatures specifically. I'm not aware of high temperature treatment affecting corundum's durability in any way. But now you got me curious so I'll try to dig something on the subject during the weekend.

 

[MMtwo]

This forum is a delight to read and the generosity of time is really awesome. Dear CS folks, thank you for all you do.

 

[Jopdrop]

The Be treated ruby that I have come across is all more of an orangy red rather than a true red colour. If you Google Songea ruby you will see what I mean.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,
I just read that the most common ruby treatment nowadays is the BE treatment that changes the color of the ruby or sapphire.

Many years ago I bought gemstones from mainly Thai dealers. I bought a bunch of rubies cheaply, not really knowing what I was doing, but I was sent some mighty fine looking rubies, packaged beautifully.
At this time I was making jewelry as gifts for other people that I liked. On one such occasion I allowed my friend to pick from my rubies to make a ring. We took the stone, and I brought along others to show the jeweler, to put the stone into a setting. I showed the jeweler my rubies and said, I suspect they are glass filled. They really looked nice. He offered to buy them from me, but I declined. My friend picked up her ring and immediately took it to another jeweler to have it appraised.(surprise, surprise for me). She was so excited. It appraised for $1,000. I just shook my head.

A few years past when I decided to bite the bullet. I sent three stones off to AGL. One was small, and had that glow. The other two were nice. Two came back glass filled, composite, but the little one, a 1,01 came back with minor residue, flux filled. I kept that one, and sent my grand nephew, who was into his pirate stage, a small treasure chest of rubies. His mother got the good rubies and my friend is in heaven thinking her ruby is valuable.

Glass filled rubies look good. Flux filled lookm good. BE rubies change the color.

Annette

 

[Avondale]

But now you got me curious so I'll try to dig something on the subject during the weekend.

Dug something up.

Pressure Heated Sapphire • Squeezing Sapphire • Corundums treated with high temperatures and low pressure (HT+P)

Sapphires heated with high temperatures and low pressures (~1kbar) first entered the market in 2009, becoming more common since 2016. This article examines the process in detail and looks at the question of whether a separate disclosure is needed for the treatment.

www.lotusgemology.com

And it's quite interesting, too!

Okay, so, in short for everyone who doesn't have the patience to read this long-ass article:
Somewhat recently a new variation of heat treatment was introduced where in addition to the (high) heat they also cook the stones under low amounts of additional pressure. The reason for it is the added pressure speeds up the process. GRS came out with a statement that these stones are more fragile and susceptible to damage. I suspect this is where "I've heard of durability issues" started.

In this article the treatment is analysed in detail and also they did a bunch of test to check if treated stones really do have altered durability. According to the article, several labs did simultaneous extensive testing and found no issues. Stones that were cooked with high heat and pressure were just about the same as any other heated stone.

This is all I could find. Unless someone else can add more information, so far it seems there really is no reason to believe high heat would make a sapphire more fragile.