Mozambique ruby

[morecarats]

There has been a new supply of Mozambique ruby entering the market here in Thailand. A lot of it is being fracture-filled with lead glass to some degree, but there is also some completely untreated material around, certified by AIGS, mainly in smaller sizes. It''s been quite a while since we''ve seen unheated ruby, it''s a lot rarer than unheated sapphire. I think Vincent Pardieu has some information on his website about the new ruby deposits in Mozambique. With the ban on Burmese ruby in the USA, this will be welcome news for American ruby buyers.

 

[morecarats]

If you''re interested in learning more about the characcteristics of this material, the GIT gemological lab in Thailand has just purblished a paper on it:

http://www.git.or.th/eng/testing_center_en/lab_notes_en/glab_en/2009/GIT_article_ruby_mozambique_web.pdf

 

[chrono]

Absolutely; this is good news not just for US buyers but any gemstone lover as it gives them a chance to buy a decent ruby. Plus I would not buy ruby without certification; too many cases of being fracture filled and diffusion going around.

 

[morecarats]

There is some excellent microphotography of Mozambique ruby in the GIT paper by the noted photographyer Wimon Manorotkul. (You may know her less famous husband, the gemologist Richard Hughes).

 

[chrono]

I noticed the name under the pictures; she takes excellent microphotographs of gemstones for numerous research papers and articles. What I did not know is that Richard Hughes is her spouse.

 

[morecarats]

There is a good profile of Wimon Manorotkul on the Pala Gems website:

http://www.palagems.com/fotogfocus_manorotkul.htm

 

[Stone Hunter]

Very interesting information. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[megeve]

Wimon is such a talented woman, you must be very proud of her, Richard!

Morecarats, thank you for the heads up! Do you by any chance know which reputable dealers in Thailand are selling them? the unheated ones!

 

[kas baby]

whoa! there are some really cool pictures in those links- thanks for sharing!

 

[morecarats]

Date: 12/4/2009 12:49:28 PM
Author: megeve
Wimon is such a talented woman, you must be very proud of her, Richard!

Morecarats, thank you for the heads up! Do you by any chance know which reputable dealers in Thailand are selling them? the unheated ones!

Just about every dealer in Thailand has Moazambique ruby now, so just contact your favorite dealers. Since some of this material is fracture-filled, some of it heated and some of it unheated, you really should insist on lab certification for any stones sold as unheated. Prices vary from around $30 a carat for fracture-filled stones to $500 a carat and up for unheated (with most of the unheated stones under a carat).