Non-heat treated Rubies...help please!

[surfgirl]

Hey People of the Colored Stone World...!

I''m in Zambia right now and had a question about rubies. I''ve seen plenty of them in Myanmar in the past and I thought I knew what rubies "looked" like in terms of their color range. However, last night I went into a gem shop in my hotel lobby here in Lusaka and saw an interesting triple strand of rough-faceted bright, deep pink stones. I thought they were spinel but the shop owner said they were "untreated ruby" and then he showed me a similar strand but a deep wine color and said they were the same rough, started out the same deep pink, but with heat treatment they turn a deeper red and it''s more what most people think of as ruby red. I explained that I''m quite familiar with rubies in Asia and that I''ve mainly seen the deep pigeon''s blood red rubies as the most desirable color, and that most really pink stones were always offered as spinel. He said nope, the pink were a common color in untreated rubies. Mind you, the triple strand was $700! I thought it a bit much given that under my loupe they are quite included, though the color is fascinating and the rough Indian style faceting gives a very glittery look. I dont think I''m buying but I wondered what you all think of this color explanation he gave me. I''ll try to photograph them if I can but not sure I''ll have the time.

Thanks for your thoughts...!

 

[crown1]

i read that heat is used on reddish pink stones and to remove blue tones. hth. i hope some expert helps out here.

 

[Kismet]

If they're that pink then maybe they should be termed "pink sapphire" rather than ruby. If they're unheated rubies then $700 sounds really cheap. Oh, and how much did he want for the treated strand?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 5/29/2008 7:37:04 AM
Author: Kismet
If they''re that pink then maybe they should be termed ''pink sapphire'' rather than ruby. If they''re unheated rubies then $700 sounds really cheap. Oh, and how much did he want for the treated strand?

Ditto on the pink sapphire. I have read that some places will call pink sapphire rubies. But if they are beautiful, I''d want them even if they were pink sapphires!

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 5/29/2008 9:33:57 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006

Date: 5/29/2008 7:37:04 AM

Author: Kismet

If they''re that pink then maybe they should be termed ''pink sapphire'' rather than ruby. If they''re unheated rubies then $700 sounds really cheap. Oh, and how much did he want for the treated strand?

Ditto on the pink sapphire. I have read that some places will call pink sapphire rubies. But if they are beautiful, I''d want them even if they were pink sapphires!

Nearly every country on Earth except the U.S. and perhaps the U.K. considers any red or pink corundum ruby. I have reputable foreign gem lab certifications on several stones as ruby that I offer here in the States as pink sapphire. Just how we got to that point is interesting, as Richard Hughes points out (with a few astute comments on padparadscha as well) HERE

Richard M.

 

[Kismet]

Wow, that was very interesting. Thank you for the link Richard. I guess my question now would be, can heating have such a dramatic change on the color of a ruby as that gem dealer seemed to imply?

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 5/31/2008 5:21:20 AM
Author: Kismet
Wow, that was very interesting. Thank you for the link Richard. I guess my question now would be, can heating have such a dramatic change on the color of a ruby as that gem dealer seemed to imply?

I''d answer your question yes and no. The entire issue of heat and corundum is becoming very contentious. There are many sources for red or reddish corundum in Africa and all sorts of "alchemy" (some of it probably as yet unidentified) is being done to improve marketability.

Songea in Tanzania is one source of sapphire that is heated with beryllium (as mentioned on another thread) to turn it from a lackluster color into red, orange and padparadscha hues. That treatment could conceivably be involved in this instance.

Heat alone usually won''t accomplish such dramatic change, and the addition of a foreign element like Be is considered very unethical in the gem trade. But it''s being done and such treated stones are being sold on the retail market. Buying gems close to the "source" can be very risky. The number of frauds, synthetics and deceptions increases geometrically the closer one gets to the "mine."

 

[surfgirl]

Thanks all for the interesting comments and info. There''s no way I''m buying anything out here, I just really was confused about this whole "ruby vs. pink sapphire" thing. Thanks for buying me a clue!

 

[marcy]

Wow, this is very interesting to me. I have always heard that anything pink in the corundum family was a sapphire.