An annotated collection of photomicrographs of rubies and sapphires encountered in our work.
Red, orange and pink parallel lines show through in the twinning in this unheated natural Mozambique ruby. While a relatively common feature in rubies from Mozambique, they generally have to be placed under the dark-field type lighting of a gemological microscope to be seen so easily. In the rough-gemstone stage, should the twinning be quite prominent, the preforming manufacturer will…
Pyramidal shaped calcite crystals in this 2 Carat Unheated Mozambique Ruby peep out. The clear crystal shapes are still intact and are not deformed in any way. This inclusion type is called an syngenetic type of inclusion and is likely to have formed at the same time as the host ruby crystal. An intact crystal such as this is strongly…
This huge size 18 carat unheated sapphire from Tigray in Northern Ethiopia shows a highly unusual type of golden silk. Usually silk in unheated sapphire is whitish in color and is composed of rutile a.k.a. titanium dioxide. This particular item is likely to have higher concentrations of hematite and ilmenite which is generally the most frequent companion minerals seen in…
Sneaking across the table of this glass-filled-ruby, is gossamer threads glass filling. A low quality highly treated gem, technically this is not a ruby. Sold be low quality stores such as Macys.
How a tiny dot tells a story A beautiful orange-pink sapphire, that some may choose to call a padparadscha, came across the table the other day in our buying office in the ruby and sapphire market in Chanthaburi, Thailand. The color was that perfect orange-pink with a slight hint of purple that its so reminiscent of the Lotus Flower. The…