Lead Glass Filled Ruby Gems: Value Of Treated Gems

Lead Glass Filled Ruby Gems: Value Of Treated Gems, Virtually everyone knows about Ruby gemstone is a precious gemstones and its color, but very few people actually know about the history of ruby.

Practically no one knows how a ruby gemstone is treated to make it look more beautiful. In recent weeks there has been news of lead glass-filled rubies that are attracting gemstone lovers.

So in this blog, we are going to discuss lead glass-filled gems. What are they?? How are they made? How can you differentiate between natural and glass-filled rubies??

 

What is Ruby Gemstone?

Ruby is composed of Corundum, which is the crystalline form of aluminum oxide. After Diamond, Ruby is the hardest gemstone. Natural rubies have been mined for 8,000 years or more.

They are found in Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and North Carolina. The quality of Ruby depends on its color, cut, and clarity.

How did lead glass-filled Rubies come to exist??

The ruby was the first gemstone to be made artificially as it was so highly prized. The demand for Ruby gemstone has increased worldwide, so there is an apparent paradox in prices in today’s market.

The supply of high-quality material could not keep up with ever-increasing demand which results in adopting treatments to make cheap rubies more visually appealing.

There are some treatments that are stable and accepted as normal practice by the Gemologists whereas others are unstable. Due to this reason, many low-cost rubies on the current market are produced by lead glass filling.

What is a Lead Glass-filled Ruby Stones?

Lead glass-filled rubies represent the material that is heavily treated to improve transparency. In this treatment, very low-grade ruby with surface cracks is taken and then repair it by heating them with lead glass. The melting point of the glass is much lower than ruby, which liquefies and fills the crack.

As the refractive index of both glass and corundum is similar, so it improves the color and clarity of low-grade material. Now the question arises what the problem with this treatment?? For an average consumer, this is a beautiful ruby that he is getting at a cheap price.

Well, this process is highly unstable and can be damaged not only at the workbench by a jeweler, but also by the consumer with normal wear.

What is the value of treated gems in the Market??

These treated gemstones are not rubies and are a mixture of natural corundum and lead glass. These ruby gems have more lead glass in them, yet they are being sold at a price of genuine ruby.

The price for untreated natural ruby is nearly US$10,000 per carat whereas for glass-filled ruby is US$1 per carat. Most of the department stores, eBay or online dealers are selling these lead glass filled rubies at the same price as natural rubies.

Nowadays these glasses filled rubies are set in jewelry as well, which leads to high loss of the wearer. Since they can’t be repaired or resized as it will crack when it touches the stone even for a second.

If you accidentally spill some lemon juice on your lead glass filled jewelry, the stone will slowly decay in a few days and will look as if it was thrown from a 50 story building. This day you could find gems sold on unmissable offers with notable discounts, but they are actually leading filled rubies that are sold at a price of genuine rubies.

While buying how can I differentiate between the natural and lead glass filled Rubies?

Since it is very difficult for consumers to know whether the ruby is natural or glass filled. So your first defense is buying from someone you trust.

They earned your trust because they held to a code of ethics and treated you fairly. Since trustworthy jewelers know that what is needed to protect their clients and their reputation, so they will always guide you with the best.

Secondly, always ask whether these are lead glass filled rubies or not? Only authentic jewelers will have a policy and be able to provide information on the subject.

Sehdev Jewellers offer natural and top quality wholesale ruby gemstone, to make people conscious of their investments. In our catalog, we present a wide range of gems along with their description, price with the aim to offer the purchaser the right consciousness of his investments.