Tuesday, October 25, 2016

"Sunset" Rubies - Game of Stones

Sunset Ruby is a name given to a sapphire that is too orange to be ruby and lacking the pinks to make it a Padparadscha.

Breathlessly marketed ... "The Cambodian 'sunset' ruby is 50 times more rare than a diamond and is a tribute to the beauty of a Cambodian sunset" the stone was featured on the TV series "Game of Stones"
The "sunset ruby" is marketing rubbish ... it is corundum that is diffusion treated with trace elements (likely beryllium).

Beryllium treatment is routinely detected with spectrometers.