CHARTS
INCLUSIONS IN NATURAL, SYNTHETIC, AND
TREATED RUBY
Nathan D. Renfro, John I. Koivula, Jonathan Muyal, Shane F. McClure, Kevin Schumacher, and James E. Shigley
Figure 1. These rubies, a 16.68 mm rough and a 2.72 ct cushion cut, are from Myanmar. Photo by Robert Weldon/
GIA, courtesy of the William F. Larson collection.
F ollowing the charts for the micro-features of emer-
ald and sapphire—published in Winter 2016 and
Summer 2017, respectively—this chart on ruby
been critical to the development of color and clarity
treatments (including heating and dyeing, and now
more recently introduced processes) and synthetic
rounds out G&G’s series on inclusions in the “Big gems. In the early 1900s, over five million carats of
Three” colored stones. Rubies (figure 1) have long synthetic ruby were produced annually by the flame-
been one of the top gems in the trade, commanding fusion, or Verneuil, method (Hughes, 2017).
premium prices. Historically, their popularity has Innovative new treatments have also played a
major role in satisfying the continued demand for
ruby. In the early 1990s, gemological laboratories saw
the introduction of chromium-diffused rubies (Mc-
See end of article for About the Authors.
GEMS & GEMOLOGY, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 457–458,
Clure et al., 1993). In the early 2000s, lead-glass filling
[Link] of low-quality rubies reached international markets
© 2017 Gemological Institute of America and became one of the most widespread—and most
RUBY INCLUSIONS CHART GEMS & GEMOLOGY WINTER 2017 457
problematic—treatments in the gem trade (McClure at the first Gemfields rough ruby auction in 2014
et al., 2006). Also encountered in the early 2000s was (Lucas and Pardieu, 2014).
beryllium diffusion of ruby, which made it possible The photomicrographs chosen for this chart rep-
to produce pleasing red colors from stones with strong resent a wide range of features one might encounter
brown or dark tones that would not respond to tradi- in natural, treated, and synthetic rubies when exam-
tional heat treatment (Emmett et al., 2003). Rubies ining them with a gemological microscope. Some
from Songea, Tanzania, for example, were dramati- features are common, while others are exceedingly
cally improved with beryllium diffusion. rare. However, all of the images presented provide
Demand has also been met by several new ruby the viewer with a tremendous amount of informa-
deposits in the last decade. Mozambique has become tion about the unique micro-world of rubies. For
the leading producer of gem-quality rubies since the more on ruby and its inclusions, see our suggested
discovery in Montepuez in 2009. More than two mil- reading list ([Link]
lion carats of rough from Mozambique were offered winter-2017-suggested-reading-ruby-chart).
ABOUT THE AUTHORS colored stone services, Mr. Schumacher is a photo and video
Mr. Renfro is manager of colored stones identification, and John photo producer for Gems & Gemology, and Dr. Shigley is distin-
Koivula is analytical microscopist, at GIA in Carlsbad, California. guished research fellow at GIA in Carlsbad.
Mr. Muyal is a staff gemologist, Mr. McClure is global director of
REFERENCES
Emmett J.L., Scarratt K., McClure S.F., Moses T., Douthit T.R., tion in Singapore. GIA Research News, Jul. 17, [Link]/
Hughes R., Novak S., Shigley J.E., Wang W., Bordelon O., Kane gia-news-research-gemfields-ruby-auction-singapore
R.E. (2003) Beryllium diffusion of ruby and sapphire. G&G, Vol. McClure S.F., Kammerling R.C., Fritsch E. (1993) Update on dif-
39, No. 2, pp. 84–135, [Link] fusion-treated corundum: Red and other colors. G&G, Vol. 29,
Hughes R.W., with W. Manorotkul and E.B. Hughes (2017) Ruby No. 1, pp. 16–28, [Link]
and Sapphire: A Gemologist’s Guide. RWH Publishing, McClure S.F., Smith C.P., Wang W., Hall M. (2006) Identification
Bangkok. and durability of lead glass–filled rubies. G&G, Vol. 42, No. 1,
Lucas A., Pardieu V. (2014) Gemfields inaugural rough ruby auc- pp. 22–34, [Link]
Additional Reading
For a list of references pertaining to inclusions in
natural, synthetic, and treated ruby, go to
[Link]/gems-gemology/winter-2017-suggested-
reading-ruby-chart or scan the QR code to the right.
458 RUBY INCLUSIONS CHART GEMS & GEMOLOGY WINTER 2017
