 Photo: E. Skalwold Appearance of glass in a ruby corundum cabochon with extensive filling making up nearly half of the stone. The star rubies on the previous page have very minimal filling and date from the early days of the treatment. The filling in them is much more difficult to detect. The image below shows glass-filled ruby rough being offered for sale in the Chanthaburi gem market (2007). The stones cut from this treated material can be faceted, cut as cabochons and may even have lovely stars. They are attractive alternatives to much more expensive untreated ruby, but must be protected from environmental attack such as from acids (and of course should not be sold without full disclosure as to what they are). |  Photo: E. Skalwold |
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