possible ruby ring dunno whether to get it tested

[Blash]

hey everyone so i saw my great aunt today and she asked me to clean one of her rings for her and when she got it out i started asking a few questions so apparently she got it in the late 1950s for 70 pounds its 9ct gold and with a red stone surrounded by smaller clear accent stones that appear to be topaz (i think). when viewed through the spectroscope it has 1 thin absorbance band in the red 2 thin bands around 475nm and a thick band between about 500 and 600nm which from what i have found seems to be consistent with ruby. i cant see any inclusions that indicate natural but nor do i see any bubbles or colour gradient that would indicate synthetic. i will be checking if it fluoresces, if it does what are the opinions of taking it into the gaa and getting them to check it out to see if it is natural?

here it is

[Blash]

i should also add that it has had much wear but the only damage to the red stone is very very small chips on the meets of some of the star facets with the table, whereas the accent stones show scratches and evidence of the amount of wear it has had

[Aussie Sapphire]

Synthetic corundum has been around for over 100 years and is quite often found in estate jewellery.  In the early days, it was not necessarily regarded negatively but rather as the new "whiz bang" scientific achievement. Not quite the same attitude of "fake" as we might have now

Have heard of people taking Grandma's ring into the jewellers to find that the centre stone is synthetic and being convinced it was fraudulently swapped out at some point. More usually, it was always synthetic and that knowledge was lost somewhere along the way.   Although in this case, you are talking to the person who bought the ring so you would assume she would have remembered this.

This could still be a possibility given that the side stones are topaz instead of diamond. In this case, the centre stone would wear like ruby (ie. wear much less than the softer topaz) and test as ruby in some tests (eg. Presidium Gem Tester).

A qualified gemmo should be easily able to tell the difference. Test reports are quite expensive so depends on how much you want to know. Some gemmos offer id's cheaper if you dont need a written report so maybe that is worth checking out.

cheers
Leah

[Ghost]

Using a highpower magnifier (10x, 20x) can you see any growth rings or lines. Natural will be straight (With or without defined bends), synthetic will be curved.
Regards,  Ghost

[Blash]

ive looked at it through my 20x loupe and cant see any growth lines ill be checking to see if it fluoresces tomorrow. does synthetic ruby fluoresce under uv light?

[Aussie Sapphire]

It is my understanding that some natural ruby does not fluoresce if high in iron - some natural (often highly desirable types) do fluoresce but synthetic should strongly fluoresce.  So reaction under UV light in not necessarily indicative of it being synthetic but I am not a gemmo so hopefully others more expert will chip in.

Do you have access to short wave UV light - or just long wave?

cheers
Leah

[Blash]

only long wave

[Aussie Sapphire]

This info may help - see chart at bottom of page.  Note that fluorescence is NOT diagnostic - it assist with identifying gems but additional tests must be done for definitive answer.

cheers
Leah

[gammyknee]

You may wish to do as Ghost has suggested - use a loupe or microscope to view.

Lighting is important - different types of lighting and different directions of viewing the stone to the light source.
Suggest having a read about Natural and Synthetic inclusions in ruby to help indentify what you might see. The GIA and some other sites have some informative info.

Also remember there are different types of synthetic rubies - verneuil flame fusion and flux melt which can have different properties.

Have fun - I know I still am.........