Lead Glass Filled Ruby Value

Because lead glass has a much lower melting point than ruby setting these stones can be dangerous.

Lead glass filled ruby value. Today s fracture filled stones have surface reaching fractures filled primarily with a high lead content glass. Since natural ruby is very hard and durable jewelers don t usually worry about applying heat to ruby when setting a stone. In addition they are sometimes being sold for the price of a genuine ruby. It is impossible to determine what proportion of a ruby is actually lead glass without dissolving the filler.

With lead glass filled rubies the problem is that it cannot be easily determined where the lead glass ends and the ruby begins. Smith says these lead glass stones lack the durability and value of genuine rubies. Imagine paying 3 000 for a ruby ring and thendiscovering that it is only worth 1 000 because it is filled with lead glass. This is a relatively new treatment dating back to 2004 2006.

How are these kinds of rubies still on the market. Natural rubies appear to be illuminated from within. The first attribute of a natural ruby stone is the luster and shimmer which it holds. There are large numbers of these treated rubies in the market and they require greater care than untreated heat treated or lattice diffusion treated ruby.

Lab tests reveal that lead glass can account for as much as 60 of the stone s weight. But this cannot be the only criteria to declare a stone pure ruby as lead glass filled rubies are also treated to create the illumination.