Glass Filled Gems: Zombie Crystals [Treatments] 

Congrats on that dodged bullet~!

Thank you for sharing your perspective, Cindy. There is a lot of information about the metaphysical side of gemstones that gemologists don't typically know, because we don't have a scientific way to measure it, so it is helpful to hear from other sources. Thanks for the comment.

Best understanding I see like myself ❤

I am grateful too. I use finer stones for fine jewelry, but I also make fashion jewelry, but I like to use natural stones. After seeing this, I ordered a 1ct oval glass filled ruby, and it made a very pretty pendant after I finished looking at it. These stones are great for a lower price point.😊

Glad you enjoyed - definitely a product worth looking at, particularly for the price.

Cool correlation, Tom.

My pleasure, James.

Glad that this is helping you firm up your foundation~

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep these in mind as I plan out videos for the future.

Glad to help~

My pleasure :D

I'm glad that my work may be of service.

I welcome bubbles. Better to know thine enemy clearly XD. Its sad when people have generally clean crystal, and they think its just normal heat treatment. They miss that rogue blue flash off on the side somewhere.

@@GemologyforSchmucks ha, yea, too true!

I'm glad it's been helpful for you. They can indeed be attractive, but they're just SOOOOO plentiful, and no where near as durable.

Thank you indeed~ I intend to keep going. Run the race as if to win, as they say ;)

Thanks ~ i'm glad my work is of service to you.

Cheers~ glad to be of service.

Hi Leah, Rubies are definitely a bay of sharks to swim in. There is so much to know, both in terms of potential treatments and simulants and also the relative qualities available and the prices that can be attached to them. What I can say at this point in my career is: they scare and intrigue me. The more I learn about them and see higher quality pieces... the more i become interested and foolhardy. Even exceptional sapphires in the same size don't have the same impact for such small stones in my opinion. Some of those colours even verge on "scary" if you ask me. Its like seeing a black widow spider. You know it's tiny, but you have a reverent fear that shoots through you.

Thanks Evelyn, ~ I'm glad to be of service.

My pleasure to serve~

@@GemologyforSchmucks its time to subscribe your channel ! ❤️

@@lucci496 Welcome to the channel~

I'm tickled pink that you enjoy my work Patrick :D Looking forward to hearing from you.

The truth can indeed be scary at times eh? Hopefully knowledge of pitfalls makes the path clearer to tread.

Thanks very much Tammie~

My pleasure~

This depends entirely on which show you go to etc etc. I have a dealer who has quantities of large sized ruby glass-filled rough, and then you can find faceted sneaky pieces hidden in places you wouldn't expect.

indeed so~ its cool to see some of the "traditional" cutters using other varieties of abrasives to cut and polish their stones. I saw some Burmese using a chunk of (free and readily available) marble to polish spinel. They were apprentices, so who knows if they'd bust out the good stuff for high grade material, but it was a fantastically anchoring moment to see the evolution of the craft. Sometimes we get so advanced that we forget how we got here in the first place. Cheers, Fajile~

Thanks Ozzie. Also, on the Kleenex front... whoever managed to turn the US vernacular into a brand loving self-promotion machine... must be swimming in ill-gotten gains.

Thanks very much for your kind words and suggestion.

XD} That's amusing. I imagine the train of thought was something like this: "Let's watch this video and get some education about gemstones... WHOAH IT'S A WILD BEAST! HALP!! 😂 Love it. Thanks for sharing

I agree- many major brands and other popular sales platforms are hiding the treatments of their stones under layers and layers of marketing. One jeweler that I quite like advertises "alexandrite" and I had to go through 3-5 layers of marketing and photography before I could see in small print that it was a lab-created gem. Ah well~

@@GemologyforSchmucks It should not be buyer beware...you and I know most clients are not aware. I also am shocked how many jewelers only know diamonds, and even those not so well. The public cannot be happy when they find out a 14k ring from (online shopping) is not really 14k but 14k GP or GF. Maybe you can give a class of the metal hallmarks and their meanings, and also one that explains how to ask and look for treatments when buying online and at the store. I enjoy your show! Thanks for the time!

@@SwordofLight You're totally right. If only righteousness would win out all of the time, or even much of the time. ~ as to metals, hallmarking and all of that, I value your suggestion and am looking to do that hopefully in the next year. There are some exceptional jewelers that I am looking to coordinate with to make that a straightforward and transparent conversation for everyone. Cheers~

By all means - my goal with the channel is to spread and make available the knowledge of gemstones (at least a starting point from which others can build). It would be an honour to have you use my material for educational purposes.

thx~

Thank you, you're very kind. As to tissues and dialects, Texas is a special place where two countries can exist inside another country. I've had the good fortune to spend some time in West Texas.

Best of luck with your investigation. Hopefully this video helps fill in those blanks.

My pleasure to serve, Andrew. Also, there's plenty of wealthy ruby people that would say the same about ruby. Everyone's hands start shaking when they think about the potential losses XD.

Indeed everything has its place. As they say: if you sell it, someone will buy it. I think it's fascinating for a certain purpose and budget. It's just not something i'd like to wear myself and thats a personal choice not an ultimate value judgement . Thanks for the comment~

That is a fascinating study. I myself try and collect interesting pieces as they come across my path at an appealing price. As to companies that manufacture them, I haven't done too much research into that, so I don't have any to recommend. Cheers and good luck with your collection~

An excellent point Robert ~ I was fortunate to have our senior gemologist point out one of these stones during an internship I was doing. Gorgeous stone, and VERY subtle glass filling/ clarity enhancement. Absolutely right that we need to be wary. Thanks for the comment.

Pause the video at 0:04 seconds on the red ruby - on the table facet, upper right corner there is a bright circular object. That is a bubble. At 2:54 the 12 noon star facet, there is a grey area that looks like the Korean peninsula... or a sock... And 3:50 onward - in the bottom left corner of the stone. The blue flash is difficult to see on the video, but its a taste of what you might see.

Hi Shauna, I'd like to see samples of these stones. Tourmaline is notoriously sensitive to heat, so im suspicious. Tourmaline can be heated yes, (recently many available Paraiba tourmalines are heated in order to become these neon colours) but... Anyhow - its something i'd like to see in person before I say any more. I have not heard of anyone talking about glass filled tourmaline, and I work around some very high end tourmaline people. The same blue-flash and gas bubble inclusions could be expected if they were treated with glass filling.

When I first heard a goldsmith friend tell me about their interaction with a Thai dealer, they used this one XD I had to think about it but i LOVED it after I figured it out. I'll have to look into the Macy's Ruby thing; I haven't heard that story yet. Thanks for the comment Alex~

@@GemologyforSchmucks About ten years ago Macy sell lead glass fill ruby with none disclosure. They call genuine ruby or real ruby with no disclosure. Same as Thai jewellery shop for foreign tourists in Bangkok. It was long time ago.

@@akarint1 Scandalous. There will always be people who want to make fast money off of deceit. That is part of why I think this channel is so important to build. If average people know more, the enthusiasm of people to buy higher quality goods goes up, and the value of low quality scams goes down. That is my hope at least~! Thx Alex! :D

Red orange flash along a fissure, also.

Yah, if you've got bubbles inside of cracks with colour concentrations, i'd bump that 99% up to 100% and go enjoy some lasagna.

@@GemologyforSchmucks 10$/ct I pretty well expected it, so it's not a total loss. Now I know what they look like in person.

@@GemologyforSchmucks following up with the Chelsea filter, 100% cobalt colored.

@@KC9RXP Science!

Hi Oakley ~ The only way a standard gemologist can be sure that amethyst or citrine are natural stones is through their inclusion scenes. You'll need to get comfortable looking at known natural stones, and have an idea of what sorts of inclusions are typical for natural, vs typical for synthetic. For hydrothermal quartz, there are some typical inclusions that we look for, but we can never be sure that it's not synthetic and in fact natural unless we see for sure those natural inclusions. There is a series of books that may interest you if you like this sort of thing called "The Photo Atlas of Inclusions" (not cheap, but excellent resource for anyone wanting to dive into gemstones). As to Microscopes, many gemologists use Motic , Olympus, Leica etc. I definitely suggest giving it a test-drive first and making sure that you get one with a quality base with "dark field" illumination.

@@GemologyforSchmucks hey thanku so much for the reply you are always very helpful and I love watching your videos 😊😊

The blue glass-filled piece most likely was filled with cobalt doped glass, yes. The fact that it flows in the direction of the cracks is one of the identifying features of the treatment. In corundum, colour zoning should follow zones of crystal growth, not flowing shapes.

I thought the same thing, glad you asked! Also @gemologyforschmucks that was a helpful response thank you!

If you're looking for large glass-filled ruby, such as the ones featured in this video, I can put you in touch with a friend.

@@GemologyforSchmucks yes please!

@@zakna0693 send me an email at thegemshepherd@gmail.com and i'll put you two in touch.

I generally prefer to keep it quite natural aswell, both with gems and with products that my flesh comes in contact with.

There are many different types of inclusions. Black spots could be a variety of things, and natural inclusions are also possible. Gemologists would look at the shape of the inclusion under magnification and in different lighting.

For enhancements and those processes, you'll need to speak with a specialist that does it. I prefer natural and untreated or heated stones, so the specific details of how to colour enhance sapphires are not in my mind. How to recognize and avoid those treatments are my focus at this stage.

Flux healed is much more stable (doesn't get eaten by basic hand soaps and average acids etc) than glass filled, so flux healed will definitely have a higher value point than glass filled, all other characteristics being equal. Heated and flux healed are on a continuum, and some major labs will categorize heated with about 3 levels and another 2-3 for major flux healing. These are not sale-able in the same markets. Many can accept heat treatment, but as soon as foreign components are being incorporated into the stone, or significant "re-melting" of the stone occurs, many people in the market start to view the stone as synthetic. Those "re-melted" areas are officially viewed as synthetic. Meddling eh? It's a fascinating conversation.

@@GemologyforSchmucksa huge thank you for such a detailed reply!

I don't believe so. I'd suggest drinking the whiskey and using isopropyl if you're going to use an alcohol to clean. The major stability issue is more with heat - if you were getting a ring resized for example, they put a torch to the piece, and the glass part of the reconstructed stone can't handle the heat in the same way that corundum crystal can. Otherwise, aggressive acids can be pretty brutal. If you just want to get off grime etc, then i'd suggest acetone first (that will take off most common glues without hurting most stones. We use it with pearls too.) then some isopropyl alcohol to get rid of any residual residue.

@@GemologyforSchmucks Acetone or isopropyl , alright. Thanks =)

I wouldn't expect so unless you managed to get the probe directly on a fissure or cavity that was glass filled. There are several testers, but most go off of thermal conductivity or electrical conductivity and the fact that glass filled stones are not homogenous means that you won't get a clear reading indicating that the stone has been treated.

Absolutely ~ to my understanding thats how they enhance the red colour in some lead filled rubies.

Hi Pepsi ~ almost anything can be dyed if it has fissures. Some quartz is quench cracked exactly for that reason (so that they can slip dye into it and have it impersonate emerald etc.) So really.... it could be most anything. Practice is valuable though~

@@GemologyforSchmucks thanks for the info. :)

Wuddup~!

There are many kinds of gemstones that are blue~ finding out measurable information about the stone will be important for you to know which stone it is. Many of the tutorials I've posted on this channel may help you on the way, or you can find a gemologist near you ^_^ Cheers and thanks for the comment.

@@GemologyforSchmucks thank’s !

Hi Simmer - this is something you'll need to take your stone to a reputable gemologist for. Alexandrite can be both natural and synthetic, and there are also simulants, so you'll need to put it in the hands of someone who know how to look at the stone and get their expert opinion. This isn't something anyone can advise you about accurately over text messages.

Oh yeah what do you think of fire moutain gems? I found a site that sells mostly lower grade stones very few AA ones but the site is very honest about the stuff seemingly. So i wonder if it would be good to buy from. I was gifted a honey tigers eye. And after wards found black star diopside and i kind of want one for a ring but id like a real one lol.

I've had a few other people say something similar and my lame comeback is: I'm not advertising effectively?..? Anyhow, my focus was to put my energy and time into making something WORTH advertising and then working on spreading the word afterwards XD. Feel free to tell your friends about me... Cheers and thanks for the comments.

This is the most entertaining gemology channel I have seen on RU-vid. The great thing about imparting knowledge in a humorous way is that the information becomes more memorable. What could be better than having a good time and learning stuff?

I do indeed speak quite quickly, and I apologize for the inconvenience. Fortunately youtube now has a feature that allows you to reduce the "playback speed" to 0.75 , 0.50 or 0.25 of normal speed and also to speed up to 1.25 or 1.5+ if you feel the speaker is too slow. We try to accommodate everyone, but we can never please everyone.

Hi Mohd, welcome to the channel. Identifying gemstones needs to be done by someone who can test the gemstones in person. There are many labs who provide this service, and there are a number of good options available in Bangkok. There may be a gemologist nearby where you live who can help you.

@@GemologyforSchmucks thank you brother and i didnt find any trusted labs near my city so i said lets ask a expert i find you on the list and if i could send you a pictures or video can you identification it like anything i just dont want it to be class filled thank you and i love your channel :)

@@mohdnazir5621 Sorry, but we do not do identification or treatment designations from photo and video. It is too unreliable.

The green stuff on top of it~ indeed is synthetic overgrowth. Synthetic "from zero" quartz crystals however aren't a thing yet. The hydrothermal transport method is used to make synthetic quartz (amethyst/ citrine etc) and that ends up looking like long rippled plates, rather than spiky crystal forms like you see in the case. Fascinating to see what science can do, and also what it is still unable to do. Thanks for the comment Illyrian~

@@GemologyforSchmucks Well thanks you about this video. Very informative. More people need to know about fake and modified, crystals, gems and stones that are flooding the e-markets