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 Post subject: Opaque "ruby" beads
PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:31 pm 
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Ye gods - I'm struggling to imagine who would consider these an attractive adornment :shock: :

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-CARATS-PREMIUM- ... dZViewItem

Snipadelic version:
http://snipurl.com/u6mc

Am I mistaken in thinking that this sort of material has traditionally been mined as a source of industrial grit?

Do you suppose this bead production is what is happening to the Madagascar material too opaque for glass filling?

Puzzled,
Chris


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:24 pm 
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But, hey...they say it's "superior grade"! :smt102


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:39 pm 
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Guess that means that's the best they've got. :smt044

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:14 am 
Nah, I wouldn't buy them I think...

how ever these Flourites from the same seller is really nice:


Unfortunately I don't have a credit card and can't buy from E-bay :roll:


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:07 am 
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Wow! Are those corundum crystal cross-sections? I think they're cool (in my nerdy world :smt112 )

The fluorite beads Crystallize pointed out are cool too. :)


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:56 am 
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Chris,

When I read your post I clicked on the link expecting to see the typical East African material that starts out opaque and after the Indians finish with it, red oil and so forth ends up semi-translucent. A friend in Nairobi once should me 150 kilos of the stuff. Sold it to the Indians for $165.00 per kilo and they turned it into $0..50 per carat. Do the math, some rich Brahmins!

This is a bit different. Stuff I saw did not have such well defined hexangonal crystal shape. If processed in India, almost a certainty, filled with oil but, that said. I would have been interested in a 10-20mm crystal uncut. Not a denizen of the bead world but the stuff looks interesting fro a design point of view and it is "ruby".

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:43 pm 
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Ha! Thanks, Richard, for the little glimpse into gem bead pricing.

I guess what I dislike about these beads is that they seem a waste of some nifty crystals. At first sight, they look to me more like little slices of giblets. And the bead holes are 'way too distracting and obvious. Whereas the rough might have been much more interesting and fun to wear as pendants...or maybe they'd still resemble chicken hearts (or something even more disturbingly organic), I don't know :?

Yoiks and away,
Chris


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 2:51 am 
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We got some big sizes African ruby roughs in a similar color but looked more translucent. I burnt some in the electric oven heating up to 1700 C and the colors dried up and shows a whitish lifeless color.

When I put the rough rubies in my hand, I can feel it's sticky and think it's oil treated like what Richard said.

We cut a few pieces oiled ruby and the color looks promising. Seems the cutting and polishing doesn't interfere with the oil treatment.

The ruby roughs are from a friend and he wanted our cutters to cut a few pieces for him but I told him they might have been oil treated but just not sure.

See pictures.

Alex
www.china-sapphire.com



Image
Image


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:55 am 
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Hi Alex -

Sorry to be an idiot here, but the stones shown were cut from that ugly pile of rough? Or is that the rough that turned white in the oven?

Staying tuned,
Chris


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:35 pm 
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Sorry for the confusion. The roughs were heated in the oven but the cut stones we cut from rough that were not heated. But I think the roughs were treated with oil or something else to improve on color as they are very sticky when holding in the hands.

Alex
www.china-sapphire.com


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