GIA highlights challenges over lead glass filled rubies
BASEL, Switzerland, March 2012 – Senior GIA expert Shane McClure gave an address at BASELWORLD in which he highlighted challenges surrounding lead glass filled rubies.
In a well-attended presentation on March 11, McClure, GIA Director of West Coast Identification Services, said the GIA had been reporting on lead glass filled rubies since 2003.
“They are still a big issue in the industry. Identification is not the problem – disclosure is the real problem,” McClure said in an address.
“This has led to a recent change in our report disclosure policy.”
The GIA has introduced a new report wording.
For rubies that are being held together by glass, or are unrelated pieces of ruby in glass, GIA reports now identify the species as “a manufactured product”, McClure said.
GIA reports say that filling material may be unstable to elevated temperatures and to chemical agents.
“This material has a durability problem,” McClure said.
“If you put it in a solvent, it will damage the glass.”
Established in 1931, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is the world’s foremost authority on diamonds, coloured stones, and pearls.
