| According
to the eleventh century
writing of the Arab scholar
and scientist Al-Biruni,
ancient Sri lankans Were
aware of the technology
to treat spinel varieties
to eliminate unwanted hues
and to enhance colour and
clarity (Themelis,1992) |
Sri
lanka is famous from time immemorial
for many varieties of gemstones.
According to the past records,
our ancestors were conversant
with the expertise of differentiating
each variety of gemstones and
enhancing the colour/clarity
of the gemstones. The variety
name corundum is considered
to have originated from Sri
Lanka, even in the olden days,
our forefathers could differentiate
corundum (ruby) from garnet
or spinel. In the days of the
kings, officials were appointed
to supervise the gem mines and
were empowered to decree the
gems valued over a cetain predetermined
amount (This amount was decided
dy the King) as the king's property
while the rest allowed as possessions
of the gem-miner.
Obviously these officials were
very familiar with gems found
in Sri Lanka. They were able
to differentiate each variety
of gemstones by merely observing
the stones in bright sunlight
and were quite efficient in
identifying fakes because trading
in fakes was widespread even
at the beginning of the gem
industry itself. The manufacture
of man-made gams began around
4000 BC. The first productions
recorded were of blue glazed
material made to imitate Iapis
Iazuli.
Contemporary Europeans were
not so conversant with coloured
gemstone. Even the famous Black
prince's Ruby, which was set
to the front face of Imperial
State Crown of Great Britain,
was considered to be a RUBY
till recent times although it
is a spinel.(Figure 1).
(Figure
1).
All these years in sri lanka
gemmology was regarded as a
trade but not as a science.
Experience was the criterion.
Most experienced persons came
to the forefront as gemmologists
or successful gem merchants.
Fortunately, those days there
were no synthetics and imitations
as well as look-alikes were
the only available fakes.
This trend somewhat changed
at the beginining of the twentieth
century when synthetic gem material
frequented the market. Synthetic
gems produced by various methods
such as flame-fusion process,
flux-melt growth, crystal-pulling
process and hydrothermal growth
entered the market at a rapid
pace. At first most gemmologists
were confused but subsequenty
once they had gone through several
gemstones of each variety they
were able to identify and differentiate
natural from synthetic.
Fine
Sri Lankan Red Spinels
|
