Chatham Ruby (synthetic)

Item Description

If you're a gemstone collector or if you've spent time in gem/jewelry industry, you might have heard the name Chatham. This company is one of the industry leaders in producing lab-grown gems, but they are best known for producing some amazing lab-grown Ruby crystals. These are actually high quality examples, which take many months to grow, and they're not cheap flame fusion or pulled Rubies. The Chatham process starts with using genuine Ruby seed crystals from Myanmar, and growing them over time into large GEM QUALITY crystals of an incredibly desirable purplish-red to "pigeon blood" red hue. Because they're grown in-lab under a controlled environment, all of Chatham's gemstones produce the most vividly saturated color possible and are neither enhanced nor color treated as a result. It's important to note that these Rubies are not simulants, they are chemically identical to crystals found in nature, just grown in a lab environment. They've been on the market for decades, and are almost universally accepted by dealers and collectors, provided that all parties are aware that these are lab-grown. This thumbnail specimen is a fantastic example of said material featuring a group of notably sharp, well-formed rather lustrous, GEMMY, rich purplish-red colored, tabular hexagonal crystals. The piece GLOWS with color when backlit, and is a stellar example of these gorgeous and high quality crystals