HISTORY OF CHANTHABURI – PART 3

After this, Burma lent its hand to the Chanthaburi gem scene, with a new source of ruby from Mong Hsu. This new source, one of the largest deposits of ruby in recent history, produced Burmese ruby with one problem, most of the red crystals had a bluish core which would make the cut stones look purplish. Once again, the Chanthaburi burners came to the rescue. With a new technique to heat the blue core out of the stone, which would leave some silk in its place, the “new and improved” Mong Hsu rubies were a hit, quickly dominating the market.
Rubies and Sapphires from Madagascar began to appear in large quantities on the market in the 1990’s. These gemstones, combined with Thai heat treatment again proved to be a winning combination.

In 2001, Chanthaburi began producing large amounts of the lovely padparadscha sapphire. Markets such as Japan when wild for the stone, and dealers began to ask where the stones were coming from. After much discussion, the Chanthaburi dealers admitted that the stones were being beryllium treated. This caused a shockwave throughout the international gemstone trade as many said that this beryllium treatment was a type of diffusion and not simply a form of heat treatment.

Chanthaburi has over time weathered many storms, and has repeatedly come out on top, still retaining its place as a center of the international gemstone scene. Thought the weekend gemstone market is currently slower than it has been in the past, anyone can still go and sit down at a dealers table and see a wide variety of stones from around the world.