Antique jewelry glossary

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Reconstructed stone

A type of gemstone made by fusing together small crystals or fragments of crystal so as to make one large stone, sometimes enhancing the colour with a metallic oxide.

The process was once said to have been used to imitate the ruby. The principle is used to combine pieces of amber into a large piece. In some cases the crystals are bonded together by means of resin or a synthetic plastic, e.g. the so-called 'bonded turquoise'. Such reconstructed stones are now superseded by synthetic gemstones. Some mis-called 'reconstructed turquoises' have been found, after X-ray examination, to be fakes, made of chemical materials bonded together.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson