知识文 | 夹心糖果红宝石

“一颗红宝石及表面位置充满红色油的空腔。”

“A ruby’s surface-reaching cavity is filled with red oil.”

红宝石腔内油的红色与宝石的体色形成鲜明的对比。这与常见的扁平气泡不同，圆形气泡证明了含油空腔的尺寸。

作为在曼谷工作的实验室宝石学家，我们经常会遇到经过油处理的宝石，作用是尽量减少裂缝的出现。

As laboratory gemologists working in Bangkok, we often encounter gems that have been treated with oil to minimize the appearance of fissures.

这些宝石中的大多数都来自缅甸，许多供应商都考虑通过公认的油处理标准程序来增加其产品品质，特别是红宝石和尖晶石。

Most of these stones come from Myanmar, where many vendors consider oiling an accepted standard procedure to enhance their goods, particularly ruby and spinel.

此外，红色的油不仅用于提高透明度，而且还用于增强宝石的颜色（在泰国尖竹汶府，这种名为“King Ruby Red Oil”的油被公开销售）。

Furthermore, red oil is commonly used not only to improve clarity, but also to enhance the color of the stone (in Chanthaburi, Thailand, it is sold under the brand name “King Ruby Red Oil”).

通常，这种油处理可以通过裂缝中的扁平气泡，或通过显微镜光、热点温和地加热石头时，从表面上的裂缝析出的油滴来识别。

Often this treatment can be identified by flattened gas bubbles in the fissures or by droplets of oil seeping out of the fissures on the surface when the stone is gently warmed by microscope light or hot point.

上面的图片显示了来自缅甸的未加热的1.75克拉红宝石内的小表面空腔，里面填满了油。

The image above shows a small surface-reaching cavity filled with oil in an unheated 1.75 ct ruby from Myanmar.

与我们看到的其他例子不同，这个特别的宝石含有足够的填充物，我们可以轻松拍摄空腔内油本身的醒目红色。

Unlike other examples we have seen, this remarkable gem contained enough of the filler to easily photograph the striking red color of the oil itself within the cavity.

通过倾斜的光纤照明，可以实现这种原位增强的令人惊叹的图像，甚至将一种普通的“法医鉴定”转变为对微观世界的美学探索。

With oblique fiber-optic lighting, a stunning image of this enhancement in situ was made possible, turning even an otherwise commonplace forensic determination into an aesthetic exploration of the micro-world.