gems, corundum, synthetic corundum.7

Gemmologists love a mystery to solve, and every specimen has a story to tell. At the 2024 Perth Gem and Mineral Show (PGMS), a member assisting at the GAA WA stand produced an unusual pinkish-red specimen (Figure 1) that showed very strong red fluorescence (Figure 2) under a long-wave ultraviolet (LWUV) torch, even in a brightly lit room. This proved a source of great fascination for visiting children and their parents. The specimen was a piece of pinkish-red rough material, glassy in places, and appeared highly porous with numerous holes and channels (Figure 3). It had been purchased online from China in a “box of rocks.” But what was it? Testing at the PGMS with a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) instrument, demonstrated as part of an equipment display, indicated that the material was corundum (Figure 4). However, it bore little resemblance to a Verneuil boule or a Ramaura crystal cluster and showed no natural crystal habit.