Editing Gemstone (section)

=== History ===
[[File:Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Auguste Verneuil – creator of flame-fusion process 1902]]
Prior to development of synthesising processes the alternatives on the market to natural gemstones were imitations or fake. In 1837, the first successful synthesis of ruby occurred.<ref name="Scheel-2000"/> French chemist Marc Gaudin managed to produce small crystals of ruby from melting together potassium aluminium sulphate and potassium chromate through what would later be known as the flux melt process.<ref name="Read-1999"/> Following this, another French chemist Fremy was able to grow large quantities of small ruby crystals using a lead flux.<ref name="Scheel-2003"/>

A few years later an alternative to flux melt was developed which led to the introduction of what was labeled "reconstructed ruby" to the market. Reconstructed ruby was sold as a process which produced larger rubies from melting together bits of natural ruby.<ref name="Arem"/> In later attempts to recreate this process it was found to not be possible and is believed reconstructed rubies were most likely created using a multi-step method of melting of ruby powder.<ref name="Read-1999"/>

Auguste Verneuil, a student of Fremy, went on to develop flame-fusion as an alternative to the flux-melt method. He developed large furnaces which were able to produce large quantities of corundums more efficiently and shifted the gemstone market dramatically.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nassau |first=Kurt |date=1990 |title=Synthetic Gem Materials in the 1980s |url=https://www.gia.edu/doc/Synthetic-Gem-Materials-in-the-1980s.pdf |journal=Gems & Gemology |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=50–63 |doi=10.5741/GEMS.26.1.50 |bibcode=1990GemG...26...50N |access-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101192418/https://www.gia.edu/doc/Synthetic-Gem-Materials-in-the-1980s.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This process is still used today and the furnaces have not changed much from the original design.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Daniel C. |editor-first1=Randal W. |editor-last1=Tustison |date=2003-09-26 |title=A peek into the history of sapphire crystal growth |url=https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/5078/0000/A-peek-into-the-history-of-sapphire-crystal-growth/10.1117/12.501428.full |journal=Window and Dome Technologies VIII |publisher=SPIE |volume=5078 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1117/12.501428|bibcode=2003SPIE.5078....1H |s2cid=109528895 }}</ref> World production of corundum using this method reaches 1000 million carats a year.