E. Billie Hughes, FGA, is a co-founder of Bangkok-based Lotus Gemology, a respected gemological laboratory and educational resource.
A graduate of UCLA, and a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA), Hughes is also an award winning photographer and photomicrographer, winning prizes in the Nikon Small World and Gem-A competitions. Her writings and images have been featured in books, magazines, and online in Forbes, Vogue, National Geographic, and more.
In 2019 the Accredited Gemologists Association (AGA) awarded Hughes their Gemological Research Grant, which funded her research on low temperature heat treatment of Burmese ruby. [see Gems & Gemology: A Canary in the Ruby Mine: Low-Temperature Heat Treatment Experiments on Burmese Ruby, by E. Billie Hughes and Wim Vertiest.] In 2020, Van Cleef & Arpels’ L’École School of Jewellery Arts staged exhibitions of her photomicrographs in Paris and Hong Kong.
We’re honored to feature one of her remarkable images here in the Roskin Gem News Report. Today’s photo captures a striking fluorescence pattern in a heated ruby from Mong Hsu, Myanmar—an excellent example of how heat treatment reveals hexagonal zoning under short wave UV light.
display a characteristic chalky fluorescence under short wave ultraviolet.
This chalky appearance develops as a result of heat treatment,
and can often be seen in heated corundum with relatively lower iron content.
Photo by E. Billie Hughes / Lotus Gemology
