Q. I have observed in glass rhinestone costume jewelry that some of the rhinestones fluoresce a bright orange, red, or salmon color.

I asked Dr. Robert Brill, our retired Research Scientist, for advice with your question. He replied:

"The fluorescence sounds like it could be from a rare earth (or something similar). Or possibly it could be from some thin-film iridescent coating on the surface?"

I hope this answer is helpful.

For more information about rare earth elements I attached a bibliography for coloring glass.

If you wish to obtain copies of library items, please contact your local library. The Rakow Research Library is a member of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). Your library can contact us through OCLC or they may send an Interlibrary Loan form to us by e-mail. We send copies of articles and will also loan certain books if a second copy is available in the library collection. Books are loaned for a four week period. For further information, please see our web page: http://www.cmog.org/research/library/visit/services/loan.

Sincerely,