Ruby Natural Gemstones and Jewelry

Ruby

Ruby is a gem, a red variety of the mineral corundum. It is rightfully considered the most expensive red stone after the red diamond. The finest bright red rubies at auctions were worth over a million dollars per carat.

Ruby stone description:
Color:
Ruby is red with hints of pink, purple, or orange. Pure spectral red without added tones is most highly valued. In commerce, the phrase “Pigeon Blood” and “Vivid Red” can be used to denote the greatest bright red color. This color can also be indicated in expert opinions.
Places of mining:
Some of the most excellent ruby samples in the world are mined in the north of Myanmar (Burma), in the Mogok Valley. Burmese rubies are an established brand in the world of gemstones. Untreated gems of “Pigeon Blood” color from Burma are the most expensive, gem-quality stones are very rare. Also, mining is carried out in Mozambique, Thailand, Madagascar, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Vietnam, and other countries.
Incredibly attractive and bright, ruby has been captivating people with its rich red color for more than one millennium. The first written records of the stone date back to 2300 BC. This stone has always enjoyed particular popularity and veneration in the East, but European rulers also paid special attention to it, often decorating royal regalia with this stone.
Special properties of the mineral:
Asterism:
You can come across a ruby with rutile inclusions that intersect at one point at an angle of 120 degrees, and the effect of a six-pointed star appears. As a rule, such stones are cut en cabochons.
The increased hardness of the gem:
Ruby belongs to the 1st hardness class, as it belongs to magma rocks. It is inferior in fortress only to a diamond. Ruby will not break, crack, or be damaged when hitting glass or metal. It cannot be scratched.
However, its popularity and properties are not the only factors that affect its high cost. Firstly, it belongs to the group of corundum - minerals that are on the next level after diamond and are second only to diamond in hardness. Secondly, perfectly clean ruby stones, especially those of large size, are very rarely found in nature. Therefore, it can be rightfully called a unique gem.
Treatment of natural stone types
Heat:
Heat treatment is used for many jewelry materials in order to change color or clarity. For some gemstones, only "low temperature" (less than 1000 ° C) processing is used, others require higher temperatures, and ruby can be exposed to both low and high temperatures. Application of heat treatment aims to improve color, but in rubies, heat treatment is also used to improve transparency by dissolving rutile needles. In addition, these corundums can be heated to heal cracks, either with or without chemical additives. This is the most practical way.
Glass-filled:
Filling cracks and cavities with lead glass is used to eliminate unsightly surface defects since the introduction of glass into them makes them less noticeable, and it becomes possible to cut stones larger in size. The main properties of the stone with this type of refinement remain unchanged. But the stone falls noticeably in price.
Diffusion:
This method involves bringing in the color-causing atoms that penetrate the stone from an external source. Elements diffuse into the lattice of gemstones from external sources in order to create color or an asterism effect. These can be titanium and chromium or lighter elements such as beryllium. The obvious disadvantages of the method are that the stone cannot be re-cut, sometimes even re-polished and that only the surface of the stone changes the color (there are exceptions).
Gem Lover's jewelers use only heat treatment, while the latter two are not. These are not good ways. Therefore you surely will not find stones with such types of treatment in our store.

How to distinguish a ruby from a fake?
Instead of a natural mineral, they sell cheap rocks with similar external features. The most common substitute for ruby is garnet. It is red in color but lacks luster. It is easy to distinguish true ruby from a garnet. The ruby stone is taken out to the bright sun or placed under artificial light. A natural crystal is comparable in brilliance to a diamond. Garnet gives a matte glow that is difficult to compare with diamond tints. Also, before buying a ruby, it is worth checking:
Structure:
Ruby differs from fake by the presence of inclusions. As for imitations made of glass or glass-filled rubies, you will find bubbles with air in their structure while viewing them under a magnifying glass.
Shine:
Quality imitations of red corundum are produced on the basis of pomegranate. However, the brilliance of such a fake crystal is matte and muted, while the brilliance of the original can be correlated with the brilliance of a diamond.
Color:
Synthetic rubies differ from natural ones in that when the jewel is illuminated with ultraviolet light, the former will have a red glow, and the latter will have a bright orange.
Cost:
Large specimens of good quality are extremely rare, so if you are offered to buy a large ruby with good transparency, then be sure to ask for an expert opinion from a reputable gemological laboratory, which would confirm its natural origin. For example, if you see a pure ruby over a carat and it is less than 500$, then this is most likely a fake. Or if the stone is clean, more than 3 carats and less than 5000$, then it is also a fake.

In order not to buy a fake, it is best to contact trusted specialists. We select only the best quality specimens for our catalog. Here you can buy certified natural red rubies from Burma (Myanmar), Mozambique. Video, photo, stone price, description are provided for each instance. We can advise you on all the lots shown in the catalog.
If you need a ruby of certain parameters, we will search for an individual request. On Gem Lovers, you can also order ruby or other stone jewelry, such as rings, pendants, brooches, and so on - just contact us!

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