Ruby Jewelry
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Ruby is known as the "Lord of the Gems" because of its rarity and beauty. Derived from the Latin word "ruber", it means red.
Burma is the most important source of ruby today. Other producers are Sri Lanka, the countries of Thailand, Kampuchea (Cambodia), India and Australia, various localities in Africa and our own state of North Carolina.
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Legend
Historically, ruby has been symbolic of love and passion, considered to be an aid to firm friendship, and believed to ensure beauty. Its color ranges from purplish or bluish red to a yellowish red.
The gold coronation ring of the English kings contains a large, tablet-cut ruby on which the figure of St. George's cross is engraved. Around the ruby are set 26 diamonds. Rubies are generously represented in crowns and scepters in the royal jewels.
Ruby has acquired special attributes from its admirers over the centuries. It has been regarded as a symbol of freedom, dignity and divine power. The Burmese believed that gemstones ripened like fruit. The redder the color, the riper the ruby. A flawed ruby was considered over mature.
Colour
Red corundum is called ruby, and all other colors are called sapphire. The cut-off between ruby and pink sapphire on one end and plum sapphire on the other has long been a subject of controversy.
The red color is even more enhanced in low artificial light such as a good restaurant where a fine Burmese Ruby will shine like a hot coal while the common darker Thai Rubies "will hide in shame."The ruby is a very brilliant stone and is also a very hard, durable, and wearable stone. Because of these characteristics, ruby makes an unusually fine choice for any piece of jewelry.
Value
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Ruby is the most valuable member of the corundum family. Large gem quality ruby can be more valuable than comparably sized diamond and is certainly rarer. There is a relative abundance of smaller, blue sapphires compared to the scarcity of even small gem quality rubies, making even these smaller stones relatively high in value.
Stones of Burmese origin generally command the highest prices. The vast majority of rubies are "native cut" in the country of origin. High value ruby rough is tightly controlled and rarely makes its way to custom cutters. Occasionally, such native stones are recut to custom proportions, albeit at a loss of weight and diameter.
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Sinkankas and Miller in the Standard Catalog of Gem Values, list a wide range of wholesale prices for faceted gem rubies. Prices are dependent on origin, color, size, and clarity: from a low of $100 to $15,000/ ct maximum.
Burmese stones in 1/2 to 1 ct sizes with slightly purplish red color and light inclusions range from $300 to $3000/ ct, for example. The price survey done by the International Gem Society reports that clean, top color gems in the 1/2 to 1 ct size range are being sold, retail, on the Internet with a range of $1000 - $3000/ct.
PS
The term Burmese has been synonymous with ideal beauty in a Ruby although such stones are now mined in Vietnam as well as the legendary Ruby mines of Mogok in Burma. Ruby gets its red coloring from small amounts of chromium. Burmese Rubies do not contain Iron, which kills the natural florescence of Ruby. Therefore a Burmese Ruby will appear more pink and hot candy red in daylight than its poorer, darker cousins from Thailand or Africa.
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