Rubies
Published On: 11-14-2011 06:56pm
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Rubies, like their sister sapphires, are corundums, and get their pink to deep-red color from the element chromium. As with other gems, color, clarity, cut and carat-weight figure heavily in their pricing.The primary hue in a ruby is red, with secondary hues of pink, orange or purple -purple being the most valuable as it makes the red richer in color. Pink rubies are most commonly referred to as pink sapphires. In rubies, the medium dark-tones ranges of vivid red are the most valued, with the lighter pinks and dark, dark reds being less valuable. A natural, bright red color, called "pidgeons blood" red is highly prized.
After color, the next most important characteristic is clarity. All natural rubies have '"flaws" - either color impurities or rutiles (needle-like inclusions called "silk"), and a natural ruby without any such "flaws" would command a high premium price. Many of these "flaws" can be corrected by heat-treating - often done before the rough material is cut. Most natural rubies today are heat-treated, although there are other enhancements which can be applied also. Cut and carat-weight follow color and clarity in determining price.
As is the case with sapphires, synthetic rubies are also produced and sold.
Burma (now the Republic of Myanmar) has historically produced the best rubies, with some of the finest gems coming from those mines. Rubies are also found throughout Asia and in many African countries, and a recent discovery was made in Greenland, under a receding ices sheet. The US has ruby deposits in Montana and in North and South Carolina.
Rubies have traditionally been associated with royalty, as any members of royal families prized them and wore them in crowns and other prized pieces of jewelry. Sarah Ferguson (Fergie) received a ruby engagement ring from Prince Andrew before their marriage.
Famous rubies include the Edwardes Ruby at 167 carats and the Rosser Reeves stone at 138.7 carats. The ruby crystal, still in its matrix, shown in this article came from Wikipedia, as did most of the information in this article. The image is included in this article is available for sharing freely under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
