Ruby Gemstone

Red Ruby Necklace

Ruby belongs to Corundum (aluminium oxide) family. This family includes several of world’s most precious gemstones including ruby and sapphire. Ruby gemstone is the second hardest natural substance after Diamond with hardness of 9 on Moh's scale. Ruby occurs as tabular (flat), six sided crystals. Rubies come in a variety of colors ranging from purplish red to orangey red. However deep red color with a hint of blue is the most desirable and hence expensive ruby. This expensive ruby is called "pigeon's blood". Ruby owes its magnificent red color to the presence of chromium oxide. If the oxidation valency of the chromium alters, the orange-tinted shades appear. Other nuances of red, such as brownish-red or violet, can be related to traces of iron and vanadium (higher iron causes a brownish ting, while the vanadium content causes the blue tint). Ruby gemstone gets its name from Rubeus, Latin for red.
Below are some famous ruby gemstones for their exceptional beauty:
1) Edward ruby (167ct) in the British Museum of Natural History in London 2) the Reeves ruby (138.7 ct) in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington 3) the Long Star ruby (100ct) in the American Museum of Natural History 4) the Peace ruby (43ct), thus called because it was found in 1919 at the end of World War I.

More Beautiful Gemstones

Agate
Amber
Aquamarine
Calcite
Diamond
Emerald
Ivory
Jade
Jasper
Jet
Lapis Lazuli
Malachite
Topaz
Zircon

Ruby Gemstone History

The earliest records for the mining of rubies go back over 3500 years in Myanmar and over 2500 years in Sri Lanka. The ancient Hindus considered rubies to be “Ratnaraj” or the “king of precious stones”. Thirteenth- century medical literature from India claims that rubies could cure digestive disorders. Burmese warriors rubies under their skin to protect them in battle.

Ruby crystals

Natural ruby crystal

A bright red ruby crystal ore

Ruby crystals

Why ruby is a rare gemstone?

Ruby gemstone is rare because the chance of formation of ruby is very uncommon. Ruby owes its fascinating pigeon red color to the presence chromium in its structure. Chromium is rarely found in the upper regions of the Earth's crust. In other words, when ruby was formed, the very uncommon chance must have happened that chromium oxide, which usually exist in great depths in the earth, was present at exactly the right time when the alumina was crystallizing.

Ruby Gemstone sources

deep red gemstones mainly come from Mogok, Myanmar, and Thailand; while the pinker gemstones usually come from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Vietnam. You can find our interactive map for gemstone of the world Here.

Ruby Gemstone Treatment

Ruby Pakistan

Gem-quality Ruby is very rare in their natural conditions and wide range of mined rubies has inclusions. However these inclusions are not indicative of lower quality, but show the difference between natural and synthetic gemstone. There are several methods to enhance rubies 1) routinely heat treatment of the gemstone is needed to improve its appearance. Most of the natural rubies are found with "silk" inclusions, heat treatment is used to melt these silk inclusions to improve the clarity of the gemstone. Heat treatment also gives the gemstone deeper red color. Heat treatments are considered as extremely stable, 2) fracture filling is a common practice that reduces the visibility of flaws by making the fracture non-reflective, 3) Ruby is commonly diffusion treated in the presence of berylium, this means low quality rubies are heated over prolonged period of time in presence of berylium to enhance the color of the gemstone.

Ruby Gemstone in Jewellery

Ruby has been used for centuries in jewellery industry due to its magnificent red color. Due to its magnificent, intense red color, ruby is one of the most expensive gemstone in jewellery industry. As it is a hard gemstone it can be used in all kinds of jewelry including rings, earrings, and necklaces. Jewelers often mix ruby with diamond and emerald to create stunning jewellery. For a very comprehensive guide, you can find all you need to know for buying ruby jewelry here.

Ruby Pendant

Ruby crown

Ruby Gemstone Care

Rubies are both a hard and durable and can be cleaned using an ultrasonic cleaning machine, any commercial jewelry cleaner or mild soap and lukewarm water using a soft brush. Rubies with a glass-like residue in surface-reaching fractures should not be cleaned with an ultrasonic or steam machine. Be sure to rinse and dry your jewelry thoroughly after cleaning.

ruby gemstone inclusions

Perfectly flawless rubies are very rare to find. They almost always contain foreign microcrystals. These have either originated from the surrounding matrix, or have grown along with ruby, or have subsequently crystallized out as so-called rutile needles. These rutile needles can forn a fine network, called "silk". Other inclusions are streamers of fluid droplets, which in their delicate, weblike arrangement resemble dragon-fly wings. Inclusions serve as undesirable proofs of origin, this means observing these inclusions can help to distinguish earthborn rubies from the synthetic (man-made) rubies.

Ruby Gemstone Healing Properties and Benefits

Nurturing, spiritual wisdom, attainment of values, economic stability, protection from distress.

Zodiac sign: cancer
Birthstone: July
Chakra: Heart, base

Ruby Gemstone Basic Properties Table

Chemical Formula	Aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃)
Color	Varying red
Hardness	9 on the Mohs scale
Crystal System	Trigonal, hexagonal prisms or tables, rhombohedrons
Refractive Index	1.762 - 1.778
Transparency	Transparent to opaque
Cleavage	None
Fracture	small conchoidal, Brittle

Related articles:
Ruby shopping guide
Ruby's meaning and magical power
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