All about Rubies
26 August 2006
With a little help from wikipedia, here is some information on Rubies. My witty observations are in burgundy. Without further adieu, see I said adieu, you should trust me as a reliable source now. Crap, I shouldn’t have said that. Crap, I shouldn’t have said crap.
” Ruby is a red gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminium oxide) in which the color is caused mainly by chromium. Its name came from ruber, Latin for red.
Rubies are red.
Natural rubies are exceptionally rare, but synthetic rubies (sometimes called created ruby) can also be manufactured fairly cheaply. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires.
Any other color of ruby is a sapphire.
It is considered one of the four precious gems together with the sapphire, the emerald and the diamond. Rubies are mined in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Greenland. They are most often found in Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Kenya, Madagascar, and Thailand, but they have been found in the U.S. states of Montana, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Mogok Valley in Myanmar has produced some of the finest rubies. However, in recent years very few good rubies have been found there. In central Myanmar the area of Mong Hsu also produces rubies. In 2002 rubies were found in the Waseges River area of Kenya. Rubies are being mined at Audilamena in northeastern Madagascar. Sometimes spinels are found along with rubies in the same rocks and are mistaken for rubies. However, fine red spinels may approach the average ruby in value.
Rubies are pretty and hard to find.
Rubies have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, and among the natural gems, only diamonds are harder. Ruby gemstones are valued according to several characteristics including size, color, clarity and cut. All natural rubies have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of rutile needles known as “silk”. If there is no silk in the stone, that shows that the stone was heated at 3000°C, to give the ruby a better color of red. Usually the rough stone is heated before cutting. Synthetic rubies have been present since the late 19th century and since then, have grown more and more abundant due to the work of Auguste Verneuil and the introduction of the flame fusion process. Synthetic rubies may have no imperfections. The fewer the number and the less obvious the imperfections, the more valuable the ruby is; unless there are no imperfections (i.e., a “perfect” ruby), in which case it is suspected of being artificially made and therefore not certainly a priceless gem.
Rubies naturally have flaws, there is no such thing as a perfect ruby, like men. Ok wikipedia didn’t say that, but I did.
Dopants are added to some manufactured rubies so they can be identified as synthetic, but most need gemological testing to determine their origin. Imitation rubies have also been present in the global gemstone market for sometime. Red spinel, red garnet and even glass have been falsely touted as rubies. Trade terms such as balas ruby for red spinel and rubelite for red tourmaline often confuse and mislead unsuspecting buyers who genuinely believe they are buying a natural ruby. Such terms are therefore discouraged from being used by many gemmological associations such as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Rubies come in various shades of red, red purple and red orange. A medium toned red or red with slight blue is most desired. Clarity of the stone and inclusions are also taken into account to determined the stones value. Once the stone’s color is more like purple or orange then it is called a fancy sapphire.
Any other color of ruby is a sapphire, sheesh wikipedia I thought we already said that.
Rubies occasionally show an optical phenomenon called asterism when cut into a cabochon. When they show this, they are called “star rubies”. They can sometimes be more valuable than normal rubies because asterism is rare.
Ok so this isn’t a ruby because it isn’t red, but this is what a “star” gemstone looks like, like there’s a star inside, hence the name.
The world’s biggest ruby is the Rajaratna Ruby, which weighs 2,475 carats (495 g = 1 pound 1.46 ounces). Because the Rajaranta shows asterism, it is also the largest star ruby. The world’s biggest double-star ruby (with a 12-pointed star) is the Neelanjali Ruby, weighing 1,370 carats (274 g). Both rubies currently belong to G. Vidyaraj from Bangalore, India. A 8.62 ct. Burmese ruby sold for $425,000 per carat (2,125,000 $/g) or $3,800,000 on 15 February 2006 at Christie’s in Switzerland.
I need to make friends with G. Vidyaraj.
Culture and historical/mythical usage A synthetic ruby crystal was used to create the first laser. According to Rebbenu Bachya, the word odem in the verse Exodus 28:17 means “ruby”; it was the stone on the Ephod representing the tribe of Reuben. Modern Hebrew has taken this meaning. Ruby is also the most commonly named precious stone in the Bible; an example being Proverbs 31: “A virtuous wife is worth more than rubies.” Ruby is the birthstone associated with July. Ruby symbolizes passionate love. In fiction The use of rubies as lasing crystals in some lasers has been transferred inaccurately into some science fiction:- In the Doctor Who stories, Daleks’ guns fire “ruby rays”. In an early Transformers episode the Autobots and Decepticons fought for control of “the ruby mines of Burma”.
Apparently everything we see on TV isn’t true. In summary, rubies are neato.
