Facts About Rubies

Sizzling red, the color of passion, is one reason rubies are so desirable. Rubies have made their way into every type of jewelry imaginable. From the crown jewels of Britain to the royal Burmese jewels, rubies have made their way into history. A few interesting facts give insight as to what makes these scarlet gems such an attractive commodity.

Description

Corundum is comprised of aluminum oxide. This mineral comes in colors ranging anywhere from colorless to black. Only the ruby can claim the red hues of corundum. All remaining shades are identified as sapphires. Color is the only distinction between sapphires and rubies. With rubies having a rating of nine on the Mohs scale, only diamonds supersede rubies in mineral hardness. Its use as an abrasive is common because of the hardness of the mineral.

Details

Superior gemstones come from transparent rubies. The more opaque the gem is, the less value of the gem becomes. Star rubies are those gems displaying asterism, or a star-like appearance in the center. A prized attribute of rubies is a deep crimson color, sometimes referred to as pigeon blood. The first synthetic ruby was created in 1902, and today it takes an expert eye to distinguish between a lab-created and a natural ruby.

Size

The Guinness Book of World Records reports the largest ruby in existence owned by the Beijing Fugui Tianshi Jewelry Co. Ltd. This ruby weighs in at just over 18 lbs. and measures 5.11 by 5.43 by 5.70 inches in size. It is rare to find rubies larger than three carats. The trace element of chrome that helps define the ruby's fiery color is also responsible for splits and cracks, reducing the number of viably minable rubies.

Geography

India, often considered the birthplace of the ruby, still mines rubies today. The rubies prized for their color come, typically, from Burma, now Myanmar. A ruby of deep scarlet color, sometimes called a Burmese ruby, derives its name from the region that produces gems of this color. Many mines still exist in Eastern Asia. Kenya, Madagascar, Australia and the United States also contain mines of rubies.

Misconceptions

Highly regarded as precious gemstones, royal jeweled creations used rubies for thousands of years. Once the association between rubies and sapphires was made, they discovered many of the rubies used in these imperial pieces were, in fact, red garnets or red spinels. Two of the British Crown Jewels, the "Timur Ruby" and the "Black Prince's Ruby," are examples of this mistaken identity.

References

• Mineral Database
• Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom
• Guiness Book of World Records