Color:
Red with orange or violet modifiers
Durability:
Excellent
Localities:
Burma, Madagascar,
Sri Lanka, Viet Nam,East Africa and
others.
Ruby
has been the world's most valued gemstone for thousands
of years. Rubies are today still more valuable and rare
than the top quality colorless diamonds. |
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Ruby
Al2O3
(Aluminum Oxide)
Ruby
is the red variety of the mineral corundum.
When corundum occurs in any other color it is referred
to as a sapphire. Rubies are
mined primarily in Burma, Madagascar, India and Eastern
Africa. More important than the gems' locality of origin
is the actual color and clarity of the stone. Rubies that
are the most valuable will be a dead red in color, without
any modifying tones of violet, orange or brown and are
transparent in clarity. A fine ruby still commands the
highest price of any stone in the world! The brilliant
red color of the ruby has supported many tales. One is
that rubies store vast quantities of heat and when placed
in water, they will cause the water to boil. Obviously
this is an exaggeration, but I know some that swear if
you hold a ruby in your left hand, you'll feel bursts
of heat. I'm a bit skeptical, so please let me know if
you experience this phenomenon. Ruby, none the less, is
a powerful stone and has long been considered a magnet
for prosperity, attracting abundance both materially and
spiritually.
The
most famous source of fine rubies is Burma, now known
as Myanmar. The ruby mines of Myanmar are older than
history: stone age and bronze age mining tools have
been found in the mining area of Mogok. Rubies from
the legendary mines in Mogok often have a pure red
color, which is often described as "pigeon's-blood"
although that term is more fanciful than an actual
practical standard in the trade today. Myanmar also
produces intense pinkish red rubies which are almost
electic in color. Many of the rubies from Burma have
a strong fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet
rays like those in sunlight. |
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