Ruby, The Queen of Gemstones!

We are in a search for Ruby right now in Africa and Asia. It is a very difficult gemstone to find in high qualities but we have some great sources from Madagascar and Thailand. Ruby is one of the most replicated and treated gemstones in the industry, Like sapphire, so you have to be very sure of what your buying. Many venders and jewelers from all over the world will try to sell these man made rubies as real to get hundreds or thousands more per carat.
I was just at a show in Vegas where a dealer tried to sell a ruby necklace with about 25 perfectly matching rubies for $155,000.00. I asked them how they found so many perfectly matching rubies, which is basically impossible, and they said they got them all from one mine and that they are all natural heated. The perfectly matching clarity and color was a dead give away in this case, but if the individual ruby were in their own ring settings it would have been a little bit tougher to tell that they were man made.
My best advise would be to make sure you ask for certified gemstones. The certifications we get are from the same areas our miners are mining the gemstones so they know and are very familiar with the gemstones in that area. Here is a bit more information on ruby to help you ruby knowledge.

A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum (aluminum oxide). The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is considered one of the four precious stones, together with sapphire, emerald and diamond.

The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable “red” called blood-red or “pigeon blood”, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds, a clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been treated. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July and is usually more pink than garnet, although some rhodolite garnets have a similar pinkish hue to most rubies. The world’s most expensive ruby is the Sunrise Ruby.