Ruby
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Red is the
colour of love. It radiates warmth and a strong sense of vitality. And red
is also the colour of the ruby, the king of the gemstones. In the
fascinating world of gemstones, the ruby is the undisputed ruler. Ruby is
the name given to red, gem quality corondum. For thousands of years, the
ruby has been considered one of the most valuable gemstones on Earth. It has
everything a precious stone should have: magnificent colour, excellent
hardness and outstanding brilliance. In addition to that, it is an extremely
rare gemstone, especially in its finer qualities. Colour is a ruby's most
important feature. Its transparency is only of secondary importance. So
inclusions do not impair the quality of a ruby unless they decrease the
transparency of the stone or are located right in the centre of its table.
On the contrary: inclusions within a ruby could be said to be its
'fingerprint', a statement of its individuality and, at the same time, proof
of its genuineness and natural origin. The cut is essential: only a perfect
cut will underline the beauty of this valuable and precious stone in a way
befitting the 'king of the gemstones'. However, a really perfect ruby is as
rare as perfect love. Ruby is a tough gem and comes next to diamond in terms
of hardness. Ruby is one of the best gemstone for jewellery settings. It
occurs worldwide in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Though gem quality ruby
mostly occurs in Burma and Thailand. consists of aluminium oxide and chrome
as well as very fine traces of other elements - depending on which deposit
it was from. In really fine colours and good clarity, however, this gemstone
occurs only very rarely in the world's mines. Ruby can occur in any shade
ranging from red to pink, purpulish to brownish red, depending upon the
amount of iron present in it. Some rubies display a wonderful silky shine,
the so-called 'silk' of the ruby. This phenomenon is caused by very fine
needles of rutile. And now and then one of the rare star rubies is found.
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