With its beautiful red color, ruby is one of four gemstones often used to set engagement rings, earrings and other jewelry. Like sapphire, ruby is a variety of corundum mineral. With a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, it is one of the rarest gems in the world. Rubies come mainly from the Mogok deposits in Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Mozambique. To choose the right ruby, there are a few things you need to consider.
Choosing the right shade of red
A ruby’s shade of red has a major influence on its overall value. Specialists evaluate ruby color based on four specific characteristics: brightness, hue, tone and saturation.
Ruby luminosity
The brighter and more transparent a stone, the higher its value. Of course, a ruby will always have inclusions. But the rarer they are, the brighter and clearer the stone will appear, and the rarer it will be.
Ruby hue
This element refers to the ruby’s overall color. It takes into account the predominance of the red color and all visible nuances. The most beautiful rubies have a strong, vibrant hue, with or without visible zones. Color zoning occurs when the color of this red gem is uneven. This leaves spots or “zones” of red color much lighter or darker than the rest of the gemstone.
Ruby tone
This detail refers to the depth of its color. All rubies are essentially red. Perhaps the best-known ruby color is “pigeon’s blood” red. These gems can have different hues. A ruby with a pinkish-red color can have a light or medium tone. A purplish-red ruby, on the other hand, has medium to dark tones. As a result, rubies with a medium red tone are generally considered more valuable than rubies with lighter or darker tones.
Ruby saturation
This refers to the purity of the ruby’s color. This is why gemologists consider a bright red ruby to be a gemstone with good intensity and excellent saturation. On the other hand, a gemstone with a strong brown or orange coloration is seen as having poor saturation. Rubies with poor saturation do not reflect light properly. As a result, these stones lack brilliance.
Ruby inclusions
A high-quality ruby will have few inclusions visible to the naked eye. Ruby impurities can be small fibers, or particles of other crystals. Or they may be tiny drops of metal trapped in the gem during its formation. Professionals use the term “clarity” to refer to the number and type of impurities present in a ruby.
A ruby with good clarity has no apparent impurities. On the other hand, a ruby with poor clarity is marked by small flaws such as spots, streaks or visible cracks. One of the great assets of rubies is that most of them have a deep color. This depth allows these gems to hide their own flaws, offering lapidaries the opportunity to cut rubies in such a way as to conceal the most obvious inclusions.
You’ll be able to see for yourself when you discover our ruby-set jewelry (earrings, necklaces…). Better-quality rubies have a few inclusions, but these stones are visibly “clean”.
Possible ruby treatments
Some ruby crystals form beneath the earth’s crust, where temperatures range from 700 to 1300°C. Rubies formed at temperatures close to 1300°C have significantly better color and clarity than rubies formed at lower temperatures. Heat is so important to ruby quality that jewelry professionals heat the majority of rubies before cutting them: less than 5% of natural stones are not heated. Chemical treatment or “heating” enhances the ruby’s natural color by dissolving some of its inclusions.
Heating is a tolerated industry standard for rubies. However, you should beware of certain treatments that alter its structure and natural composition. The end result is jewelry of inferior quality. Planetys does not use stones that have undergone harmful treatments, and advises you to always demand a certificate of authenticity when purchasing ruby jewelry.
Cutting quality
Like diamonds, the cut of a ruby plays a decisive role in the quality of the stone. Natural ruby crystals form tubular or elongated hexagons. Jewellers use raw ruby crystals, analyzing them in detail and giving them a cut that enhances their beauty. Most rubies are cut into cushions and ovals. We cannot say that rubies have standard cuts. Unlike rubies, diamonds have standardized cuts.
Lapidaries give each ruby a personalized cut to mask imperfections, compensate for the pleochroism effect and bring out its clarity and exceptional beauty. Rubies can also be cut in pear, heart and round shapes. The cut of a ruby greatly influences its final beauty. Low-quality rubies are often dull and lack luster, while higher-quality rubies remain brilliant in color, brilliance and luminosity.
Why choose a ruby?
Ruby is probably the rarest of all gemstones. Splendid during the day, rubies, the gem of the evening, take on a magnificent warm, fiery hue in the light of night. That’s why ruby jewelry adds a flamboyant touch to your evening outfits, especially if it’s red in color. Whether set on a pendant, a ring or earrings, ruby irresistibly captures the eye with its powerful color and passionate radiance.
In our collections, you’ll find a wide choice of high-quality, competitively-priced jewels set with this magnificent red gemstone.
The best rubies are brightly colored and medium in tone. These stones must also be free of any visible inclusions and have a cut that intensifies their natural beauty. High-quality rubies, like those offered by Planetys for its jewelry designs, require the highest carat value and blend perfectly with any ensemble.
