Ruby GemStone.
Red Ruby precious gem stone.
Ruby Stone Colors.
The important parameters of ruby gemstones among others are the colors plus how many and how dense the impurities of the pretty red stone are. Other parameters of ruby gemstones for jewelry are how clear is the stone ?
Pls. indicate ruby number, balls diameter or cabochon.
Pls. indicated the number with the ruby and sapphire stones, balls diameter or cabochon. If you are interested to get an approximation.
But it can be somehow tricky to determine because if the ruby stone should be very clear & clean with almost no impurities it automatically indicated a synthetic or artificial made stone. See the green and white transparent colors in the stone picture above? These are sapphires, in general all corundum gemstones which are category ruby are red and all others are category sapphire but it's still the same precious stone.
Actually the clearest red stones are man-made so it needs to be very careful when buying a ruby otherwise quite some money can be lost on a worthless synthetic or lab made stone . Want to buy genuine ruby and other precious stones try this. Sapphire and rubies combined are known under the category corundum which make it understandable since they are physically the same minerals except the colors are different. Considering corundum gems in the precious stone pantheon this is all the more amazing, since together the ruby and the sapphire account for over 50% of the world trade in colored gemstones. Certainly, it is not for lack of interest.
Some Ruby History.
This treasures in the earth are some of the top assets Myanmar Burma has for wholesale and now some history.This are jade, ruby, sapphire, diamonds plus agate, amber, corals, amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, moonstone, tourmaline, jade, pearls, diamond and other.
All are found and mined in various forms either extracted from the earth or collected from river beds, all this are precious gems. As rough stones most are not attractive at all but after cut and polished great things and value can appears.
At a time when almost any red stone was considered to be a ruby, so it is likely that the larger stones were actually red spinels. Nevertheless, a short description is in order. One piece was described as a ruby that belonged to the King of Persia. It was of the thickness and shape of an egg and drilled in the manner of many gems of the day another ruby was bought by Ja'far Khan, the Great Mogul's uncle, and presented to the Great Mogul, Aurangzeb.
An old Indian who had once been the King's jeweler stated that the stone was not a balas ruby and that it was worth no more than 500 rupees. Aurangzeb eventually did what few buyers are able to do today: he returned the stone for a full refund. Also included was a ruby which belonged to the King of Bijapur. Its weight was 17.5 carats, it was cut as a hollow cabochon and it was clean and of top quality.
A further stone was a ruby which a Banian merchant weighed 50.75 carats and was of the second quality. This stone was also a hollow cabochon, a common cutting style of the day. There also were large topaz (probably a Sri Lankan yellow sapphire) of the Great Mogul. This stone weighed 157.25 carats and was highly prized by Aurangzeb. According to Streeter (1892), the two most important rubies ever known in Europe were both brought there during the year 1875.
One, a rich red cushion shape, weighed 37 carats, and the other was a blunt drop-shaped piece of 47 carats. Both stones were recut by J. N. Forster of London; the 37 carat piece yielded 32.3 carats and the 47 carat piece 38.5 carats. The smaller stone eventually fetched £10.000 and the larger £20.000. Streeter, undoubtedly one of the most competent European judges of rubies of the day, apparently did not examine the stones himself, but he states that experts pronounced them to be unrivalled for rubies of such large size. Perhaps even more authoritative proof of their quality was given by the fact that their sale in Burma created intense excitement.
The Burmese king was only persuaded to let the stones leave the country because he desperately needed the cash their sale brought. A military guard was considered necessary to escort the persons taking the stones to the ship. Regardless of the king's financial position, we can be quite sure that he would not part with the very best of his collection, for, as with many monarchs, such a collection has value far beyond money. In many cases the royal regalia and associated stones form a most important part of their rule, the foundation of kingly status as it were.
Without these trappings he would be truly left as an emperor without any clothes. Among the star rubies of renown, two large stones immediately come to mind: the 'de Long Star', an oval stone of over 100 carats, and the 'Rosser Reeves Star', an oval of 138.7 carats. The de Long Star Ruby is displayed in the American Museum of Natural History
The Burmese king was only persuaded to let the stones leave the country because he desperately needed the cash their sale brought. A military guard was considered necessary to escort the persons taking the stones to the ship. Regardless of the king's financial position, we can be quite sure that he would not part with the very best of his collection, for, as with many monarchs, such a collection has value far beyond money. In many cases the royal regalia and associated stones form a most important part of their rule, the foundation of kingly status as it were.
Without these trappings he would be truly left as an emperor without any clothes. Among the star rubies of renown, two large stones immediately come to mind: the 'de Long Star', an oval stone of over 100 carats, and the 'Rosser Reeves Star', an oval of 138.7 carats. The de Long Star Ruby is displayed in the American Museum of Natural History.
In the Myanmar Ruby Mine.
Ruby Inclusions.
I. Solid Inclusions - Crystals and/or glasses formed at the same time as the gem and trapped by the growing gemstone. It is usually impossible to tell just from a microscopic examination whether or not a solid inclusion formed before the host. Examples: various, including calcite and dolomite in ruby from metamorphic environments 1 such as Mogok, Burma).
II. Primary Cavities - Negative crystals. cavities which may or may not look like solid crystals and which were formed while the gem itself was growing. They may be trapped for a variety of reasons, most commonly due to rapid growth. When a crystal grows very rapidly, it no longer grows with smooth, flat faces, but instead grows with faces that have channels. Such channels provide perfect pockets for trapping of the growth solution. Primary cavities may he filled with liquid alone (single phase), liquid + gas or liquid + solid (2-phase), or liquid + gas + solid (3-phase). Examples: negative crystals are commonly seen in all minerals, especially in gems which grow from solutions, such as quartz, fluorite, beryl, corundum, topaz, etc.
III. Growth Phenomena A. Primary Twinning - Twins that formed at the same time as the host (growth twins). These typically occur as single planes only, rather than repeatedly.
Examples: Spinel and diamondmacles, growth twinning in Sri Lankan and Kashmir sapphire, etc.
B. Colour Zoning - During a crystal's growth, the coloring agents may not be available in completely consistent amounts. The result is a layered appearance of lighter and darker lines (or bands) which follow the external surfaces of the crystal. This is similar to the growth rings of trees, except that with single crystals, the external surfaces are flat and meet at specific angles. Thus the growth lines of single crystals will always be straight lines (never curved, unless one looks in directions other than parallel to the face of which they formed).
The ruby and sapphire have long been considered among the most highly sought after and most precious of gems. No, we must look elsewhere for answers, if indeed they can be found at all. Corundum, unlike the diamond, the pearl, and others, is, by and large, an Asian gem.
Considering corundum gems in the precious stone pantheon this is all the more amazing, for together the ruby and the sapphire account for over 50% of the world trade in colored gemstones. Certainly, it is not for lack of interest. The ruby and sapphire have long been considered among the most highly sought after and most precious of gems. No, we must look elsewhere for answers, if indeed they can be found at all. Corundum, unlike the diamond, the pearl, and others, is, by and large, an Asian gem.
Considering corundum gems in the precious stone pantheon this is all the more amazing, for together the ruby and the sapphire account for over 50% of the world trade in colored gemstones. Certainly, it is not for lack of interest. The ruby and sapphire have long been considered among the most highly sought after and most precious of gems. No, we must look elsewhere for answers, if indeed they can be found at all. Corundum, unlike the diamond, the pearl, and others, is, by and large, an Asian gem.
From the fabled Mogok Stone Tract in the ASEAN heavyweight Myanmar / Burma to the gem gravels of Sri Lanka, we find the historical occurrences of rubies and sapphires largely restricted to Asia — lands as different from the West as night is from the day. Rudyard Kipling summed up these differences best when he made the (oft-quoted) remark: 'East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.' Travelers from the West have been venturing to the Orient continuously since Roman times and before; much of the region was later colonized by the European.
The colors of Corundum.
When the diverse range of colors to be found among the corundum gems is considered, it is indeed remarkable, and surely must have seemed so to the ancients, that they are all one and the same mineral. In fact, no other mineral except tourmaline displays such a wide range of colors. From pigeons blood red to cornflower blue, almost the only color not found is a true emerald green, although a less intense olive green is often encountered.
But who knows, possibly someday a lucky miner will unearth this 'missing link' too! The reason for the broad range of colors in corundum concerns its chemistry. Corundum is composed of aluminum oxide (Al203) which, in its pure state, is completely colorless. However, pure corundum is rarely encountered in nature. Instead, a small number of impurity metals may individually or together replace aluminum atoms in the crystal structure, thus imparting color.
Beryl and tourmaline are also colored by impurities; a state termed `all chromaticity'. In contrast, `idiochromatic' minerals are those that are colored by essential elements in their chemical make-up, and so occur only in one basic color.
Turquoise is an example of the latter, always being found in the blue-green hue for which it is famous. In synthetic corundum, a number of different dopants have been found to be useful in producing different colors, but with natural corundum, the number is rather limited. There is still much to be found put regarding the true causes of color in corundum, but in many cases, a fairly clear picture has emerged.
Most varieties of corundum appear to be colored by a peculiar group of elements termed 'transition elements', which are responsible for the hues of a number of different creations of nature besides minerals. These elements are in the center of the periodic table and are peculiar because their electron structure contains inner unpaired 'free' electrons which can be excited or elevated, to higher energy levels by absorbing.
For a reasonable start we better first examine the mechanism of color itself. White light, or sunlight, is made up of a balanced mixture of all the different spectral colors — violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. An object or material does not really possess color itself; instead, color is merely a perception based on a complex interaction between the light source, the object, and our eyes. White and black are not spoken of as colors in the true sense of the word.
