Diamonds.co.nz Blog

July's Birthstone: RUBY

Posted in: Feature

History

Historically known as the stone of love, the Ruby is a romantic choice. The ruby is traditionally gifted for 15^th and 40^th wedding anniversaries, but also creates unique and personal engagement ring jewellery. Medieval Europeans believed that the Ruby brought good health, wisdom, prosperity and a successful love life to the wearer.

Colour

A rich deep red colour with a hint of blue is the most desirable colour, and the strength of the stone colour is what determines the bulk of its value. Ruby also has a strong red fluorescence for glowing colour. When the colour of a Ruby becomes too light, it is classed as a ‘Pink Sapphire’. This is because Ruby and Sapphire are the same variety of Gemstone known as ‘Corundum’.

Value

Ruby is one of the most valuable gemstones available today. Some very high quality rubies can even fetch higher prices than diamonds of equal size, but they can also be an affordable option for many buyers.

Moh’s Hardness Scale

As a variety of the gemstone Corundum, ruby is prized for its hardness of 9 on the ‘Moh’s Scale of Hardness’ (diamond has a hardness of 10) making it the perfect gemstone for everyday wear.

Treatment

Ruby can sometimes be subjected to ‘heat treatment’, ‘irradiation’ and ‘treated with diffusion’ to enhance its colour permanently. ‘Fracture filling’ with lead glass can also sometimes be used to correct gemstones with heavy inclusions. 100% natural ruby and other gemstones are of course available and any treatments and enhancements should always be declared to the buyer.

Interested?

Any of diamonds.co.nz’s engagement ring settings can hold a ruby centre stone, as well as ruby accent diamonds in any of our three stone, multi stone and solitaire with accent settings. Or you can choose to custom design your very own ruby piece with one of our team.

Here are some custom design pieces for helpful inspiration: