Nersel’s Designer Trendy Gold Jewelry

Ruby is a beautiful red gem and the birthstone of July. Rubies have been used in jewelry since the ancient times. Ruby’s red color is caused by chromium. Natural rubies are rare and thus expensives. A lot of the rubies used in jewelry today are lab created. Rubies are mined in Africa, Asia, Australia and Greenland. Burma, Sri Lanka , Kenya , Madagascar and Thailand are famous with their high quality natural rubies. The most important characteristic about that valuable stone is its color. The name “Ruby” was derived from the Latin word “rubens” meaning “red”.Ruby gemstones are valued according to several characteristics including size, color, clarity and cut. All natural rubies, just like natural emeralds, have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of needles known as “silk”. Artificial rubies may have no imperfections. Fine quality of natural rubies are rare.

Rubies come in differenct shades of red, red purple and red orange. A medium toned red or red with slight blue is most desired. Clarity of the stone and inclusions are also taken into account to determined the stones value.

Red symbolizes love, warmth and a strong sense of life.  For thousands of years Ruby has been considered on of the most valuable gemstones of our Earth. It has a wonderful red color,, excellent hardness and brilliance.  The red of Rubies is in a class all by otself: warm and fiery. Two magical elements are associated with the symbolism of this color are fire and blood, implying life. Red is a hot, passionate and powerful color. Ruby is the perfect symbol of powerful feelings. A ring set with a precious Ruby does not really symbolise a calm and moderate sympathy, but rather passionate and unbridled love which two people feel for each other. Rubies also symbolize courage and bravery in some cultures and thus have been used to decorate the swords, crowns, and thrones of Ottomon Sultans.

The world’s biggest ruby is the Rajaratna Ruby, which weighs 2,475 carats (495 g = 1 pound 1.46 ounces). Because the Rajaranta shows asterism, it is also the largest star ruby. The world’s biggest double-star ruby (with a 12-pointed star) is the Neelanjali Ruby, weighing 1,370 carats (274 g). Both rubies currently belong to G. Vidyaraj from Bangalore, India. A 8.62 ct. Burmese ruby sold for $425,000 per carat (2,125,000 $/g) or $3,800,000 on 15 February 2006 at Christie’s in Switzerland.

Resources: wikipedia.org, gemstone.org, jewelry.com