#7260 genuine certified ruby ring.

We all love rubies. Americans often love rubies with pinkish tones, because Americans often love the color pink. In parts of Asia, the deep red, almost black ruby, called 'pigeon blood' can be more desirable than diamonds and command crazy prices.

                      #4764.    I bought these earrings in Burma. No arguing about their origin. (see post 26). 

Rubies are revered, viewed with awe and attributed with supernatural powers in many parts of the world. We began our discussion of July’s birthstone, the ruby, and talked about ruby copy-cats such as synthetics and paste. What about look-alikes?  

For years the ruby of the English Crown Jewels was much admired. It took a few hundred years for modern technology to reveal that the ruby was actually spinel. Laugh not: would you know the difference? 

Another gem that is often confused with ruby is rubellite - actually a form of tourmaline. Good quality rubellite will also command higher prices than your garden-variety of tourmaline.

                             #3850 Rubellite bracelet  

#5179  

A while ago, I walked past a necklace that simply flashed at me. Deep red colors drew my eye into the depths of the beads and then shot out again with the light.  Quite a stunner!!  While it was clearly not an antique necklace, I was smitten. The seller told me that the necklace was made of Burmese rubies. I bought it. I sent it to my appraiser. An appraiser with years and years of experience and she gave it a glowing report. However, without a huge laboratory like the GIA has, we could not claim the Burmese origin. I hoarded the necklace for years and finally took it to the GIA to identify and confirm the origin of my ruby necklace. Yesterday, I had a call: the 'rubies' are spinel. Burmese spinel.

The necklace is no less beautiful. Spinel is beautiful and commands very high prices today, but it is not quite the same as ruby. We all make mistakes. 

We mentioned paste and synthetic rubies in our previous post. What is no less intriguing is that hundreds of years ago, before technology differentiated between red gems, rubies, spinel and paste were often used interchangeably and in the same item of jewelry. Here is a pair of earrings that includes all 3: rubies, spinels and red paste.

#6450  

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