Round faceted cut ruby. An example of a very fine stone.

Shopping for rubies

The main thing to look for in rubies is colour. Like most coloured stones, colour is the most important thing in evaluating a stone. Secondary things to look at are the clarity of the stone and the quality of the cut.

When evaluating colour, one should first look at the hue and tone. Hue means the actual colour. Is it a strong red, or is a pinkish colour, or is there a purplish colour? Is there a brown undertone, or is it the finest colour, a pure red with a slight blue undertone ; the fabled "pigeon's blood' colour? Tone just means how deep is the colour. Is it a very pale colour, or is it so dark that it almost looks black.

Now that you have evaluated the colour, you should also make note of the evenness of the colour. In the finest stones, the colour is evenly saturated throughout the stone. Many stones show banding, or a gradation in colour and hue from one end of a stone to the other. Sometimes it's easier to look at a stone upside down to see this. The reason for this is that some stones are cut in such a way that face up, the stone looks evenly saturated, but upside down there is obvious banding.

By making the stone deeper where the colour is less saturated, and shallower where there is deeper saturation, one can give the appearance of a more even cut. Unlike diamonds where the cut is standardized due to the regularity of the clarity and colour of the stone, coloured stones are cut to the standard of the unique stone being cut.

The most important thing to look for in rubies however is within you. Do you think the stone is pretty? If you like the look of the stone as it relates to the ring design that you like, that is the single most important thing to assess.

Fine quality ruby in an emerald cut

July Birthstones

What more perfect stone for July than ruby. The heat of it's rich red colour truly symbolizes the height of summer. One of the truly classic gemstones, ruby has been coveted and treasured since the dawn of history.

The finest ruby colour is called 'Pigeon's blood'. This deep rich red with a slight hint of blue deep within. This beautiful stone is a member of the corundum family, which makes ruby second only to diamonds when it comes to hardness.

One of the first stones to be considered precious, it was only about two hundred years ago that ruby was differentiated from other red stones such as spinel. Although similar in colour to these other stones, ruby is a much more durable material, hence it's considerable popularity.

19K white gold ring with rubies and diamonds

18K yellow gold and 19K white gold ring with rubies and diamonds

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