The word
Ruby comes from the Greek ruber, meaning red. Formed from the
aluminum oxide, rubies are red-colored corundoms. After diamonds,
they are the most valuable gems in the world. Until the 16th century,
a ruby was called a carbuncle, along with all the worlds other red
stones: a balas ruby was actually a red spinel, a Brazilian ruby was
really a topaz and a Bohemian ruby was what we now know as a garnet.
The Oriental ruby was the red corundum and, therefore, the only real
ruby. The adjective "Oriental" indicates the ruby’s
traditional sources: Burma, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, which are
all still important today. Deposits have also been found in Vietnam,
Afghanistan and Tanzania. In general, a ruby more than ten carats
that has not undergone heat treatment is rare and those more than
35 carats in their natural, unheated form are virtually unheard of.
In fact, to say that rubies of this size are fit for a king would
be no exaggeration, because, until the middle of the 19th century,
only the sovereign of Burma, or an individual deemed worthy by him,
would have been allowed the privilege of possessing such a gemstone.
If a ruby is sold with a gemologists’s certificate of origin,
the desirability and value of the stone are greatly increased. Even
more so if the certificate also states the stone has not been subject
to heat treatment. The latter is important, because more and more
gems are being heat treated to enhance their appearance and thus their
value. Heat treating involves cooking in a furnace to intensify the
gem’s color and burn away inclusions. Heat treatment is very
difficult for an expert to detect. As a result, treated stones are
accepted commercially, but there will always be a demand for-and a
higher price on-natural rubies.
