Ruby has been the world’s most valued gemstone for thousands of years. They are today still more valuable and rare than even the top quality colorless diamonds, some selling as high as $227,301.00 per carat in 1988.

Ruby is the gem quality of the mineral corundum, one of the most durable minerals existing today. It has a hardness of 9, only diamond being harder, and is extremely tough.

The most important consideration in the value of ruby is color. The top qualities are as red as you can imagine. The intensity of color of a fine ruby is like a glowing coal.

The other factors determining the value of a ruby are clarity, cut, and size.

The most famous source of fine rubies is Burma, now called Myanmar. The ruby mines of Myanmar are older than history with tools being found that were made in Stone Age and Bronze Age. Burma ruby is now more readily available than Thai ruby, due to the new ruby rush in the area. The world capital of the ruby business is Thailand. It is estimated that some 80% of the world’s ruby go through Thailand at some point in the trading cycle. The largest ruby cutting factories are in the Chanthaburi area of Thailand. Bangkok is generally where the world’s buyers come to purchase only.

In 1992, a new ruby mine was discovered in Vietnam that produces rubies, which are very similar to rubies from Burma.

Fine rubies are also found in Thailand. Thai rubies tend to be darker in tone producing a real red tending toward the burgundy rather than pink. They also can have a rich vivid red that rivals the Burmese in intensity. Sri Lankan rubies can also be very beautiful, however, are often pinkish in hue and many are pastel in tone. Some even resembles the vivid pinkish red hues from Burma.

Rubies from Kenya and Tanzania surprised the world when they were discovered in the sixties because their color rivals the world’s best. Unfortunately, most of the ruby production from these countries has many inclusions and are rarely transparent enough to facet.

Occasionally a few fine top-quality rubies appear on the market from Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Pamir Mountains of the Commonwealth of Independent and States. The terrain in these areas has made exploration for gemstones very difficult but someday they may produce significant quantities for the world market.

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