Star Ruby Cabochon Natural Genuine Gemstone Sterling Silver Ring RSS,488

A ruby is a corundum, which is a crystalline form of an oxide of aluminum. It is infused with a small amount of chromium, which gives ruby its red color. A ruby is a beautiful red stone and is usually expensive. Rubies usually occur in crystals of six-sided prisms and are second in hardness only to diamonds. The mineral is chemically stable and has virtually no cleavage. Rubies are transparent to translucent. The crystal system is hexagonal, and the optic character is double refractive. Perfect rubies are less common than perfect diamonds, and are usually much more expensive. Large rubies are unusual, so their value increases as the carat size increases more than with other precious gems. In Sanskrit, the ruby is known as ratnaraj, the king of gems, and as ratnanayaka, the leader of gems. Rubies with a vivid crimson color to a slightly purplish red (the color, they say, of pigeon blood) are the most valuable.The best rubies come from the Mogok district in Upper Myanmar (Burma). This is where the pigeon-blood-colored rubies come from. A large ruby from Myanmar can sell for millions of dollars. Rubies are also mined in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. India mines some rubies, but they are not usually of good quality. Siamese rubies are usually darker than Burmese ones. The ones from Sri Lanka are usually pale and partially colored. Most rubies are brought to Thailand for processing. A perfect ruby is a rich, even red; its color is pure. It is cold to the touch, clear, lustrous, brilliant, radiant, smooth, and transparent. Because rubies have less brilliance and sparkle, and are more opaque, than diamonds, they are cut differently. They are not faceted, but cut in such a way as to accent their color. To check whether what you are holding is a genuine ruby, hold it along with a known ruby of the same size. This tests the specific gravity (its weight). A ruby can also be scratch-tested with a known ruby. Only another corundum or a diamond can scratch a ruby.