Possibly pulling the trigger on a ruby, come and help me decide!

[icy_jade]

The stone is GFCO certified as heated with minor residues and I have received a photo of the certificate. I know what minor residues mean and I'm okay with it. I'm wondering if it makes sense to have the stone certified a second time by either AIGS or Lotus. I also have no idea which of these two to choose.

Yes, because the value is very different if it’s moderate residues. There is also GIA and GRS in Thailand. Both are better recognised than AIGS or Lotus.

 

[Rfisher]

I’m quoting you, VR, but anyone who could answer and maybe point me to where it’s found online via a lab/expert publication would be great. as I’ve searched and failed.

Is a fissure healed Mong Hsu
that much different than any other ruby GIA reports on as heated/minor residues?
And if so - how come it doesn’t get a different designation? Do other labs treat it differently?

I’ve read all the Mong Hsu history stories. I’m just failing to find a concise answer?

Sorry for the derail @Avondale

Maybe I’ve answered my own question
But still would like input from others.

Is it that a ‘fissure healed ruby’ would never receive the designation from a major lab as ‘minor residue’ the answer I’m looking for?

 

[Avondale]

There is also GIA and GRS in Thailand.

There’s gia AND grs? How did I not know this!

Is it that a ‘fissure healed ruby’ would never receive the designation from a major lab as ‘minor residue’ the answer I’m looking for?

I guess we’re about to find out. You and Icy both make excellent points. I’ll check with the seller what the prices and wait times are for these two. I think for a ruby I’ll favour GRS, unless they have a two-month backlog or something.

 

[VividRed]

I’m quoting you, VR, but anyone who could answer and maybe point me to where it’s found online via a lab/expert publication would be great. as I’ve searched and failed.

Is a fissure healed Mong Hsu
that much different than any other ruby GIA reports on as heated/minor residues?
And if so - how come it doesn’t get a different designation? Do other labs treat it differently?

I’ve read all the Mong Hsu history stories. I’m just failing to find a concise answer?

Sorry for the derail @Avondale

99% of the heated with healing rubies from Burma are coming from Mong Hsu. I have not yet seen a single Mogok ruby with healed fissures, only standard heat.

Richard Hughes has an article on this

Fracture Healing of Ruby • Fluxed Up

Examining the flux-healing treatment of rubies. This article details both the methodology and detection of flux-healed rubies and their effect on the gem trade.

www.lotusgemology.com

 

[Rfisher]

99% of the heated with healing rubies from Burma are coming from Mong Hsu. I have not yet seen a single Mogok ruby with healed fissures, only standard heat.

Richard Hughes has an article on this

Fracture Healing of Ruby • Fluxed Up

Examining the flux-healing treatment of rubies. This article details both the methodology and detection of flux-healed rubies and their effect on the gem trade.

www.lotusgemology.com

Yes - I’ve seen that one.

My question still lies ( and I realize I didn’t state it that well)
If you (or anyone else) can pretend you were a consumer that was ok with a generally accepted as knowledgeable/respectable lab report stating ‘minor residue’…….

Is that in a different class than a ‘fissure filled’ Mong Hsu - or any other location really- that’s talked about as to be wary and heavily treated? That THIS would come with a moderate/heavy residue report from that same respectable lab?

Pricing and (purists desirability) completely aside….I understand the more treated the much less expensive it should be

 

[Avondale]

Is that in a different class than a ‘fissure filled’ Mong Hsu - or any other location really- that’s talked about as to be wary and heavily treated? That THIS would come with a moderate/heavy residue report from that same respectable lab?

It would appear... not necessarily.

Ruby Treatment Question (Can anyone help?)

I have found a lovely little 1.49 ct Burmese ruby. The first picture is of the stone in natural sunlight. It's very beautiful. I got it checked out by GIA and it came back as Burmese Heated (minor residue). The price prior to having the GIA cert was $8.5k Now the cert has come back I would like...

www.pricescope.com

Assuming that ruby is actually from Mong Hsu, of course. If not... first Mogok fissure healed ruby, I guess.
Btw, the asking price of that stone over two years ago... gulp

I feel I'm starting to obsess over this. But I did write the seller and asked about a second report from GRS and the return policy of the shop. Time zone difference considered, I hope to have a reply sometime tomorrow.

 

[VividRed]

Yes - I’ve seen that one.

My question still lies ( and I realize I didn’t state it that well)
If you (or anyone else) can pretend you were a consumer that was ok with a generally accepted as knowledgeable/respectable lab report stating ‘minor residue’…….

Is that in a different class than a ‘fissure filled’ Mong Hsu - or any other location really- that’s talked about as to be wary and heavily treated? That THIS would come with a moderate/heavy residue report from that same respectable lab?

Pricing and (purists desirability) completely aside….I understand the more treated the much less expensive it should be

Minor residue means the stone was treated at high temperature with borax, which locally lowers the melting point of corundum resulting in local recrystallization in the fissures. That’s what fissure healing/filling is. All that matters is the degree of healing. The “heavily treated” ones simply have a higher amount of healing and look significantly more fractured before the healing process.

 

[Rfisher]

Again - that’s not addressing the question I have.
I understand what you are addressing.

Minor residues (as we assume the stone this thread is about) doesn’t seem to have any much written about it - as if it’s lumped into ‘heavily treated’ (Mong Hsu beware) as is significant residues and glass filled is. Or it isn’t.

Thank you though.

Minor residue means the stone was treated at high temperature with borax, which locally lowers the melting point of corundum resulting in local recrystallization in the fissures. That’s what fissure healing/filling is. All that matters is the degree of healing. The “heavily treated” ones simply have a higher amount of healing and look significantly more fractured before the healing process.

Again I apologize @Avondale

 

[VividRed]

Again - that’s not addressing the question I have.

Thank you though.



Again I apologize @Avondale

Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear enough. Let me try again: Minor residue is the result of fissure healing. So talking about residue is the same as fissure healing. There is no difference.

All that matters is the extent, and anything beyond minor is considered “heavy treatment to be wary or”.

Makes sense?

 

[Avondale]

Makes sense?

I think what @Rfisher meant was if, due to how included Mong Hsu material usually is, the criteria are a bit more lax regarding those stones and minor residues in them are not the same as minor residues in other ruby. And if for that reason it can be expected that bigger labs with stricter criteria would usually give such rubies moderate or higher designation.

Also, derail away, I enjoy these discussions.

 

[Rfisher]

Not really wondering if Mong Hsu criteria is more lax from labs

But more as to once someone starts talking about mong Hsu - heavily treated /advice to buyer beware is the topic. Not much about ‘minor’. The emphasis is on heavily treated.

Plus yeah - ‘fissure filled’ ruby as a term by itself screams heavy treatment to me. I need to not have that thought.
That’s on me. Truly Sorry all!!!

 

[CircularBrilliant]

Not really wondering if Mong Hsu criteria is more lax from labs

But more as to once someone starts talking about mong Hsu - heavily treated /advice to buyer beware is the topic. Not much about ‘minor’. The emphasis is on heavily treated.

Plus yeah - ‘fissure filled’ ruby as a term by itself screams heavy treatment to me. I need to not have that thought.
That’s on me. Truly Sorry all!!!

I posted this on another thread, but fwiw, I was confused about this too when working on my ruby eternity with Inken. I knew given what I was looking for, I'd likely wind up with heated stones (not due to cost, but due to sheer availability of a full matching suite in the color, glow, and size I wanted). I wanted to be sure I had heat only stones, but Inken told me that part of the Burmese heating process is that they are *always* heated with a flux, so there's no way to 100% exclude that there are some residues from the heating process that a lab could pick up on. She said that frankly, no sane jeweler or gem dealer would guarantee that "heat only" burmese rubies will wind up being found to have "no residues whatsoever" by a lab -- the only guarantee is that they won't have anything that shows up aside from that. Indeed, mine were found to have minor residues, which I found acceptable (and expected) in light of Inken's explanation.

 

[Avondale]

The seller got back to me. Returns are possible and look to be hassle free. Of course, still financially unfeasible, but what is there to do.

I guess we’re about to find out.

Or maybe not. The GIA report price is nearly double what the lab charges in the US. The GRS report price is nearly quadruple that amount. I'm all for reputable labs and what not, but jeez, cool your jets! Last I heard Thailand didn't have double the median income of the US to justify that.

 

[icy_jade]

The seller got back to me. Returns are possible and look to be hassle free. Of course, still financially unfeasible, but what is there to do.



Or maybe not. The GIA report price is nearly double what the lab charges in the US. The GRS report price is nearly quadruple that amount. I'm all for reputable labs and what not, but jeez, cool your jets! Last I heard Thailand didn't have double the median income of the US to justify that.

Did you verify cert prices against the GIA or GRS website? High prices sounds like a good way to dissuade you from going to these labs.

 

[Avondale]

Did you verify cert prices against the GIA or GRS website?

GRS doesn't publicly show their prices but judging by what other vendors (including some well known around here) state on their websites about the extra charges for a GRS report, I don't think the vendor lied to me.

The GIA price without origin is lower, at a 100. I imagine this includes a small shipping and handling fee. The rest of the difference I'm willing to attribute to local taxes as I suspect the price list doesn't include those. For a 100 I might be convinced. I might.

Oh, btw, I did confirm the origin - Mong Hsu, no surprises here.

 

[icy_jade]

2023 Gemstone Labs List - Sample Report & Pricing Comparison

List of all active 2023 Gemstone Labs from around the world in one place. Giving you sample gem report and Gem Lab information.

www.starlanka.com

Ok considering the price of the gem and difficulty returning and common treatment type… I would at least ask for GIT if you would rather not pay for more expensive cert. It’s not well known but I think it’s reliable and quite affordable.

 

[Avondale]

Ok, I placed the order earlier today. It will probably ship on Monday. Ultimately I decided to put the extra funds towards a more secure and tracked DHL shipping rather than a second lab report.

I'll share what ultimately influenced my decision here, even though it's long, in case it can ever be useful to someone.

I've spent a lot of time reading about flux healing during the past couple of days. Not just how and why it's done, but also what visual effect it has on stones in its different degrees of intensity. I dug through articles and the depths of the internet, I browsed dozens upon dozens of rubies with minor, moderate and significant residues. What it eventually boiled down to was - flux healed fractures can be seen with your eyes. It's not something that is only detectable under a microscope or with the help of complex lab equipment. A ruby with moderate residues is very obvious, significant - even more so.

As an example, this is from SSEF:


Ultimately, flux healing doesn't make a ruby look like it's clean and free of inclusions. It doesn't heal the crystal so it looks as if it's never been fractured in the first place. It will improve the clarity undoubtedly, but to a limited effect. In a way, it will leave "scars" (unofficial and very much not a scientific term).

At this point I'm starting to suspect that this is partially the reason why these stones look dull in VividRed's opinion. As someone who owns two, I imagine he's had plenty of opportunity to observe the effect the healed fractures have on the overall look of the gems.

Furthermore, I remembered something Gene from PrecisionGem said a while ago during a discussion on ruby treatments - that all the treatments in the world couldn't turn heavily fractured rough into a pretty gemstone. And that he has had stones prior to and after flux healing and the improvement was never very dramatic.

In the end I have no reason to believe the local lab would've failed to identify the actual amount of residues in the stone. So spending the extra cash on a second report that will almost certainly state the same level of treatment as the original seemed unnecessary. I'm not buying the ruby to resell, after all. I don't care how well recognised the first lab is.

Last but not least, I talked to the seller to confirm that what I was seeing in the black light video (not uploaded here) were the healed fissures. The UV light enhances the visibility greatly making them quite apparent here:


The seller said they're convinced the amount of residues is not moderate but instead is small enough that depending on the lab it can be interpreted as either minor or insignificant.

@icy_jade Thank you nonetheless for taking the time to advise me on Thai labs. Knowledge has been filed and stored for future use.

So this is it for now. I'll post when I have the stone. DHL are usually fast with shipping but customs - not so much. Keep your fingers crossed I don't have to wait too long.

 

[voce]

Ok, I placed the order earlier today. It will probably ship on Monday. Ultimately I decided to put the extra funds towards a more secure and tracked DHL shipping rather than a second lab report.

I'll share what ultimately influenced my decision here, even though it's long, in case it can ever be useful to someone.

I've spent a lot of time reading about flux healing during the past couple of days. Not just how and why it's done, but also what visual effect it has on stones in its different degrees of intensity. I dug through articles and the depths of the internet, I browsed dozens upon dozens of rubies with minor, moderate and significant residues. What it eventually boiled down to was - flux healed fractures can be seen with your eyes. It's not something that is only detectable under a microscope or with the help of complex lab equipment. A ruby with moderate residues is very obvious, significant - even more so.

As an example, this is from SSEF:


Ultimately, flux healing doesn't make a ruby look like it's clean and free of inclusions. It doesn't heal the crystal so it looks as if it's never been fractured in the first place. It will improve the clarity undoubtedly, but to a limited effect. In a way, it will leave "scars" (unofficial and very much not a scientific term).

At this point I'm starting to suspect that this is partially the reason why these stones look dull in VividRed's opinion. As someone who owns two, I imagine he's had plenty of opportunity to observe the effect the healed fractures have on the overall look of the gems.

Furthermore, I remembered something Gene from PrecisionGem said a while ago during a discussion on ruby treatments - that all the treatments in the world couldn't turn heavily fractured rough into a pretty gemstone. And that he has had stones prior to and after flux healing and the improvement was never very dramatic.

In the end I have no reason to believe the local lab would've failed to identify the actual amount of residues in the stone. So spending the extra cash on a second report that will almost certainly state the same level of treatment as the original seemed unnecessary. I'm not buying the ruby to resell, after all. I don't care how well recognised the first lab is.

Last but not least, I talked to the seller to confirm that what I was seeing in the black light video (not uploaded here) were the healed fissures. The UV light enhances the visibility greatly making them quite apparent here:


The seller said they're convinced the amount of residues is not moderate but instead is small enough that depending on the lab it can be interpreted as either minor or insignificant.

@icy_jade Thank you nonetheless for taking the time to advise me on Thai labs. Knowledge has been filed and stored for future use.

So this is it for now. I'll post when I have the stone. DHL are usually fast with shipping but customs - not so much. Keep your fingers crossed I don't have to wait too long.

The color of this beautiful ruby is good but probably not top color, as it's not fluorescent enough to "glow" in low light conditions.

I think you are right in your discussion of flux heating/healing. I won't presume to know what exactly @VividRed meant by "dull", but in my humble opinion, it's not exactly about flux healing.

In my opinion, flux healed rubies with moderate or significant residues tend to be dull, but even if all flux healed rubies were dull, not all dull rubies are flux healed. The "dullness" in my opinion has to do more with transparency, how well the gemstone material refracts light. It's the same reason why glass gems are dull, because glass reflects more than it refracts. In a transparent gem you can observe slight variations of color and see impurities/inclusions in the pavilion through the crown of the gem. I think icy jade is prized more because it's more transparent than coarser grained jade. Transparency in a high RI gem creates more "depth" in how light plays across the gemstone.

There are some photos, such as the black light photo there, where your ruby looks not as transparent as the example @VividRed showed from Pearlman's.

 

[VividRed]

Ok, I placed the order earlier today. It will probably ship on Monday. Ultimately I decided to put the extra funds towards a more secure and tracked DHL shipping rather than a second lab report.

I'll share what ultimately influenced my decision here, even though it's long, in case it can ever be useful to someone.

I've spent a lot of time reading about flux healing during the past couple of days. Not just how and why it's done, but also what visual effect it has on stones in its different degrees of intensity. I dug through articles and the depths of the internet, I browsed dozens upon dozens of rubies with minor, moderate and significant residues. What it eventually boiled down to was - flux healed fractures can be seen with your eyes. It's not something that is only detectable under a microscope or with the help of complex lab equipment. A ruby with moderate residues is very obvious, significant - even more so.

As an example, this is from SSEF:


Ultimately, flux healing doesn't make a ruby look like it's clean and free of inclusions. It doesn't heal the crystal so it looks as if it's never been fractured in the first place. It will improve the clarity undoubtedly, but to a limited effect. In a way, it will leave "scars" (unofficial and very much not a scientific term).

At this point I'm starting to suspect that this is partially the reason why these stones look dull in VividRed's opinion. As someone who owns two, I imagine he's had plenty of opportunity to observe the effect the healed fractures have on the overall look of the gems.

Furthermore, I remembered something Gene from PrecisionGem said a while ago during a discussion on ruby treatments - that all the treatments in the world couldn't turn heavily fractured rough into a pretty gemstone. And that he has had stones prior to and after flux healing and the improvement was never very dramatic.

In the end I have no reason to believe the local lab would've failed to identify the actual amount of residues in the stone. So spending the extra cash on a second report that will almost certainly state the same level of treatment as the original seemed unnecessary. I'm not buying the ruby to resell, after all. I don't care how well recognised the first lab is.

Last but not least, I talked to the seller to confirm that what I was seeing in the black light video (not uploaded here) were the healed fissures. The UV light enhances the visibility greatly making them quite apparent here:


The seller said they're convinced the amount of residues is not moderate but instead is small enough that depending on the lab it can be interpreted as either minor or insignificant.

@icy_jade Thank you nonetheless for taking the time to advise me on Thai labs. Knowledge has been filed and stored for future use.

So this is it for now. I'll post when I have the stone. DHL are usually fast with shipping but customs - not so much. Keep your fingers crossed I don't have to wait too long.

You took an educated decision so at this point all I can say is: I hope it looks as good as or better than you want it to! Keep us posted and thank you for sharing your experience with us!

Buying rubies is not for the faint-hearted

Looking forward to reading your impressions and I genuinely hope you love it!!

 

[icy_jade]

In the end I have no reason to believe the local lab would've failed to identify the actual amount of residues in the stone. So spending the extra cash on a second report that will almost certainly state the same level of treatment as the original seemed unnecessary. I'm not buying the ruby to resell, after all. I don't care how well recognised the first lab is.

I’ve heard too many horror stories to unreservedly trust labs. Heck even well known labs make mistakes too. Many labs in the trade are also known to be “soft”regarding color and treatment. e.g. pigeon blood, cornflower blue, moderate as minor, origin wrong (stated as Africa instead Burmese, etc). All because they significantly impact price. But since you do not mind, that is fine.

Hopefully the ruby is truly heated with minor instead of with more significant treatment, and of course that you love it.

 

[Avondale]

In my opinion, flux healed rubies with moderate or significant residues tend to be dull, but even if all flux healed rubies were dull, not all dull rubies are flux healed. The "dullness" in my opinion has to do more with transparency, how well the gemstone material refracts light.

I would assume you're entirely right. It's challenging to imagine these effects without having seen them. In a way, I'm excited to receive the stone not only because I want it but also because I'm curious what I'll see with my own eyes and how that will expand my knowledge. Will it be dull? I have no idea! Will it bother me if it is? God, I hope not.

There are some photos, such as the black light photo there, where your ruby looks not as transparent as the example @VividRed showed from Pearlman's.

The one he showed was visibly of higher quality, yes. And at nearly triple the price per carat to reflect that. One day... maybe when I'm in my fifties or something...

You took an educated decision so at this point all I can say is: I hope it looks as good as or better than you want it to! Keep us posted and thank you for sharing your experience with us!

Buying rubies is not for the faint-hearted

Looking forward to reading your impressions and I genuinely hope you love it!!

Thank you, and also for in a way playing devil's advocate. Helped me consider everything twice as carefully.

I’ve heard too many horror stories to unreservedly trust labs. Heck even well known labs make mistakes too. Many labs in the trade are also known to be “soft”regarding color and treatment. e.g. pigeon blood, cornflower blue, moderate as minor, origin wrong (stated as Africa instead Burmese, etc). All because they significantly impact price

I would not dare argue with the truth. In the end, for me this turned into a game of calculated risk regarding the things I can compromise on. Burmese origin doesn't matter to me, fluorescence does. The stone has it - check. Minor residues so that most of it is plain old regular ruby and not a hazy, fracture ridden mess - seems to check, even from what I see on video.

And of course, in all this there's some level of trust in the vendor. They're the one who has the stone in hand. They know where it came from, they know what is visible when they loupe it. They've been entirely accommodating, answering all questions, providing information and at no point did they try to dissuade me from getting a second lab report. Add to that that Autumn in New England has purchased from them before with an entirely positive experience and her GFCO certificates checked out (another discussion not too long ago), for the time being I'm trusting.

With a little bit of luck I'll sate my lust for ruby for the foreseeable future. Worst case scenario, there's a discussed and agreed upon refund policy.

 

[Avondale]

Well. It's here. That's a lot faster than I expected. DHL outdid themselves.

Where do I start? Photo. I start with photo.



It's a bit difficult to get it to play nice for my iphone. Somehow the blue helped balance it out to a degree. Guess it needed a friend.

Colour-wise it's just about perfect for me. It's everything I hoped it would be. The fluorescence is better than I thought, it lights up in the sun like it's magic. In low light it still throws bright flashes wherever it catches some direct light source, even a modest one. There's a teeny-tiny window that can be seen on black background but otherwise is unnoticeable. The vendor didn't lie - it does look better than in photos and it's also a bit redder than in photos. But it's the red I like. Just-a-touch-of-pink red. Raspberry red.

Here's a quick afternoon sun photo:



Now for the part that's a bit more questionable.

@VividRed I see now what you mean by "dull".

The stone is not dull in general. Very much not so. But. The place where the healed fracture is located is... a lot more visible and obvious than I imagined it would be, even though I knew it was there. It's the way it spans across the length of the stone and how it's angled inside of it. Have a massively zoomed in image to illustrate what I mean (don't trust the colour here):



Now this is clearly angled and overblown for maximum visibility. You can see it's not nearly as visible in the other two quick photos I snapped. Buuuuut it depends. It's a lot more visible in low light (the picture above is taken in twilight) and on white background. It's less visible in bright light or when the stone is on my hand, so maybe I won't notice it as much after I set it. But that cloudiness and milkiness definitely fit the definition of dull.

For the time being I haven't made up my mind yet. I've written to the seller and told them that I'll sleep on it first before I make any final decisions. I almost wish to will myself to not consider it a big deal because I really do love, love, love the colour.

 

[voce]

The one he showed was visibly of higher quality, yes. And at nearly triple the price per carat to reflect that. One day... maybe when I'm in my fifties or something...

Don't know your current age, but we'll have to hope that by your 50s ruby prices won't have gone up much more than 3x their current prices. Inflation and demand are the usual culprits. It's my personal opinion that with red being a lucky color in Chinese culture, the entry of wealthier Chinese into the buyer market in the past 20 years has increased ruby prices despite increased supply of rubies from Africa.

With a little bit of luck I'll sate my lust for ruby for the foreseeable future. Worst case scenario, there's a discussed and agreed upon refund policy.

It doesn't sound like you love it at the moment. My own experience is that when it comes to gems, no amount of cost savings results in me enjoying the gem more. I tried giving away most of my eBay gems from the earlier days.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

I think the color is beautiful and I also understand your concerns. I want to talk about something we don't tend to on here- there is a lot of self applied pressure for perfection and spending a lot of money on stones on PS. Not because anyone is doing that specifically, but because we get to see what is best/close to best of breed specimens often. PS is mostly populated with people who have thousands they can devote on multiple stones and jewelry. Every year.
This is wonderful and also awful. Very few people can afford those stones. Their exacting standard is an unobtainable one for most.
I'm one who can't, and I will always have to make concessions. It can be hard.

I want to show you something. This is one of my precious spinels. I love it's color, but if you'll look in these blown up photos, it is full of inclusions. Full. Most people would tell me not to buy it and they would tell me not to keep it. It doesn't fit the PS standard in most ways. It's very included, it can go brown in low light, it has extinction and it needs full sun to be 'on'...
You know what? I don't care. It makes me happy every time I see it. I think it's beautiful. It's good enough for me, and I'm confident in my assessment.
I own many stones that others would pass on for one reason or another.

The only question you need to ask- is do you love it. Not what you think you should love, not someone else's standard.
You.
If you don't, and the fracture is all you see, send it back.
It's okay to have a stone with inclusions, that's nature.
If you do love the color, then keep it.

 

[VividRed]

That fracture is likely to bother you more over time, not less. Not mentioning that is cuts through the table is a big omission from the vendor. It would be a pass for me. But I see why you like the color, it is lovely and typical Burmese.

 

[Avondale]

It doesn't sound like you love it at the moment. My own experience is that when it comes to gems, no amount of cost savings results in me enjoying the gem more.

Honestly, I do. I do love it. The colour, the glowing flashes in the evening, those short minutes during which I caught the sun and saw it light up just like that other ruby that's currently for sale for 22,5k pounds which I would never hope to own.

I just don't want to have this love tarnished by something distracting and detracting from this beauty.

Don't know your current age, but we'll have to hope that by your 50s ruby prices won't have gone up much more than 3x their current prices.

I'm 33 and I find what you said there mildly terrifying.

Not mentioning that is cuts through the table is a big omission from the vendor.

To be fair I did know it was there... it was visible in the videos. But it wasn't showing so obviously. I'm not sure whether I should attribute this to cultural differences as I've read similar stories here. But in any case I would've liked to have been warned about it.

For the time being I've told the vendor I'll take some time to view the stone better in daylight and I've also asked them to consider a discount. I'll see how they respond.

The only question you need to ask- is do you love it. Not what you think you should love, not someone else's standard.
You.
If you don't, and the fracture is all you see, send it back.
It's okay to have a stone with inclusions, that's nature.
If you do love the color, then keep it.

Thank you so much for this. This is exactly what I'm giving myself time to decide right now. I'm not bothered by inclusions per se, and when this one is just regularly visible and not a cloudy smudge it doesn't bother me at all.

In an attempt to emulate setting it into a ring I made a tiny basket of aluminum foil for the stone to sit in. It... makes things better, definitely. Allows me to be a little bit optimistic.

For now I'll just spend time with it. Allow myself to see if I become more and more bothered with the inclusion or I notice it less and less. And then I'll know. But just so you know, I'm hoping for the second outcome like crazy.

Oh, and I finally managed to snap a decent shot. How, you may ask? I stole my husband's phone.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Honestly, I do. I do love it. The colour, the glowing flashes in the evening, those short minutes during which I caught the sun and saw it light up just like that other ruby that's currently for sale for 22,5k pounds which I would never hope to own.

I just don't want to have this love tarnished by something distracting and detracting from this beauty.



I'm 33 and I find what you said there mildly terrifying.



To be fair I did know it was there... it was visible in the videos. But it wasn't showing so obviously. I'm not sure whether I should attribute this to cultural differences as I've read similar stories here. But in any case I would've liked to have been warned about it.

For the time being I've told the vendor I'll take some time to view the stone better in daylight and I've also asked them to consider a discount. I'll see how they respond.



Thank you so much for this. This is exactly what I'm giving myself time to decide right now. I'm not bothered by inclusions per se, and when this one is just regularly visible and not a cloudy smudge it doesn't bother me at all.

In an attempt to emulate setting it into a ring I made a tiny basket of aluminum foil for the stone to sit in. It... makes things better, definitely. Allows me to be a little bit optimistic.

For now I'll just spend time with it. Allow myself to see if I become more and more bothered with the inclusion or I notice it less and less. And then I'll know. But just so you know, I'm hoping for the second outcome like crazy.

Oh, and I finally managed to snap a decent shot. How, you may ask? I stole my husband's phone.

Okay, that's what I'm talking about. I'm pulling for you.

 

[voce]

Honestly, I do. I do love it. The colour, the glowing flashes in the evening, those short minutes during which I caught the sun and saw it light up just like that other ruby that's currently for sale for 22,5k pounds which I would never hope to own.

I just don't want to have this love tarnished by something distracting and detracting from this beauty.



I'm 33 and I find what you said there mildly terrifying.



To be fair I did know it was there... it was visible in the videos. But it wasn't showing so obviously. I'm not sure whether I should attribute this to cultural differences as I've read similar stories here. But in any case I would've liked to have been warned about it.

For the time being I've told the vendor I'll take some time to view the stone better in daylight and I've also asked them to consider a discount. I'll see how they respond.



Thank you so much for this. This is exactly what I'm giving myself time to decide right now. I'm not bothered by inclusions per se, and when this one is just regularly visible and not a cloudy smudge it doesn't bother me at all.

In an attempt to emulate setting it into a ring I made a tiny basket of aluminum foil for the stone to sit in. It... makes things better, definitely. Allows me to be a little bit optimistic.

For now I'll just spend time with it. Allow myself to see if I become more and more bothered with the inclusion or I notice it less and less. And then I'll know. But just so you know, I'm hoping for the second outcome like crazy.

Oh, and I finally managed to snap a decent shot. How, you may ask? I stole my husband's phone.

That's a lovely color, and I think it'll look great in a ring! I think probably you'll only notice the flux in strong lighting, and if you stay indoors or indirect sunlight it won't be bad.

It's probably a fair value, but only you can determine in the end whether mind clean will overrule your genuine love for the stone.

I myself have a less than perfect Burmese ruby that looks fine to me in most lighting but not close-up shots.

 

[VividRed]

Well, in any case it seems to look better than I thought. The fracture bothers me, but for this price you can’t expect a perfect stone.

If you love it, it’s all that matters really we all root for you, that’s for sure

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

It's beautiful!!!! Love the glow!!!

I hope it works out for you, whatever it is that makes you happy!!!

Haha all your ruby excitement has made me dig out my old one!