Ruby Selection: Round 2!

[vonatar]

Hey guys, despite the previous dissapointment I selected to move on with round 2 of ruby selection... I tried to avoid the problems of the previous ruby... e.g. shallow cut with window. I also decided to play down on the pigeon blood red color thingy and made choices based on color/tone/hues that I find to be asthetically pleasing instead.

Taking heed of advice, I'm planning to ask the vendor for some vendor for some non-glamor shots of these rubies under various lighting conditions. Meanwhile, this are the vendor glamor shots...

The first ruby is a 1.50 carat fat pear shaped (or heart shape) measuring 6.19 x 6.91 x 4.60 mm. I feel that it has a rich saturated color. The tone is slightly dark though. It also has good brillance.



The 2nd ruby is 1.08 carat pear shaped measuring 6.45 x 5.17 x 4.53 mm. The color is a shade or 2 lighter than the first ruby and this makes the ruby alot cheaper than the first one



I wonder if there are any issues that can be spotted from the pictures above that I should be aware of?

 

[chrono]

The first one has an odd shape that requires a customized setting. I presume untreated? If so, it is very clean so I wonder if it is African. Nothing wrong with that, just an observation. Does it fluorescence? What light did he take the picture under? I presume it comes with a lab memo?

The second ruby is not well saturated.

 

[LD]

Leaving aside treatments - as I assume you'll make sure you get lab reports? - here are my thoughts:-

No.1 - very orange. A difficult cut to set as Chrono has said. It's also not centered well and you will notice this even when in a mount.

No.2 - very pink. I actually really like this gem and (for me) it's a sort of borderline sapprube! It has an interesting look and I would be happy to own this one because I like things that are not quite the norm.

Both have large culets - have they been cut by the same person do you know?

These are NOT high quality - so you shouldn't be paying anywhere near $2k per carat. At just over 1ct these won't look substantial on the finger and will need a bit of help to give finger coverage (unless the lady who will be wearing this is a tiny/skinny individual)!

 

[chrono]

I agree with LD that both are not top colours. Are you perchance attracted to something orangish red?

 

[vonatar]

Both are unheated/untreated and they are both mozambique rubies.

I've a rather dumb question about fluorescence. I noticed that although the GRS certificate on my previous ruby claimed that it exhibited "medium to strong fluorescence", the stone still appears rather dull under ambient lighting. I was wondering if I need to "charge it up" under direct sunlight or something, something like how the luminious paint on a watch face works?

I understand that iron-poor burmese rubies generally still appears red under ambient lighing. Are there any pictures of these available? I tried googling to no avail...

 

[vonatar]

LD, I think the color criteria for ruby is alot more relaxed over here in Asia. And yes, my girlfriend has rather slim fingers... I was told by a number of jewellers that the ideal carat size (for diamonds at least), is generally 0.5c - 0.7c, for asian females... lol.. I guess we have it slightly easier on the pockets over here...

 

[chrono]

Fluorecence only kicks in when viewed under a UV source like direct sunlight. It does not store up this effect like a battery. You will only see that extra red pop at that time until you move away from the sun or UV light source. I, too, have noticed that what colours are considered a ruby is relaxed in Asia compared to the rest of the world too.

Fine rubies are coloured by chromium and tend to be smaller and included because chromium "messes" up the growth. There are some nice looking rubies without flourescence but having fluoro is a nice bonus. Rubies coloured by iron cannot compare to rubies coloured by chromium.

 

[LD]

This is a 6.5ct marquise ruby viewed with and without a black light. You will not see fluor or be able to charge it up. What you may notice is that some gemstones glow more in sunlight - typically that's because of fluor. This ruby looks glorious in sunlight.

The diamond below is showing strong blue fluorescence in natural sunlight - you don't normally see this effect unless the fluor is strong. If you look carefully you'll see that it looks slightly blue in places. The photo underneath it is of the same gem but this time lit with a black light.