where to look for small untreated ruby?

[grendzy]

Hi,

I'm looking for a small (3-4mm) ruby for this ring:
http://www.boonerings.com/htmpages/classicround.htm

After reading Richard Hughes's excellent site, I set out to visit some local jewelry stores. The results so far have been frustrating. Only one store out of eight had any ruby in the store, and they had no information about enhancements or origin of the gems. The others said they could order one from a catalog, again with no information except for a color rating (usually 'A' - 'AAA'). Often, when I asked about enhancements, the store would acknowledge only heat treatment, and appeared to have never heard of other treatments such as flux healing.

I've looked into some of the online stores mentioned in these forums, but haven't found anything this small. Ideally, what I'm looking for:
3-4mm round or slightly oval
untreated Mogok ruby (I could live with heat treatment, but want to avoid flux healing, and other nonsense like oil, dyes, diffusion, and glass filling).
Price - not sure, but extrapolating from larger gem prices I would expect < $500, if such a beast exists at all.

Also, in this size/price range, I'm not expecting a lab report or certs. Am I crazy to think I could spot the real thing? After looking at photos of various enhancements, and seeing a few rubies under a microscope, I think I could (at least in obvious cases). If I found a gem that was the color I like, and had intact silk, and no little streams of flux bubbles, I would probably buy it.

Any ideas on where to look would be appreciated! At this point, I'm about ready to give up and just buy a Chatham ruby (I feel like at least then I would know what I was buying).

 

[strmrdr]

If it was me id ask Gary at www.diamondexpert.com if his source had any he could hand select from.
Often times he can do this being in an area with a lot of suppliers.

 

[PrecisionGem]

You should be able to find a Burma ruby for about half of that. I would assume that almost all the Burma material has been heated to some extent however, most of it is heated long before it comes to any cutting house. You shouldn''t need to get a stone with any other treatments however.

 

[C Smith]

There are an awful lot of synthetics out there. Flux inclusions are a giveaway of course, but so are curved striations that are often present with flame fusion. Color banding may be indicative of hydrothermal synthesis. Many synthetic Rubies will also react brightly under UV due to a lack or iron which normally retards same in natural ruby.

 

[colorchange]

I have a pair of (AIGS certified) untreated Mogok rubies that are native cut (quite badly) 1,2 Ct together, would make 2 very fine round 4,7 to 5 mm rubies once recut ; the pair is a bit below what you expect to buy... (color is very fine, fluorescence and clarity too).

So I guess you should be able to find one for that price...

I had recently an opportunity to buy some unheated vietnamese rubies about 3mm and that is inexpensive.
The difference in price beween a 0,15 Ct and 0,45 Ct ruby is huge...

 

[grendzy]

I found one! Thanks for all the helpful replies. It turned out that a local jeweler was able to locate one after a few weeks. It''s from Kay Jewelers in the mall. It kind of surprised me because I have a low opinion of chain stores, and malls in general. But the woman there was pretty helpful and apparently they have access to some pretty large inventories.

Now the stone: It''s 3mm, and unheated. The color was described by the seller as "AAA", and it''s about as red as they get. It''s also very bright, with no dark spots or zoning. Clarity is pretty good, except for a large Y-shaped fracture on the top. I can see the fracture unaided if I look really close. The cut seems adequate, but the girdle isn''t polished at all, and looks rough under magnification.

Regarding the unheated claim, it''s hard for me to know for sure, but I think I could see some "guest crystals" like these:
http://www.apsara.co.uk/inclusions_ruby.htm
There is also *maybe* some faint silk visible when viewed from the bottom. I could only see it at 30X, and obviously I''m a lay person, so it''s hard to know for sure.

I snapped the photo with a Canon pocket-sized digicam, through the eyepiece of the microscope. I have manually altered the white balance in photoshop (I tried to set a custom white balance on my camera, but there wasn''t enough light in the scope for it to work).

 

[C Smith]

I'm glad you got what you're after. I'm not too surprised the chain store could get it for you. Most folks have no problem with the actual quality of mall diamonds or gems as while top-clarity stones are comparatively rare in that setting maybe, they are reasonably accurately graded and they do disclose treatments or synthetic origin as required by law...As long as you know what the grades/jargon mean in terms of value and beauty, you will get what you are asking for. Most people stay away from mall stores because of the high prices you will pay in comparison to dealing with an ethical independant dealer.

What was the cut and polish sold to you as? I'm wondering how they quantified those characterics for this particular stone.

Nice picture by the way!