Natural ruby is recognized as the most expensive colored gemstone of all. However, rubies are sometimes incredibly cheap in jewelry stores. There are plenty of «ruby rings» on the jewelry market: you can see them in the shops on the corner of each house, and when you search for a"ruby ring" in Google, gorgeous pictures of sparkling gems will appear right on the first page. Sellers write that the ruby is natural and weighs 5-10-45 carats (!). The prices are shockingly low - given that rubies are the most expensive gems in the world. Yes, there is something the sellers are NOT telling you.
Hi everyone,
I’m Sasha Kareva and on this channel I talk about GEMSTONES. Welcome!
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So, we checked offline and online stores and found out that rings with rubies are sold at completely different prices. For some rubies sellers ask 50-100-200 dollars, and for other rubies the price comes up to 10000-100000 dollars. Is there a difference between them? Are they fake? or is it all marketing or greed of the seller? You’ll find the answer in this video.
Before buying any ruby it’s important to know what type of treatment it has gone through.
Briefly, Natural Rubies have 4 basic levels of treatment.
- Natural (no treatment)
- Heat Treatment to enhance color
- Heat Flux Treatment to enhance color and clarity
- Lead-Glass filled Treatment to change characteristics of a ruby
The more treatment the ruby goes through the lower the price gets! The price can range from exceptionally expensive US$10,000+ per carat for unheated, natural rubies to US$5 per carat for lead-glass filled rubies.
Glass-filled rubies have flooded the gem market from traditional retail stores, online websites to sellers on eBay.
Simply checking the authenticity of the certificate and understanding the ‘treatment’ section, you can save thousands of dollars. This will also save you time and the harassment of getting scammed by the seller due to them not disclosing these facts to you.
I hope this guide will provide you with a basic understanding of the different types of ruby treatments.
I do want to emphasize that even if you read this guide, it does take years of experience seeing rubies to understand the different levels of treatments.
If there is any doubt about your purchase – “Even that slight 1% chance” – it is always best to recheck the stone from a reliable gemstone laboratory and a trustworthy gem dealer .
Natural rubies that are NOT heated or treated are quite easy to spot. You will only need to see through a microscope or a gem loupe for natural or intact inclusions.
There are three types of inclusions:
- needle-like Silk (rutile needles)
- Fingerprint inclusions
- Angular, straight, or hexagonal growth zoning or banding
All these inclusions are very obvious and you can see them with a loop or even with a naked eye.
RUBY TREATMENT GUIDE – HEATED RUBIES
Now, let’s move to the most common treatment - heat treatment
Almost all rubies – 95% of rubies today – are heat-treated. There are different types and levels of heat treatment in rubies that can range from very slight to quite extreme.
Distinguishing these levels of treatment can also affect the price of a ruby dramatically.
Heat treatment is used to either develop or intensify a ruby’s natural color. Higher levels of heat treatments can also improve the clarity of a ruby by removing or reducing inclusions and making them less visible.
It is quite a popular treatment, because it simply makes a ruby look better and clearer, so it will be easier to sell.
Prices for normal or slightly heated rubies are still not cheap. Just the starting price for the good ones can be US$5,000 per carat.
However, before paying these high prices, PLEASE make sure the ruby which you are purchasing has not been subjected to newer or higher step treatments which I’ll be explaining further in this video, because the price for higher treatment rubies can drop dramatically.
CERTIFICATION
The best way to verify the level of heat treatment is by asking your jeweler or a gemstone wholesaler for a certificate of the gemstone.
On a GRS certificate, it will state the ruby is only subject to H treatment, or H (a) is also acceptable. GIA will classify normal heat treatment as ‘Heated.’
If it is written H(b) or below then you will know that the ruby has been subject to newer treatments and you should not pay the price for normal heat-treated ruby. It should cost much cheaper. GIA will classify higher levels of treatments as Heated (‘Minor or Moderate or Significant’ Residue).
Next type of treatment - HEATED FLUX-HEALED RUBIES
The next more extreme level of treatment for rubies is called heated ‘flux-healed’ rubies.
Reputable laboratories will indicate these rubies as H(b) or ‘heated with residues.’
For this level of treatment, producers add “foreign” material to the rubies by surrounding them with a flux-like material, which becomes molten at extremely high temperatures.
The dissolved flux will then fill the fractures and cavities from the open stone’s surface which will then solidify into a glass-like substance.
This process improves the apparent clarity of the ruby, but because the composition of these materials is not completely “natural,” the price for these rubies is substantially less.
The price depends on how much residue is present in the heated rubies.
Most labs do classify the amount of residue by stating it as minor, moderate, or significant residues. For each level of treatment, the price will drop accordingly by almost 20% to 50% per carat on average.
And before we move to the most extreme levels of treatments, just want to let you know that I also have a video on identifying fake rubies on the channel, I’ll link in the description. I will also be talking more about the properties of various gems, their prices and investment potential in my future videos, so make sure to hit that subscribe button.
LEAD-GLASS FILLED RUBIES (NEW TREATMENT OR “PHUA MAI” IN THAI)
The most aggressive type of ruby treatment that has flooded the markets is called lead-glass-filled rubies. The average prices for these rubies are usually US$ 5 per carat or less.
These stones are really not worth anything. This is because, in their natural state, the untreated rough is ugly, highly included brown color., It would be IMPOSSIBLE to sell this stone, if not with the help of this treatment.
How it works is usually this “bad” looking ruby – If you can call it a ruby – is mixed with acid to remove mineralized inclusions, and it makes the stone texture soft and weak like a sponge.
If you hold the stone in this state it will crumble into powder. This material is then infused with leaded glass to give back the strength and apparent good looks.
An average consumer , would think wow, this is a beautiful natural ruby, which I am getting at a cheap price, what a great deal.
There are many problems with this type of treatment.
To put simply - these stones are not rubies anymore. It’s a mixture of natural corundum and lead glass. Actually, most of these “rubies” have more lead glass in them. So, now we have got an answer, what are these rubies for 50 bucks.
Yet they are still being sold as natural rubies in major stores and/or buy some eBay or online dealers which makes this a major disclosure issue.
If the sellers actually disclose the treatments of these stones to their clients, the purchaser can then make a more informed decision on how much you should pay for this type of ruby.
To understand if you are looking at Lead-Glass Filled Rubies, look for one of these inclusions:
Gas bubbles are sure indications of glass-filled rubies or synthetics. Usually very easy to spot under a microscope or a loupe with a dark light background.
- Blue and Orange flash effect along with structural fractures when put under a black light. It’s also a key indicator of lead-glass filled rubies
Again, the best way to find out if the stone you are buying is lead-glass-filled rubies is by either having a great pair of eyes and checking for the signs above or getting the stone certified by a reliable lab.
GRS certificates will classify these rubies as “Hybrid” Ruby. It will have the following comment “Heat-treated and filled with a foreign solid substance (including lead). Special care when handling.
Also known as “Composite Ruby.”
Natural beautiful rubies with a rich red color that have not been enhanced at all or have only been heated with low temperature are very rare, and by weight they usually do not exceed 2 carats. Such stones usually have expert opinions from reputable gemological laboratories. These certificates indicate the natural origin of the stone, the presence or absence of refinement, color, weight, size of the stone, and sometimes the country of extraction. The share of such rubies on the world market is very small, and over time they become much more expensive in price.
Good stones will always be sold with documents, as this is the only way to confirm the noble origin and prove compliance with the declared characteristics that determine the value. In the opposite case, you should not flatter yourself with hopes, most likely it is either synthetic or low-quality filled with glass, and costs a penny.
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LEAD CTA
I have my own gem stock in Bangkok, where I’m based. It’ s the capital of gem trading. If you would like to get a gemological report, we have a huge offer from small labs to labs with world names like GRS or Bellerophon. You can find the link in description, choose the stones and also order the report from any laboratory in Bangkok.
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Enjoy the true gems world! Even if you made a mistake one time and bought an artificial gem, don’t give up. Gems will bring new knowledge, experience and beauty in your life!