Looking for information about ruby engagement rings ?
Q.I am looking for information about rubies and ruby engagement rings. I have seen the engagement ring FAQ but it is almost completely about diamonds. My fiancee wants to have a ruby engagement ring but I want to find out more about them before we really go shopping. We have done some looking but I really feel lost and have no basis for judging any of the rings I have seen. To make matters slightly more complicated she is wanting white gold rather than regular gold (it does look better with rubies from what I've seen). Does anyone have any information or references (paper or electronic) that they can point us at? Is there a similar grading scheme for rubies as there is for diamonds?
A.I have a ruby and diamond engagement ring set in platinum. It is an antique ring which my fiance purchased for me at a store which specializes in estate jewelry. It really is the most beautiful ring in the world (but them I'm a little biased :-) I had my heart set on a ruby also and I am a geologist so I figured that I should learn something about rubies before we chose the ring. Basically there is no grading scheme for rubies (or any colored gems) which is similar to diamonds. Natural rubies have a wide range of color, those which are "pigeon blood red" are most valuable, pinker stones are called pink sapphires (sapphire and ruby are the same mineral--corundum) The best advice I can give you is to look at a lot of rubies before you buy a ring or have one made, preferably loose, and under a microscope (which any reputable jeweler will have) or at least under a hand lens. If you can, look at the stone in bright sunlight. Often there will be inclusions that you can see with the naked eye under bright sunlight and the stone may be pleochroic (which simply means that it changes color slightly when you rotate it in bright light). Looking at as many stones as you can will also give you an idea of how the stones are cut. One thing to be careful of (if you care about things like this) is synthetic rubies. It's extremely difficult to tell if a ruby is natural or synthetic. Synthetic stones tend to have no inclusions at all or inclusions of uniform size and shape. Much department-store type jewelry with lots of little rubies that are all the same color is made with synthetic rubies. that's all I know! Try to find yourself a jeweler who can explain this to you better than I can. There are lots of rock and mineral guides which have a section on gemstones. If you are still insecure about it but think you've found THE RING, get an appraisal from a different jeweler (your insurance company can usually recommend one). The most important thing to remember is that buying a ring is a VERY subjective thing, especially with a colored gemstone! My fiance and I looked at lots of rings and lots of stones, but when we found this ring we knew it was the right one! If you are looking to get a quality ruby, or a few rubies, you probably want to buy the ring separate from the ring itself. You can buy the stones themselves, and then take it to a jeweler who'd mount it into anything you want. Let me concentrate on your question about the rubies, not the rest of the ring. I've had the same problem when I was looking for rubies for sidestones for my wife's engagement ring.
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