2024 Ruby, Natural Earth-Mined July birthstone, Mined in Mozambique, faceted pear shape, deep blood red

* Ruby, Faceted pear shape stone, 2.65 carats
*Please read the entire description before ordering:

Gemstone Type: Ruby
Color: Deep Red
Clarity: Transparent
Treatment: Heated (lead glass filled)
Shape: Pear, tear drop
Length: 9.8 mm
Width: 7.6 mm
Depth: 4.8 mm
Carat Weight: 2.65 ct.
Country where mined: Mozambique
Country where cut: Thailand
Hardness: 9
Luster: Superior

The second picture shows this ruby next to a US dime for visual size scale, so that you do not imagine or visualize the stone to be larger or smaller than it actually is. Picture #6 shows the pavilion (back) of the stone, and picture #5 shows the stone from the side.

I like to indicate what it would cost to get a comparable stone from a stone wholesaler, to show what a good deal my price is. For this stone; I can't find a pear shape ruby this big to compare. The largest Stuller and Stachura have listed is 5 mm x 7 mm. They don't list any HLGF rubies this big; but if they had one it would probably be around $900.00 wholesale. The stone is fairly clean with some small internal inclusions. These are best seen through the pavilion, but there is a least one I can see near the edge of the crown facet. It's a nice deep red, not pink like a lot of rubies. This ruby was earth mined in Mozambique.

I have LOTS of unmounted gem stones. I have just started to list some of them on Etsy. It will take me a long time to get a large number listed. If there is something specific you are looking for, please write to ask me if I have it. Chances are very good that I will.

Gemologically Speaking; This is the educational part:

Did you know that ruby and sapphire are actually the same stone? Most people think of blue when they think of sapphire, but it actually comes in all colors. Sapphire is the mineral corundum, or aluminum oxide. It occurs naturally in blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, clear, pink, red, and in every shade, combination, and intensity of these colors you can imagine.. Medium to dark red to red-purple corundum is called ruby. Pink-orange to orange-red corundum is called Padparadscha Sapphire. But it's all 2024 the same rock; corundum.

Corundum is crystalline aluminum oxide (Al2O3). The various stone colors come from very small quantities of some other metal in the crystal lattice. In the case of ruby, chromium is the metal that makes it red. Titanium by itself makes sapphire clear, and Iron by itself makes sapphire yellow. Iron and Titanium together make sapphire blue. All the other colors come from mixtures of 2 or 3 of these metals in the crystal lattice. Corundum is actually fairly common in low silica igneous and metamorphic rock, but as gray or brown grains, not in translucent gem quality crystals. It takes very special conditions to form transparent gem corundum or star corundum crystals. Corundum is usually formed in metamorphic rocks such as marble, schist, and gneiss. It is very hard, having a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale. Common corundum is used as an abrasive, such as in sandpaper. Being hard and heavy, with a specific gravity of 3.95 to 4.1, as large amounts of corundum bearing rocks are eroded and weathered away over time, corundum crystals become concentrated in placer deposits in drainages below the corundum containing rock strata; just like gold nuggets in gold placer deposits. Since gem crystals are few and far between in the rock, it is usually not possible to mine the rock in the mountains to find the crystals, and make a profit. But the corundum crystals become concentrated together by gravity in the placer deposits formed below. Thus almost all ruby and sapphire mines in the world are placer mines where miners "pan" through the dirt and sand in stream basins to find the rubies and sapphires.

For millenia it has been common practice to heat ruby and sapphire to improve the color and transparency. Truly unheated natural sapphire or ruby is much, much rarer than you might believe. 95% of all ruby and sapphire on the market today has been heated. If the stone is not of low quality (many internal inclusions) or for clear stones if the price is not thousands of dollars per carat, the ruby has most likely been heated. And heating is not the only treatment commonly used on sapphire and ruby. There are also more aggressive treatments such as coating (dying), diffusion heating, fissure filling, and irradiation. This stone was heat treated and fissure filled to improve color and appearance.

Metaphysically Speaking:

Historically rubies have been associated with love, balance, and physical protection. Kings and Queens considered it the preferred wedding stone. To the ancient Egyptians it represented beauty and love, physical protection, and a harbinger of good fortune. Wearing a ruby was believed to assure the wearer of contentment, physical prosperity, and wealth. As a gift it is seen as a sign of spiritual devotion and lasting love. It enhances the self image of the wearer, enhancing physical beauty and protection. It helps the wearer overcome fears of being ugly or unloved. Ruby is the birthstone for those born in July.

** The free shipping offered to an address within the United States is by First Class US Post. An upgrade to faster Priority or Priority Express US shipping is available at checkout.

*INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: I no longer ship to countries outside the USA.