Vintage Indian Jewelry Inspires Red Carpet Style

It may come as a shock for some, but the old dictum “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” made famous by Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, may no longer prove universally true. A testament to how things have changed, Jennifer Aniston told the New York Times how hesitant she was with the enormous diamond engagement ring she received from her fiancé, actor Justin Theroux, “It took me a while to get used to it. I’m not a diamond girl. I’m more Indian jewelry and stuff.” Diamonds are not necessarily the ultimate accessory for contemporary women who want something colorful and bold. For traditional pieces that are vibrant and bespoke, look no further than antique Indian jewelry.

$5.1 Million Burmese Ruby Necklace Tops Hong Kong Auction

A ruby and diamond necklace weighing 62.46 carats. It was on sale for an estimated $3.5 million to $5.5 million at Christie's International auction in Hong Kong on Nov. 27. It sold for HK$39.9 million ($5.1 million). Source: Christie's Images Ltd. via Bloomberg

A “Pigeon’s Blood” Burmese ruby and diamond necklace sold for HK$39.9 million ($5.1 million), topping last night’s Christie’s International jewelry sale in Hong Kong.

Demand for precious gems as an attractive investment class has increased steadily in recent years. On Nov. 23 in Hong Kong, Bonhams set a per-carat record for a Sri Lankan sapphire with the sale of a 43 carat sapphire and diamond ring for HK$12 million.

Beautiful Ruby Crystal

Origion Montepuez, Mozambique

Synthetic Flame Fusion Ruby in Mother Rock

How Cut Effects the Value of Ruby

It is nearly impossible to find a perfectly cut natural ruby in the marketplace.  There are two reasons.  One is that rubies are very expensive, precious and rare, so there is a hesitancy to cut off any more stone than absolutely necessary during the faceting process.  The other reason is that ruby forms in the earth's crust as octahedral crystals, that are usually wide and flat.  These two facts mean that cut rubies found in jewelry are usually cut too shallow.  You can sometimes see through them (called "fish eye"), where if it were cut at the proper angles and proportions, you would only see light and glitter reflected back to you.

A well cut ruby is exceedingly beautiful and hard to find.  You will know a well cut ruby when you see it because it will dazzle you with its sparkle. This is because when the facets are cut at the proper angles, they act as mirrors and bounce light all around the inside of the stone.  Unfortunately, cutting a ruby at the proper angles usually means grinding away a large part of the ruby (a very skilled cutter will cut away even 60%).  And since rubies are such valuable gemstones, most of the time gemcutters ere on the side of keeping the gemstone as large as possible, instead of being cut at the proper angles.  When you are looking for a ruby, you can use the following guidelines to help you assess the cut.  (Though, you should go in expecting a poor one.)

Gem Identification

There are two kinds of gem identification tasks: determinative and confirmative. Determinative ID is when someone hands you a rough piece of rock and asks what it is. Confirmative identification is when someone wants to sell you a stone - usually already cut - and you want to confirm that the gem is as advertised.

Determinative identification skills may take many years to develop, and may involve the use of an array of expensive equipment for measuring everything from density to various optical properties or even thermal conductance.

Confirmative identification of gems is much easier to learn and may often be accomplished without any tools at all other than your eyes.

One of the most common identification problems is that of the red faceted stone. We are often reasonably sure that the stone is either a garnet or a corundum (ruby). Sometimes, the owner of the stone declares that they "know it is a real ruby because Grandma gave it to me".

There are a variety of tools and methods that one may use to separate garnets from corundums from red spinel from red zircon. For now, we'll just look at separating garnets from rubies.

The method I'm going to share is a fast and dirty version of something called the Hodgkinson method of gem identification - after Alan Hodgkinson. All you need are your eyes and some clean hands.

Pick up a stone in question and hold it up very close to your eye so that you can look into the table. You must hold it very close without touching - almost like inserting a contact lens, but again not touching. Look literally through the stone at a distant source of light such as a lamp or light bulb. You will see a number of reflections of the distant light source as they bounce around within the stone.

Roll the stone around its axis and tilt it slightly while watching the reflections. Due to the refractive properties of gemstones, each reflection will to some extent appear as a small rainbow. This is a single one of those rainbows as it appears looking through a spinel at the filament of a clear light bulb about 6 feet away: 

Depending on the gem material in question, that rainbow will have varying properties. If the gem is doubly refractive you are likely to see doubled or ghosted (rainbow) images. Because the gem may be cut in any orientation with respect to the crystal structure (which is responsible for these phenomenon) you may have to examine the stone from a variety of angles to be sure whether it is doubly refractive OR NOT.

104 Carat Tajikistan Ruby

7.44 carat Untreated Natural Tajikistan Ruby

Jagdalak ( Afghanistan Ruby Lot )

Ruby Inclusions

Melted solid inclusions and "decrepitation" feathers of various Natural Fancy Sapphires from Madagascar due to treatment with beryllium at high temperatures. Transmitted and fiber optic illumination at 40-60x magnification in the microscope. 

Typical inclusions found in Beryllium Treated Corundum (New Treatment)

Typical inclusions found in Beryllium Treated Corundum (New Treatment)

Typical inclusions found in Beryllium Treated Corundum (New Treatment)

Typical inclusions found in Beryllium Treated Corundum (New Treatment)

Typical inclusions found in Beryllium Treated Corundum (New Treatment)

Ruby: The Most Valuable Gem

Ruby has been the world's most valued gemstone for thousands of years. In fact, even today, flawless top quality rubies are more valuable and rare than top quality colorless diamonds. A 16 carat ruby sold at auction for US$227,301 per carat at Sotheby's in 1988. A 27.37 carat Burmese ruby ring sold for US$4 million at Sotheby's in Geneva in May 1995, or $146,145 per carat. A 32 carat ruby sold for US$144,000 per carat at Sotheby's in 1989. In contrast, eight D-color internally flawless diamonds over 50 carats were sold in the past 9 years and the largest, a pear-shape of 102 carats, fetched a mere US$125,000 per carat. Top quality untreated rubies are so rare even the world's top gem dealers must incessantly comb estate sales and auctions to find them. Sizes above five carats are particularly rare.

Ruby is the gem quality form of the mineral corundum, and one of the most durable minerals which exists, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide. Corundum has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale and is also extremely tough. In its common form, corundum is even used as an abrasive.

Ruby

 

Which colour would you spontaneously associate with love and vivacity, passion and power? It's obvious, isn't it? Red. Red is the colour of love. It radiates warmth and a strong sense of vitality. And red is also the colour of the ruby, the king of the gemstones. In the fascinating world of gemstones, the ruby is the undisputed ruler.

For thousands of years, the ruby has been considered one of the most valuable gemstones on Earth. It has everything a precious stone should have: magnificent colour, excellent hardness and outstanding brilliance. In addition to that, it is an extremely rare gemstone, especially in its finer qualities.