Most natural rubies come from Asia (Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka), Africa and Australia, and there are some in Montana and South Carolina. Natural rubies are very rare and precious, but artificial rubies are not difficult, so industrial rubies are all artificial.
Character [edit]
Color: deep red.
Gloss:
Crystal morphology:
Stripe mark:
Hardness: 9, extremely hard, second only to diamonds.
Specific gravity: 3.97 g/cm3 -4.05 g/cm3.
Fracture:
Ruby's English name is Ruby, which comes from Latin Ruber, meaning red. The mineral name of ruby is corundum.
The chemical composition of ruby is alumina (Al2O3), which is red to pink due to the trace element chromium (Cr3+). It belongs to the tripartite crystal system. The crystal shape is often barrel, short column, plate and so on. Aggregates are mostly granular or dense blocks. Transparent to translucent, glass luster. The refractive index is 1.76- 1.77, and the birefringence is 0.008-0.0 10. Dichroism is obvious, and it is not isotropic. Sometimes it also has a special optical effect-starlight effect, which will reflect charming six-shot starlight under the irradiation of light, commonly known as "six lines". The hardness is 9, and the density is 3.95-4. 10g/cm3. No cleavage, cleavage development. Ruby emits red and dark red fluorescence under long-wave and short-wave ultraviolet irradiation.
The Symbolic Meaning and Legend of Ruby
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I. Symbolic significance
Ruby is called ruby in English. Ruby is the most precious of all the gems in the Bible. Ruby's fiery red makes people always associate it with passion and love. It is known as the "stone of love" and symbolizes the passion, beauty, eternity and firmness of love. Ruby is the birthstone of July. Ruby with different colors comes from different countries, but it also represents auspiciousness. Red is always the messenger of beauty, and ruby is the best guide to send blessings to others. Among rubies, the most valuable one is the one with the strongest color, which is called "pigeon blood red". This bright and intense color can almost be called crimson, which shows the true face of ruby in a glance. It's a pity that most rubies are reddish in color and have a pink feeling, so the rubies with pigeon blood tones are more valuable. Because ruby is full of strong vitality and rich colors, people in the past thought it was the embodiment of the immortal bird and had a warm fantasy about it. Legend has it that wearing a red gem ring on the left hand or a ruby brooch on the left chest can turn an enemy into a friend.
Second, the legendary ancient rhyme
Job in the Bible said, "Wisdom is more valuable than rubies." It can be seen that rubies were very valuable at that time. The fourth jewel on Aaron's holy garments, Moses' brother, is a ruby. The names of Jewish ancestors are engraved on this gem. This precious gem has been the most precious treasure in the crown since the ancient Jews announced the establishment of the State of Israel.
According to the Bible, rubies symbolize Jewish tribes. In the Old Testament Exodus, it is recorded in detail that following the advice of the Lord, making holy robes and breastplates. The square breastpiece * * * is divided into three rows, representing the 12 gems of the 12 tribe. The first is ruby, which shows its importance. In China, the crown system of Qing officials stipulated that all the officials, from princes to first-class officials, used rubies as their crowns.
Kill the vulture and take out the ruby.
There is an old legend in Myanmar that there is a "sparkling red gem" in a "bottomless valley". The local people throw pieces of raw meat into the valley, hoping that the gems can stick to the meat, and the vultures will pick up the meat, kill the vultures and get these gems. The Adventures of Sinbad in the famous Arabian Nights tells a similar story.
Ruby is invulnerable.
Burmese people cherish rubies because they believe that if you cut a small hole in a person and put a ruby in it, the samurai who voluntarily perform this operation will be invulnerable.
Mining environment and genetic characteristics of ruby
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First of all, ruby's hard mining environment.
Ruby is rare in origin, mainly distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, India, Tanzania, China and other places. And there is usually a saying that "ten treasures and nine cracks", which means that most rubies have cracks, flaws, cracks and so on. Especially pure and perfect rubies are very rare. Sapphire is mainly distributed in Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Belinda, Indian Kashmir, Australia, Montana, China and other places.
So, knowing the origin of rubies, how should we mine them?
Igneous rocks and metamorphic rocks are the key factors for the formation of corundum gems. The secondary deposits come from the places where these main rocks are most likely to be mineralized. If so, we can look for gems in such a vast place and in more specific places.
The tried and tested elutriation technology is one of the most common and useful exploration methods. Basically, it includes exploring river gravel. Because of its highly determined specific gravity, corundum is usually concentrated in rivers and streams. Exploration includes sampling the gravel layer of the river from the downstream of the river. When very fine corundum is found, people regularly work from downstream to upstream and take samples along the way. Ended up with nothing. Then the next step is to go back and locate the exact location of the original trace of the gem. From here, further samples will be taken on the banks of suitable rivers and streams that produce corundum.
Working upstream will hopefully bring a piece of corundum to the original rock. However, theory is often simpler than practice, and this method has been used to find mineral deposits in history.
Most rubies in the world are found in small alluvial deposits. The more precious things are, the worse their growing environment is. Similarly, the mining conditions of rubies and sapphires are also very difficult. Ruby from Myanmar, for example, usually needs to be stripped off to a thickness of 15 feet to reach the gravel layer containing gems. Then, mining can really proceed.
How is the mining operation completed? First, remove the huge boulders, then concentrate the pebbles containing precious stones in a certain place and screen them with a set of wire mesh screens. The main steps are divided into three steps: the first step is to remove the largest stone in the top screen; Secondly, the medium gravel on the secondary screen is removed; Step three, leave the smallest gravel on the third sieve. The gravel has been selected, how to choose the gem? The general operation method is: one hand holds the tool to remove the gravel, and the other hand picks the gem. Put the selected gems into the bamboo basket and push the selected gravel off the table. Because there may be pebbles in the abandoned gravel, you can continue to pick them by hand.
With the increasing demand for rubies, heavy equipment and complex exploration methods have been applied. Australia is a world leader in corundum mining and exploration. In this series of processes, we not only need patient and meticulous screening, but also test our perseverance and perseverance. It is not difficult to imagine that the delicate and beautiful gems are gradually screened out from a large number of gravel, just like the accumulation of waves and sand. This meticulous work consumes a lot of manpower, material resources and time. When we finally get a jewel that shines brightly, we will see the most beautiful music in the long river of memory-the jewel is therefore rare and more precious.
Different producing areas have different conditions for mining rubies and sapphires. There are many small discontinuous pegmatite veins in some places, which are steep and steep. At the intersection of marble and pegmatite, we can find corundum. Many sapphires are produced in alluvial deposits.
Moreover, some gem producing areas are located on remote desert islands, which are sultry in summer and cold in winter, and some mines are located on cliffs, which seriously affects the mining of gem deposits and brings many difficulties to miners.
Such bad weather conditions make us know how to cherish precious stones more.
2. The difference between ruby and other similar gems:
The difference between (1) and red garnet
Garnet is isotropic and has no polychromatic color, while ruby has obvious polychromatic color.
Under ultraviolet light, ruby has red fluorescence, while garnet is inert.
Magnified observation shows that the interior of garnet is clean, and the gas-liquid inclusions and solid inclusions in ruby are abundant.
(2) Difference from red spinel
Spinel is isotropic and colorless.
The refractive index is lower than that of ruby.
Spinel has bead octahedral negative crystals after amplification.
(3) The difference with red tourmaline
Tourmaline has more obvious polychromatic properties.
Faceted gems can be seen in the right direction with the back edge ghosting.
(4) the difference with andalusite
Andalusite has a strong polychromatic color visible to the naked eye, and the colors are brown, yellow, green, brown orange, brown red and so on.
Andalusite has no moderate green and yellow-green fluorescence under short-wave ultraviolet light, while ruby has no moderate red fluorescence.
Ruby has obvious Cr absorption line in the red zone.
(5) The difference with red glass
Red glass is isotropic and has no polychromatic properties.
Zoom in and check that bubbles and vortex lines can be seen in the red glass.
It has a typical shell-like fracture with obvious ridgeline.
Glass has a low density, so it feels light.
Ruby grading standard
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Ruby grading standards are mainly measured according to 1T and 4C: transparency, color, clarity, cut and carat weight.
1. Transparency: refers to the degree to which a gem allows visible light to pass.
In the naked eye identification of rubies, the transparency is generally divided into five grades: transparent, sub-transparent, translucent, sub-translucent and opaque, as shown in figure 1- 1.
1. Transparency
It allows most of the light to pass through, and when you look at the object behind you through the gem, you can see the clear outline and details.
2. Sub-transparency
It can let more light through. Looking at the object behind you through the gem, you can see the outline of the object, but the details are blurred.
translucence
It allows some light to pass through, and when you look at the object behind you through the gem, you can only see the outline and shadow of the object, but you can't see the details.
4. translucent
Only a small amount of light can pass through the edges and corners of the gem, but the object behind it can't be seen clearly through the gem.
opaque
Basically, light is not allowed to pass through, and the light is completely absorbed or reflected by the object.
Second, color: refers to the color of gemstones under natural light.
Because the light source will have a great influence on the colors of rubies and sapphires, the observation methods of ruby and sapphire classification clearly require the following:
1. Set the gem on a white background;
2. Observe from the gem table;
3. Observe rubies in natural light.
Usually, the purer and brighter the ruby color, the higher the quality and the higher the value. After synthesizing various factors affecting the colors of rubies and sapphires, we divide rubies and sapphires into five grades, among which rubies are divided into five grades: crimson, red, medium red, light red and light red. Consumers can simply grade the color of rubies by comparing five grades of rubies.
In color classification, it is necessary to consider the influence of color distribution uniformity and tempering (internal reflection light generated by cutting) on ruby color classification. Usually, they can raise or lower the color level of rubies by one sub-level.
Clarity: refers to the number of inclusions contained in a gem.
Ruby usually contains a certain amount of inclusions, and the size, quantity, significance and location of inclusions have an important influence on the value of ruby and sapphire.
Under the naked eye observation, rubies and sapphires are divided into five grades, as shown in the clarity classification table of rubies and sapphires. The following figure corresponds to the five clarity grades of ruby and sapphire.
Ruby clarity grading table
Observe the horizontal clarity of the phenomenon position
It is extremely difficult for the first-class naked eye to see the inclusions in the gem, and only tiny needle-like minerals can be seen occasionally in extremely difficult positions in the pavilion.
A second-class gem is hard to see with the naked eye. There are inclusions, which are generally colorless or other minerals similar in color to precious stones. Generally speaking, they are hard to see on the edge of the table or in the pavilion.
Third-level visibility: the contents of gems are visible to the naked eye, usually large colorless or other minerals similar to the color of gems, which are generally difficult to see at the table or visible at the pavilion.
The fourth-order inclusions in gems are easy to see with naked eyes, and generally smaller cracks or other minerals with different colors from gems are visible on the table or in the museum.
The fifth grade is easy to see with the naked eye, and the inclusions in the gem are also easy to see. Generally, large cracks or other large minerals appear in various positions of gemstones.
Cutting: including the direction, type, proportion, symmetry and grinding degree of cutting and grinding.
Mineral crystals of rubies and sapphires
Cutting direction: the mineral crystals of ruby and sapphire are generally barrel-shaped, columnar and plate-shaped, as shown in the above figure. The vertical direction of ruby and sapphire mineral crystals is called C axis. Suppose a faceted gem can be cut into facet X and facet Z, where the mesa of X is perpendicular to the C axis and the mesa of Z is parallel to the C axis. From the picture on the right, we can see the difference between facet X and facet Z: facet Z is obviously dichroic. Therefore, when we cut and grind the original stone, we should try to make the table of the gem perpendicular to the C axis, because the value of a gem without dichroism is obviously higher than that of a gem with dichroism.
Cutting type: The cutting of rubies and sapphires includes faceted gems and ordinary gems, and their basic shapes are shown in the following figure. Generally speaking, mixed cutting is used for larger rubies and sapphires. Usually, the crown is cut into a bright shape, which makes the gem appear charming backfire, and the pavilion is cut into a trapezoid, which makes the gem better managed and better in color.
Proportion and symmetry of cutting: the colors of rubies and sapphires are the embodiment of their values. In order to achieve bright colors, there is no qualitative statement about the cutting angle of ruby and sapphire, but the following problems will definitely have a negative impact on the proportion and symmetry of ruby and sapphire cutting:
Obvious asymmetry: Although the asymmetry between ruby and sapphire is inevitable, obvious asymmetry will seriously affect the brightness of ruby and sapphire.
Eccentricity of the bottom tip: the serious off-center facet will affect the even reflection of the light in the pavilion, and also adversely affect the backfire of rubies and sapphires.
The pavilion is too deep: this is understandable. Some lighter pavilions with faceted rubies and sapphires are usually cut deeper to deepen the color of the gems. However, some dark gemstones are also cut in this way, which has a great influence on the color. In addition, in most cases, the price of a gem is calculated by multiplying its weight by the unit price per carat. Therefore, when buying gems, we should also consider their pavilion depth.
Too thin pavilion: too thin pavilion will make the light enter the gem and cannot be reflected, thus forming a larger window area, which is also commonly known as "light leakage", which will also have a greater impact on the value of rubies and sapphires.
Polishing degree: Polishing degree affects the luster and tempering of rubies and sapphires, so it is also an indispensable factor in cutting evaluation.
5. Carat weight: refers to the weight of precious stones.
Under the condition of the same quality, the higher the weight, the higher the price, especially the price of high-quality rubies and sapphires above 1 carat is increasing geometrically. The size and weight correspondence table of ordinary ruby and sapphire facets lists the corresponding relationship between the size and weight of ordinary ruby and sapphire facets. Table gives the weight estimation methods of standard cut rubies and sapphires.
Size and weight correspondence table of common ruby and sapphire facets [7]
Shape and size (mm) Weight Shape and size (mm) Weight
Circular 2.0 0.04-0.05 oval 3×5 0.28-0.36
2.5 0.08-0.09 4×6 0.53-0.64
3.0 0. 13-0. 15 4.5×6.5 0.72-0.87
3.5 0.20-0.23 5×7 0.94- 1. 16
4.0 0.29-0.35 6×8 1.60- 1.87
4.5 0.39-0.50 7×9 2.37-2.92
5.0 0.53-0.65
5.5 0.7 1-0.90 long mixed shape 3×5 0.34-0.44
6.0 0.93- 1. 15 4×6 0.65-0.78
6.5 1.25- 1.50 4.5×6.5 0.87- 1.06
7.0 1.50- 1.85 5×7 1. 14- 1.4 1
7.5 1.80-2.25 6×8 1.95-2.29
8.0 2.35-2.85 7×9 2.89-3.56
Square 2.00 0.07 Emerald 3×5 0.30-0.36
2.25 0. 1 1 4×6 0.57-0.70
2.50 0. 13 4.5×6.5 0.78-0.97
3.00 0.22 5×7 1.00- 1.30
3.50 0.33 5.5×7.5 0.35- 1.65
6×8 1.80-2. 10
7×9 2.90-3. 15
Ruby weight estimation formula
The diameter of the circle is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0018.
The diameter of the ellipse is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0020 (diameter: average length and width).
The diameter of the square mixed shape is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0018 (diameter: the average of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines).
The average width of the long mixed shape is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0022 (diameter: average length and width).
The diameter of the square emerald is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0023.
The diameter of rectangular emerald is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0025.
The average width of a square is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0024.
The diameter of the water drop is 2× height× 4.00× 0.0018.
The diameter of horse eye is 2× height× 4.00× 0.005438+07.
Heart-shaped diameter 2× height 4.00× 0.00 1.
Note: the above formula is based on the thickness of the middle waist, the pavilion is not prominent and the symmetry is good. The thicker waist may need 10% correction (corrected weight = original weight+original weight × 10%), the prominent pavilion may need 18% correction, and the asymmetrical shape may need 10% correction.
Ruby wear
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Ruby's red color gives people a mild feeling and belongs to warm tones. When matching clothes, you can choose some simple and generous clothes, and young people are more lively and cheerful. Wearing red and blue jewelry will give people a warm feeling and symbolize exuberant vitality.
In addition to matching with clothes, you should also choose according to your appearance and body shape. If you are a slender person, you can try to choose some oval-cut rubies when choosing ruby ornaments, which can show a soft aesthetic feeling.
Maintenance of ruby and sapphire jewelry;
(1) Don't wear ruby and sapphire jewelry when exercising or doing heavy work, so as to avoid irreparable damage caused by collision.
(2) Don't put ruby jewelry and other jewelry in the same drawer or jewelry box at will. Because all kinds of gems and metals have different hardness, they will be worn by mutual friction.
(3) When wearing ruby jewelry, check it once a month and repair it in time if it is loose.
(4) Ruby, like other precious stones, loses its luster when it is stained with oil and sweat secreted by the human body. So if you wear it often, clean it once a month.
(5) Pay special attention to borderless jewelry and micro-inlaid jewelry here. Be careful in daily wear and try to avoid big collisions. If you find that the borderless jewelry has fallen off, you can't continue to wear it. It should be repaired as soon as possible to prevent the gem from falling off in a large area.
Clean ruby jewelry:
(1) Cleaning with mild soapy water and a soft brush is the simplest cleaning method.
(2) Clean jewelry can be dried on a towel without cotton wool.
(3) Use wax-free dental floss or toothpick to remove the dirt on the gem and between the brackets.
(4) Never use bleach. Chlorine in bleaching water will pit the alloy, decompose the alloy and even corrode the weld.
(5) Avoid washing with washing powder, detergent and toothpaste containing abrasives.
(6) Never put it into detergent or acid for cleaning.
(7) It is best to go to the jewelry store for a professional "beauty overhaul" every six months to ensure the luster will last forever.
(8) Jewelry without borders and micro-inlays can't be cleaned by ultrasonic cleaning machine to prevent gems from falling off.
How to choose rubies
The choice of ruby can be considered from the following aspects:
(1) particle size: The larger the particle size of ruby, the higher its price.
(2) Color: There are many colors of rubies, the best is deep pure red, followed by purplish red, followed by dark pink, purplish red and brownish red, and others such as brownish red, dark red and light pink are poor rubies. In addition, when observing rubies from the table, it is best to see only one color when rotating. If you can see other colors, it means that the ruby is not oriented correctly during processing.
(3) Fire color: it is the color displayed on the front of ruby under the illumination of light source. It is essentially a reflection of the comprehensive effects of transparency, cutting and color of a ruby. When a good ruby rotates gently (the table is facing itself), you can see many small red "flames" flashing inside, which requires a high-quality ruby to account for more than 55% of the total crown.
(4) Cracks: Because cracks are common in rubies, rubies with few and thin cracks should be selected as far as possible, especially rubies with cracks passing through the center of the ruby.