Rubies are considered the finest of all the colored gemstones, but can they break?
Rubies are extremely hard and rank almost at the top of the toughness scale. They’re intensely resistant to scratches and cleavage and are near-impossible to break. Even if the ruby is cracked, it can still withstand further damage. Although, a bad enough crack can eventually break the stone.
Read on to learn more about rubies and how durable they are.
Ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby
Rubies are often dramatically expensive and exceptional gemstones that rival diamonds. They’re reportedly the most durable stone behind the diamond and are intensely impervious to damage.
The toughness of a gemstone is gauged by the Mohs Scale. This is a long-established guideline that jewelers can use to determine the toughness and resistance of a gemstone.
At the base of this scale is talc, a very soft and easily-damaged mineral. It can be scratched by a fingernail with ease, turning to powder with the simplest scrape.
The top of the spectrum is home to the diamond, the most resistant gemstone known to man. While it can be broken with a strong blow, it is deeply resistant to scratches and abrasions.
Behind the diamond on the Mohs scale is corundum, which makes up a series of different gemstones. This includes sapphires, rubies, and emeralds.
They have different chemical compositions but they’re all essentially quite similar stones. The ruby is corundum that can be anything from pink to blood-red in appearance.
The super-dense gemstone is highly sought-after in jewelry production, mostly for its beautiful colors. It’s one of the most popular traditional stones and is highly valued for its durability.
The finest rubies have reached staggering values, with some being worth over a million dollars per carat. They can be found all over the world, with geolocation not playing much into the overall value of a ruby.
Most commonly, they can be found in Thailand, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. However, ruby deposits have been located all around the world: Afghanistan, India, Brazil, Japan, and Scotland.
Out of all the rubies unearthed throughout history, one remains the most valuable. The Jubilee Ruby was sold in 2016 for almost fifteen million dollars.
It was a single, beautiful stone, laid among diamonds and gold on an exquisite ring. The ruby itself was Burmese and boasted an extremely saturated red shade.
In fact, it was said that the stone was so bright that it seemed to have “come alive” with illumination.
Goodness Gracious, Great Gemstones
Pound for pound, gemstones are some of the most valuable materials in the universe. They’re capable of fetching dramatically high prices at auction and have done so throughout history.
Essentially, every gemstone is different – at least, the special ones are. The way they’re cut, the coloring, and the legacy behind them will never be the same.
Throughout history, there have been some extremely iconic gemstones that have turned the jewel world inside out. Ranking even higher than the Jubilee Ruby is colored diamonds.
In 2016, the Oppenheimer Blue diamond emerged, selling at auction for almost sixty million dollars. It was an unbelievably exquisite gemstone, cut in an intensely unique way.
It set a world record for the most expensive jewel on the planet, but it wasn’t going to remain there for very long.
At an auction in Hong Kong in 2017, a pink diamond called the Pink Star was sold for over seventy million dollars. This enormous and completely unique gemstone snatched the top spot from the Oppenheimer with ease.
Sotheby’s, the auctioneer, claimed it was “one of the world’s great natural treasures”. They stated that it was a “true masterpiece of nature”.
Although, it isn’t just diamonds that fetch a dramatically high price. In the corundum stakes, a sapphire outsold the Jubilee Ruby by more than two million dollars.
The Blue Belle of Asia was an enormous, untreated sapphire affixed to a diamond necklace. It was sold in 2014 for more than seventeen million dollars.
However, it isn’t all extremely expensive gemstones that make up the jewelry market. You can find many average-quality gems that adorn rings, bracelets, and necklaces all around the world.
This includes rubies – you can purchase a real ruby necklace for as little as two or three hundred dollars. Of course, you’ll likely be picking up a very small or imperfect gemstone, but it’ll still be beautiful.