Tips on Buying Rubies
Here are some tips on buying rubies. One can get a good deal on rubies with just a little work and effort.
1. If you are unfamiliar with rubies the first tip is to get some information about them. A ruby comes from the corundum family of gemstones and can come in a variety of hues and colors from champagne to blood red or ‘pigeons blood’. Rubies are quite hard and just below diamonds in a scale of hardness from one to ten where diamonds are ten, ruby is nine and talc is one.
2. Rubies come in many shapes and sizes and weights. All these can affect the value of a ruby. Also as mentioned, color and clarity also have an effect on the value of a ruby. Rubies from the Burma (Myanmar) region are considered the best quality although they can also be found in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Vietnam.
3. So knowing what you want in a ruby is important. Not just buying any ruby, but one that suits your skin coloring and tone. Also the body build would determine the size of the ruby, depending on how it is worn. In a tiny finger one would not put a big chunky ruby as it would look out of place. Same with a larger boned finger, a minute ruby would look quite insignificant.
4. The next tip on buying rubies concerns how much you can spend will play a part in determining what sort of ruby you can buy. It is best to pay at the top of your budget so you get the best possible ruby for your money. Do not be afraid to negotiate with the dealer or jeweler either. These days it is a buyer’s market and sellers are keen to make a sale. Shopping around or browsing the internet is a resource available to most so you can easily find out what is available and, importantly, what the prices are. One just has to be sure that one understands a bit about rubies and can compare apples with apples, or in this case, rubies with rubies.
5. When you come to pick the ruby you like, check if it is genuine or not. Many rubies are heat treated to improve their look so you want to have a certificate that gives all the characteristics of the ruby and what has been done to it to improve its look. You do not want to buy an inferior ruby simply because it looks ‘nice’ in the bright lights of the jewelers. Check it in natural light. Check the certificate and ensure the ruby matches the specifications on the certificate. The certificate should be an independent one from a gemological laboratory. Not a piece of paper made up by the jeweler himself. Unless the ruby is clear that which matches the certificate it is difficult to prove, if you later return it, that it is the same ruby.
6. If you are buying online ensure that the seller has a returns policy which enables you to return the ruby if you are unsatisfied or if it does not match the description. When buying online you are effectively buying ‘sight unseen’ as a picture on a web page does not always match the real gemstone. You want to be sure that the seller contactable by phone, email and postal address and that their returns policy gives you enough days to inspect and possibly get certified the ruby before you complete the sale.
So there you have it. Some useful tips on buying rubies which, if kept in mind, will help to ensure that you get what you want and that it is genuine and not cost the earth!