Thai rubies??

A Girl's Best Friend

I wish I had more time to comment Widget))) I'm off to work..Here's a quick excerpt from the gemstone forecaster which should answer a couple of your intitial questions...

Due to the severe shortages in Burma production, the majority of rubies bought and sold today are from Thailand. A few Thai families firmly control every aspect of marketing; from mining to cutting and heating. If you are looking to collect a ruby on a relatively moderate budget, many experts predict this stone may, in the long term, eventually gain the acceptance Burma ruby now holds. Almost all of these stones are cooked. The majority of Thai stones tend to have purple secondary colors as compared to Burmas. Occasionally, you can find an intense red/orange that is highly desirable. Also, you sometimes find a Thai ruby with a lighter tone similar to Burma, (like those from the now defunct Bo Rai mine) that is highly desirable. Some Thai rubies approach Burma in appearance and are highly sought after. As a general rule, one carat Thai stones will sell between $1000-$7500 per carat. Two carat stones can range between $3500-$15,000. Three carat Thai ruby can cost between $4500-$20,000 per carat. Four carat or larger Thai stones can exceed $20,000 per carat.

Hope this Helps...

Josh Rioux
Haines, Alaska
*The Colored Gemstone Nut*

JJ

JJ

Ymanda,
French Gemmologist in Bangkok

Here is a partial passage from Renee Newman’s book on Sapphires and Rubies.

Characteristics of Thai/Cambodian Rubies

- The hue ranges from purplish red to orangey red
- The tone usually ranges from medium dark to very dark, but the medium dark tones are more valuable
- The hue is often masked by more gray, black or brown then in Burma Rubies. The purer the color the better
- Their tends to be very little fluorescence, The stronger the red color is under sunlight and incandescent the better
- There tend to be a lot of black extinction areas. The more red and the less black the better
- Color zoning is rare.

There is more stuff in her book on the sources  The Mong Hsy deposit in Myanmar is the major producer of rubies. 90% of facet grade rubies are from their and are typically heat treated and also flux healed. Since 2001 there are some rubies coming out of Madagascar with very fine (Burma like) examples coming out of the town of Vatomandry.

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