best place to find a loose ruby?
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RNgemlover
Shiny_Rock
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Just a note: please please please use EXTREME caution when purchasing a ruby! Be and Li flux treatments have ruined the market! Be sure to ONLY buy certified UNHEATED rubies, or you will be greatly disappointed! Flux treated rubies will chip, crack, and discolor with torch heat. I think there is a site called wildfishgems.com. Be prepared to spend some money, rubies are expensive gemstones. If you find a deal, 1000 to 1 it''s junk. If you''re looking for calibrated rubies, I''ve had really good luck at :
israel-diamonds.com. Sort of my pet stone if you haven''t noticed lol.
israel-diamonds.com. Sort of my pet stone if you haven''t noticed lol.
RNgemlover
Shiny_Rock
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ok, one more note lol. Clarity IS important in a ruby! If you don''t get good clarity, you will not have fire. Any stone you check on wildfishgems.com will show a good close up. Balance is everything. Check out some stones from Madagascar if you''re on a budget. If not, I think they had some nice burma rubies there too. My favorite stone is my 5.16 carat oval step cut certified unheated Mogok. It is heart stopping red, and glows with a fire like no other ruby I''ve ever seen! They have a nice 2.54 Mogok on that site for 36,950.00.
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Harriet is right that when you are looking at colored gemstones, color is the most important factor. You should be aware, however, that if buying a diamond is fraught with dangers, buying a colored gemstone is fraught with ten times more dangers!
You should be extremely cautious about from whom you buy! Cherrypicked.com http://www.cherrypicked.com/ is one site that has received some approval from Pricescope members. It is worth starting to look there. I have no affiliation with them. I have bought colored gemstones from local jewelers whom I trusted and from Pala Gems.
BTW, I disagree with shaunrice that one should only buy a ruby that has not been heat treated! It is very, very hard to find a ruby that has not been heat treated...and, although it is my dream one day to own an untreated Burmese ruby with the silk on, it is unlikely that one will come my way in the near future given the ban on Burmese rubies; the stupendous cost; and the difficulty of verifying that a ruby has not been heat treated.
Everyone accepts that rubies have been heat treated. Unless he is about to make a huge investment. If you are about to do that, you must research very carefully indeed!
Deborah
You should be extremely cautious about from whom you buy! Cherrypicked.com http://www.cherrypicked.com/ is one site that has received some approval from Pricescope members. It is worth starting to look there. I have no affiliation with them. I have bought colored gemstones from local jewelers whom I trusted and from Pala Gems.
BTW, I disagree with shaunrice that one should only buy a ruby that has not been heat treated! It is very, very hard to find a ruby that has not been heat treated...and, although it is my dream one day to own an untreated Burmese ruby with the silk on, it is unlikely that one will come my way in the near future given the ban on Burmese rubies; the stupendous cost; and the difficulty of verifying that a ruby has not been heat treated.
Everyone accepts that rubies have been heat treated. Unless he is about to make a huge investment. If you are about to do that, you must research very carefully indeed!
Deborah
elmo
Brilliant_Rock
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I''ve read second-hand that the ban doesn''t apply to individuals importing for "personal use", so if you want a ruby fix maybe can you find an offshore dealer for this otherwise illegal substance
FWIW I think Cherrypicked is probably priced similarly to Richard Wise; I''d rather have one of Richard''s handpicked selections.
I feel sorry for anyone who thinks they have to have a super ruby unless cost is not a factor
well, im in the process of buying a diamond, this is where most of may cash is going and that wont change, i just have an extra setting now due to the process, and i thought id throw her fav stone in for her bd..............im not looking to go crazy, about a grand would be my limit, and i had no idea there are more dangers when picking a ruby, but, thats why im here, for the great insight you members provide
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Elmo, you beat me to my return! You are right that Richard Wise would probably be preferable to Cherrypicked.com! And I realized that, of course, Richard Martin would be, too! He found a beautiful opal for my my daughter and put it into a Stuller setting for her. (She lost the ring immediately after her sixteenth birthday, which was the occasion of the gift, which is why I do not have the heart to mention the ring anymore! That is not Richard Martin''s fault, however!)
Richard Martin can be contacted through his website:
http://www.artcutgems.com/
wasp, you can contact these men and ask them to help you find what you want! They can get you what you want in your price range!!! I mean, you can say that you want a $100 ruby or a $200 ruby, but it has to be a real ruby, and one of these men can tell you what your choices are!
Deborah
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coatimundi_org
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oldmancoyote
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Deb, Deb, Deb,
I think shaunrice was distinguishing between heat and other types of treatment. I don't mind the former, but I do mind the latter. As for the Burmese material, it is available from vendors who imported it pre-embargo.
wasp9166,
What size are you looking for?
ETA:
What the heck! www.rwwise.com
I think shaunrice was distinguishing between heat and other types of treatment. I don't mind the former, but I do mind the latter. As for the Burmese material, it is available from vendors who imported it pre-embargo.
wasp9166,
What size are you looking for?
ETA:
What the heck! www.rwwise.com
CharmyPoo
Ideal_Rock
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Colored stones is a whole other can of worms - I would say even more difficult than diamonds. To keep your price lower, have you considered getting a red spinel or rubelite tourmaline.
http://www.whitesgems.com/
http://www.customgemstones.com/
http://www.whitesgems.com/
http://www.customgemstones.com/
coatimundi_org
Ideal_Rock
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Date: 1/4/2009 2:55:11 PM
Author: Harriet
Deb, Deb, Deb,
I think shaunrice was distinguishing between heat and other types of treatment. I don''t mind the former, but I do mind the latter.
ditto on the latter. There is "heat treated" ruby with synthetic ruby overgrowth. Best to be careful and go with a trusted vendor--which you are doing.
RNgemlover
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I could be a bit of a purist lol! The calibrated stones at israel-diamond.com are heat treated, but I have personally bought them, and they are bright, vivid red, and full of life. But I still strongly encourage anyone searching for a solitaire to buy unheated/ untreated rubies. I know they are hard to find, I know they are expensive. But you can get a one carat or so unheated african ruby that is quite pretty for around 1000.00. There is one on wildfishgems.com, if I remember right it might be around 1000.00, but don''t quote me.
I'll go hunting. You've been given a number of excellent sources. Try also www.paraibainternational.com There are no rubies listed, but they've called them in for me before. How big a stone does your extra setting accommodate?
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This is off topic, but I have been collecting Sheldon Speyer mini-mania rings. I only have a few of them, but I made a push to buy up the ruby bands that I could since he used only rubies from the Mogok tract and now cannot buy any more. (Or so I was led to understand from the man who sells the rings to me and who seems to have qute a close relationship with Sheldon Speyer.) He said that Sheldon Speyer has not made up his mind what he is going to do about ruby bands in the future since he liked using rubies from the Mogok tract. The rubies in these bands are incredibly tiny and, I am sure, heat treated. They are pretty, however.
My most beautiful red stone was a red spinel from the Mogok tract, but it had a tiny internal fracture to which the best of these stones are prone (Richard Hughes). I was afraid of that tiny fracture and returned the stone (to Pala). I have a very nice red spinel now, but it is not that stoplight red. I will never have a stone that color again. That was a once in a lifetime stone.
Deborah
My most beautiful red stone was a red spinel from the Mogok tract, but it had a tiny internal fracture to which the best of these stones are prone (Richard Hughes). I was afraid of that tiny fracture and returned the stone (to Pala). I have a very nice red spinel now, but it is not that stoplight red. I will never have a stone that color again. That was a once in a lifetime stone.
Deborah
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Not any longer. The best rubies did, however! (That is in answer to your first question, as to whether most rubies come from Burma.)
Richard Hughes, whom I consider a personal friend, and who has posted here on Pricescope, wrote a wonderful book which is now, sadly, out of print. Here is a quotation from it about the Mogok Tract!
"A city built on rubies
While rubies have been scraped out of the dirt at Mogok since prehistoric times, this underground wealth has not always enriched those living directly above. As knowledge of the crimson stones spread, more powerful rulers from outside the area levied tribute, payable in rubies. By the sixth century, local inhabitants were paying two viss (about 3.2 kg) of stones yearly to the central government.
By the time the first Europeans visited Burma in the fifteenth century, the gem wealth of the country was well known. In 1597 AD, when the Burmese monarch, Nuha-Thura Maha Dhama-Yaza tired of getting his rubies second-hand, he simply annexed the district, exchanging a small piece of his territory to the hapless Shan saopha (prince), who was powerless to stop him. Even today, a look at a map of Burma illustrates the remnants of this one-sided deal. The border separating Sagaing Division from the Shan State makes a sudden jog to enclose the area at Mogok.
After 1597 AD, the Mogok Stone Tract was operated as the private province of whoever had the strongest army. Mostly, this was the Burmese kings, who decreed that all stones above the value of Rs2000 were property of the crown. Concealing them was punishable by torture and death. So harsh was this rule that, by the time of the British annexation of Upper Burma in 1885, much of the local population had fled.
The brief period between the annexation and arrival of British troops represented the first time in centuries that miners were able to operate independent of state control. It was also to be the last. During the colonial period, Britain leased out the mines to an ill-fated London syndicate (the Burma Ruby Mines Ltd.); since independence in 1948, the Burmese government has kept a tight rein on the mines. From 1962 onwards, the country embarked on the "Burmese Road to Socialism," which brought further restrictions on gem mining and trading. The industry's nadir was reached in 1969, when the Ministry of Mines banned private exploration and mining of gems, effectively nationalizing the entire trade in precious stones.
In the past few years, trading in Burma has undergone a quiet revolution. Just four years ago, private gem trading was illegal; today, both rough and cut stones can be freely purchased by foreigners with dollars from licensed traders, with only a 10% export tax to be paid. Thus, for the first time in over 30 years, private trading and export of gems is both simple and legal. Keep in mind, though, that the purchase of gems in source countries such as Burma or Sri Lanka is strictly for professionals. Good stones are rare, even in Burma and synthetics and imitations abound. In short, if you're not an expert, stay away."
http://www.ruby-sapphire.com/pigeons-blood-mogok.htm
This quotation is obviously out of date. There is now a total ban on the import of Burmese rubies and, in the past few days, we have seen ongoing unrest in Sri Lanka. The world keeps changing.
Deborah
Deb, wanna come with me to the Miami show?Date: 1/4/2009 5:02:35 PM
Author: AGBF
If Harriet and I were there with you, we''d be dialling the phone and handing you the receiver together! And we are purists and connoisseurs! Who else around here lusts after Buccellati besides Harriet and me?
Deborah
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