Need help with Great-Grandmother''s Ruby Ring

[hlgeng]

I recently went through a jewelry box with lots of my grandmother''s/great''grandmother''s jewelry. Most of it was costume, but a particular ring looked more "real" than the other items. It looked to be tarnished gold/gold plate with a dark red stone. The gold cleaned and polished nicely. The stone is oval cut and has some wear to the top (I guess table?) facet edges and also has a very small scratch on the top. The construction of the ring is very unusual. It looks like the stone was set and then put into the actual ring setting. I have been scouring the internet to try to learn how to date this ring but have had no success.

I also don''t know that exact stone. I have tried to do the "visual optics" test exlpained in the forum, but haven''t had a tremendous amount of luck. It is a dark red color, very hard to get the actual color to photograph. I have compared it to my other garnets, but the stone doesn''t have the brown cast like the garnets. I am thinking the stone is possibly a ruby, but I really have no idea. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hlgeng]

Inside of ring showing the setting of stone.

 

[hlgeng]

I tried to use a flashlight to capture the color more accurately, but I don''t think I did a great job.

 

[desertgem]

Hi,

It appears that the table of the stone projects high enough that a RI could be done on the stone easily enough to eliminate many possibilities, and narrow the field. Don''t eliminate garnet too quickly. True, garnets that are more pyrope do have a brownish tint, but those that are more almandine have more of a violet tint. Also the scratch on the table might have been made by a diamond in another ring, but facet wear on the table edges most likely would also point to garnet. The refractive index should help immensely. If you are not in a big hurry, find when a local gem and mineral club is having a show or gathering as a common thing is to have experienced members bring their equipment and give ID info to visitors. In one of the San Diego shows there was a line of visitors to have "grandmother''s" stone IDed.
I think that a good light almandine or spessartite garnet is such a beautiful stone

Jim

 

[Pandora II]

It looked more like garnet to me than ruby when I saw the pictures at first glance.

You could try and get someone to look at it with a dichroscope - ruby will show pleochroism so you will get two colours in the windows, whereas garnet almost never shows pleochroism.

 

[jewelerman]

From looking at this ring from a photo and making an educated guess because of the abraiding and wear on the stone i would suggest that the stone is a natural garnet or manmade birthdstone of some sort because they react to long term wear in this manner.garnets come in different colors and hues.Some Rhodalite garnets are confused with ruby.The ring looks like a style and design that was popular in the mid-1970s thruogh the mid-1980s.Is there a 10kt. stamp in the inside of the ring?If your grandmother was born in January then garnet is her birthstone and this could be a clue.Good luck!

 

[hlgeng]

Thanks everyone for your input. I reread the instructions on visual optics and have studied this stone along with a garnet stone. I was able to see the "rainbow" spectal image in the garnet, but only see an orange-red spectral image in this unknown stone. The actual gold setting is unmarked, that along with the unusual construction (almost like a setting within a setting) makes me think it is an antique.

 

[strmrdr]

The ring looks like a stamped design from the 1970s.
There are ridge lines that look too confirm it.

 

[CaptAubrey]

Date: 3/6/2008 2:20:00 PM
Author: hlgeng
I was able to see the ''rainbow'' spectal image in the garnet, but only see an orange-red spectral image in this unknown stone.

Could be it''s glass, if you were doing it right.

You''ll need to get a gemologist to look at it to be sure.