shape
carat
color
clarity

Ruby or Pink Sapphire ? Colour perception?

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
01FFCF11-5B82-4874-9824-510E9FC11665.jpeg 8AF43A77-4D10-47DC-B180-EA5143974ECB.jpeg 82BCB9E2-2FCF-4162-B9DE-60A816F7EADD.jpeg 0CF2E7CD-B849-4CF8-90F0-A37ADC79A82D.jpeg
52AC70D4-121E-454B-853A-F54B8C4BD9B0.jpeg
Wearing my little pretty Barbie yesterday a lady commented on my lovely Ruby ring.
Huh?
I said, Thank you but actually it’s a pink sapphire and she replied “looks red to me!”
Hmmm.
Given the potential vast $$$$ value between rubies and pink sapphires I guess it matters how the colour is perceived and under what lighting conditions you are viewing.
My little experiment reveals that LED lights make Barbie look neon pink but under warmer lighting Barbie starts to look much more red.
I’m also aware that some cultures refer to pink sapphires as rubies in any regard (and always have) and its a more recent trend to allocate pink tone to pink sapphire and purple tone to purple sapphire, saving only those that are “red red” as rubies.
So I’d say anytime you are considering buying a Ruby you probably need to see it in person under your regular lighting conditions because what someone calls Red as in Ruby might be to you Pink as in Pink Sapphire.
Nevertheless Barbie has killer fluorescence.
 

Attachments

  • 0243EDA5-8613-40F1-90B4-7D44DE90F07A.jpeg
    0243EDA5-8613-40F1-90B4-7D44DE90F07A.jpeg
    153.3 KB · Views: 32

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,496
i love the setting
i must say it looks pink on my phone but i know that's not always a good indication of colours
when the lady said it looked pink im sure it wasn't ment as a slight ? she was just adiment it was pink not red

and im sure most people wouldn't know a ruby was more expensive unless they had recently looked at purchasing one
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
79144C36-B12B-4DBA-BCC5-4817F027A53D.jpeg
i love the setting
i must say it looks pink on my phone but i know that's not always a good indication of colours
when the lady said it looked pink im sure it wasn't ment as a slight ? she was just adiment it was pink not red

and im sure most people wouldn't know a ruby was more expensive unless they had recently looked at purchasing one
It’s other people who think it’s a ruby. I think it’s a vivid pink. And I think it’s because most people know clear = diamond, blue = sapphire, red / pink = ruby, green = emerald.
This ring I once had a lady tell me that my gem couldn’t be a sapphire because sapphires are blue, not yellow! And another lady once grabbed my hand and literally shrieked “OMG that’s the biggest champagne diamond I’ve ever seen”.
 

Daisys and Diamonds

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
22,496
79144C36-B12B-4DBA-BCC5-4817F027A53D.jpeg
It’s other people who think it’s a ruby. I think it’s a vivid pink. And I think it’s because most people know clear = diamond, blue = sapphire, red / pink = ruby, green = emerald.
This ring I once had a lady tell me that my gem couldn’t be a sapphire because sapphires are blue, not yellow! And another lady once grabbed my hand and literally shrieked “OMG that’s the biggest champagne diamond I’ve ever seen”.
sounds like you made that last lady really happy ! :twisted2: that's also a very fine ring my finger would wear well :kiss2:
i must say its always a nice surprise to me to discover a new natural colour of a gemstone and i wasn't awear of all the sapphire colours till i joined up here


im releaved now the colour on my phone isn't that far out
i did think a ring called Barbie would be pink but in my day Barbie wore alot of orange !
it does look very breathtaking pink:lickout:
 

voce

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
5,161
Barbie does look quite red in low lighting due to her killer fluorescence! I would call whatever color the gem appears to be in indirect noon natural lighting to be the real color, because daylight is when I see gems, and noon light tends to have all the spectrum represented.

Thanks for sharing these pictures. She's gorgeous!:kiss2:
 

T L

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
25,156
For me, rubies, unless extremely cheap ones, should have a reputable lab report stating “ruby.”
Then again one must be careful that the ruby isn’t too brown either.
 

strawrose

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 24, 2014
Messages
1,102
79144C36-B12B-4DBA-BCC5-4817F027A53D.jpeg
It’s other people who think it’s a ruby. I think it’s a vivid pink. And I think it’s because most people know clear = diamond, blue = sapphire, red / pink = ruby, green = emerald.
This ring I once had a lady tell me that my gem couldn’t be a sapphire because sapphires are blue, not yellow! And another lady once grabbed my hand and literally shrieked “OMG that’s the biggest champagne diamond I’ve ever seen”.

Hahaha let her think it’s a diamond!
 

Hivona

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
541
Barbie is gorgeous but I don’t see any red at all in any of those pictures! Definitely see eyeball searing neon pink & I love it!
 

eapj

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 3, 2017
Messages
824
Barbie looks like a beautiful pink to me!
 

minousbijoux

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
12,804
Magenta pink for sure!
 

voce

Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
5,161
Barbie >>> any Mahenge spinel that I've seen.
 

LilAlex

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
3,585
Age makes a difference. Cataracts impart a yellowish tint to vision, and many folks who have cataract surgery are amazed at the change in color perception. I had a distinguished jeweler/gemologist show me a killer "pigeon-blood" ruby (no report -- just as an example of "perfection" in a way-out-of-my-league stone) and it was unequivocally pink/purple-tinted and not pure traffic-light red. He's a few decades older than me and I infer that he has cataracts shifting the color spectrum. He was not trying to sell me anything and was clearly perplexed and even embarrassed that I saw an obvious pinkish tinge. My color perception seems to line up with pretty much everyone else's on this forum.

So maybe it was an older woman making that observation...
 

distracts

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Messages
6,131
79144C36-B12B-4DBA-BCC5-4817F027A53D.jpeg
It’s other people who think it’s a ruby. I think it’s a vivid pink. And I think it’s because most people know clear = diamond, blue = sapphire, red / pink = ruby, green = emerald.
This ring I once had a lady tell me that my gem couldn’t be a sapphire because sapphires are blue, not yellow! And another lady once grabbed my hand and literally shrieked “OMG that’s the biggest champagne diamond I’ve ever seen”.

I am asked if my engagement ring is a tanzanite or told “I love your tanzanite” more than people ever comment thinking it’s a sapphire... I think most people have only seen navy sapphires but may have seen fine tanzanites (which were much cheaper not that long ago) and therefore think my sapphire is the latter. But I’m guessing about that. And of course they all think my tsavorites are emeralds, both my orangy-red and pink spinels (which look significantly redder in some lighting) are rubies, etc. I take a compliment as a compliment but it’s definitely interesting to see what people think!
 

prs

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
Messages
1,883
01FFCF11-5B82-4874-9824-510E9FC11665.jpeg 8AF43A77-4D10-47DC-B180-EA5143974ECB.jpeg 82BCB9E2-2FCF-4162-B9DE-60A816F7EADD.jpeg 0CF2E7CD-B849-4CF8-90F0-A37ADC79A82D.jpeg
52AC70D4-121E-454B-853A-F54B8C4BD9B0.jpeg
Wearing my little pretty Barbie yesterday a lady commented on my lovely Ruby ring.
Huh?
I said, Thank you but actually it’s a pink sapphire and she replied “looks red to me!”
Hmmm.
Given the potential vast $$$$ value between rubies and pink sapphires I guess it matters how the colour is perceived and under what lighting conditions you are viewing.
My little experiment reveals that LED lights make Barbie look neon pink but under warmer lighting Barbie starts to look much more red.
I’m also aware that some cultures refer to pink sapphires as rubies in any regard (and always have) and its a more recent trend to allocate pink tone to pink sapphire and purple tone to purple sapphire, saving only those that are “red red” as rubies.
So I’d say anytime you are considering buying a Ruby you probably need to see it in person under your regular lighting conditions because what someone calls Red as in Ruby might be to you Pink as in Pink Sapphire.
Nevertheless Barbie has killer fluorescence.
Taking the photos in order:

It's red.
It's pink.
No it's not, it's red.
No, no, no, it's definitely pink.
OK you win, it's red.

My advice would be to keep sending it to different labs until the cert comes back red. :mrgreen2:
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
Age makes a difference. Cataracts impart a yellowish tint to vision, and many folks who have cataract surgery are amazed at the change in color perception. I had a distinguished jeweler/gemologist show me a killer "pigeon-blood" ruby (no report -- just as an example of "perfection" in a way-out-of-my-league stone) and it was unequivocally pink/purple-tinted and not pure traffic-light red. He's a few decades older than me and I infer that he has cataracts shifting the color spectrum. He was not trying to sell me anything and was clearly perplexed and even embarrassed that I saw an obvious pinkish tinge. My color perception seems to line up with pretty much everyone else's on this forum.

So maybe it was an older woman making that observation...
I agree and yes it was an older lady who commented it looked red to her.
 

Bron357

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 22, 2014
Messages
6,532
I am asked if my engagement ring is a tanzanite or told “I love your tanzanite” more than people ever comment thinking it’s a sapphire... I think most people have only seen navy sapphires but may have seen fine tanzanites (which were much cheaper not that long ago) and therefore think my sapphire is the latter. But I’m guessing about that. And of course they all think my tsavorites are emeralds, both my orangy-red and pink spinels (which look significantly redder in some lighting) are rubies, etc. I take a compliment as a compliment but it’s definitely interesting to see what people think!
Here in Australia our blue sapphires tend to be navy or inky blue and are popular in that tone. I like deeper tones myself but I want some vividness and sparkle too, Australian sapphires mostly aren’t like that.
 

PieAreSquared

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
Messages
235
For me, rubies, unless extremely cheap ones, should have a reputable lab report stating “ruby.”
Then again one must be careful that the ruby isn’t too brown either.
+1
I don't know exactly where gem labs even draw the line between pink sapphires and "purplish pink" rubies. I suspect it varies regionally too. Some people, especially Americans it seems, expect a 'ruby' to be the color of a traffic light, (my favorite red!) but most rubies I've seen have at least some purple/pink tone... Or else they are dark like a garnet.
Absolutely gorgeous stone no matter what its called @Bron357!!!
 
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Top