Ruby
Pigeon blood — the rarest red of all gemstones.
Unheated rubies whose colour and structure are entirely natural.
Ruby is, like sapphire, a variety of corundum — but where sapphire comes in many colours, only the red variety bears the name ruby. The colour is born of chromium, and it is precisely this element that gives ruby its distinctive, at times almost fluorescent red glow.
In the trade, the highest quality is designated pigeon blood: a pure, slightly purple-tinged red of a vividness that only the finest Burmese stones have historically been able to offer. Today, exceptional rubies also come from Mozambique, while Madagascar and Thailand dominate the mid-segment.
Ruby is rarer than diamond in fine qualities above two carats. Most stones on the market undergo heat treatment, and a growing share is even glass-filled to mask fissures. Our selection excludes such treatments: we present exclusively unheated rubies, whose colour and structure are entirely natural.
