Ruby is thus named because of its red color from the Latin word ruber).
With a Mohs’ hardness is 9 , ruby is the hardest mineral after diamond.
It was not until about 18000 that ruby,as well as sapphire, was recognized as belonging to the corundum gemstone family.
The most desirable color is the so-called “pigeon’s blood”, pure red with a hint of blue.
Important deposits are in Burma (Myanmar),Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.For centuries, the most important have been in upper Burma near Mogok.In the early 1990s large new deposits were discovered at Mong Hsu in Myanmar.Rubies from Thailand often have a brown or violet tint to them.lately Mozambique is producing a significant ruby quality.
Generally large stones are rare. Faceted rubies of 10 cts size in fine quality are mined only little quantity a year.
Ruby is one of the most expensive gems , large rubies being rarer than comparable diamonds.famous stones of exceptional beauty are the Edwards ruby of 167 cts. in the British Museum of Natural History in London, the Rosser Reeves star ruby of 138,7 cts In the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the De Long star ruby of 100 cts In the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the Peace ruby of 43 cts ,thus called because it was found in 1919 at the end of World War I, and the Bohemian St. Wenzel’s crown ( Prague) for instance holds a nonfaceted ruby of about 250 cts.
Ruby is the birthstone of july