Rough Ruby Pendant - SOLD 0.68"
Rough Ruby Pendant - SOLD 0.68"
Among the five cardinal gemstones, the ruby holds a special place. This striking gem fuses shades of red and blue into new menageries of color. Like other gemstones, rubies are imprints of past geological processes, shedding light on the tectonic forces churning below our feet.
This necklace features a 0.68" rough ruby gemstone on a sterling silver prong backing and an 18" chain. An informational authenticity card is also included as well as a handsome display box.
📸 ANDREA MODELING A PENDANT
A CARDINAL GEMSTONE
For all their beauty, gemstones owe their allure not to any crystalline perfection, but to the inclusions of impurities with a stone's matrix. In the case of rubies, the presence of chromium in the surrounding rock matrix transforms the base corundum mineral into one of the most prized gemstones on our planet.
This pendant is a bead of rough ruby, the red gemstone of corundum. The unpolished material shows the fashionable stone in its most base form: ruby straight from the Earth.
📸 PENDANT IN DISPLAY BOX
Rubies like these can be found in mountain ranges like the Himalayas and in south eastern Africa, the gem produced by the massive tectonic shifts that produced these orogenies. Beyond their beauty, gems like rubies can be used to speculate on our planet's prehistoric past: a peak into the geological forces that are always shifting just below our feet. Each of these pendants are a testament to the incredible forces of the Earth's crust, and the beauty that these upheavals can create.
The rough ruby is set into a sterling silver bezel and includes an 18" chain as well. Each item is shipped in a padded black jewelry box, along with an informational authenticity card. Every pendant is a unique crystal formation and all have been photographed and listed individually by size. See all available rough ruby pendants in the collection below!
📸 ROUGH RUBY SPECIMENS
MORE ABOUT RUBY
📸 PENDANT CLOSE-UP
BIRTH OF A GEMSTONE
Deep within the crust of the Earth, rocks grind against each other as the planet’s tectonic plates collide. Over millions of years, the crystal and chemical structures of these rocks change under this pressure, forming something new. Some aluminum-rich rocks can metamorphosize into ultrahard corundum, but with the inclusion of certain impurities, this mineral crystallizes into a brilliant red ruby.
📸 THE SUNRISE RUBY
Of the five cardinal gemstones, ruby holds a special place. It is rarer, more durable, and more expensive than a comparable diamond. These precious stones have been valued throughout history, mined in Myanmar’s Mogok Stone Tract, Thailand’s Chanthaburi province near Cambodia, all across Asia, and beyond.
Traders took these gems along the Silk Road, spreading their glamor far and wide for great profit. Even today, rubies hold significant value. In 2015, the 25.5-carat Sunrise Ruby sold for $30,300,000 USD, making it the world’s most expensive colored gemstone.
📸 A RECENTLY MINED RUBY
SCIENTIFIC USES
We may think of these gems as pure geological expressions, but the irony is that their brilliant colors are the result of impurities within the gem’s matrix, ruby’s stunning red tones coming from the appearance of chromium. Another gem, sapphire, differentiates from ruby with iron and titanium impurities that give it a blue color instead.
The ruby’s most valued color is called pigeon blood, a bold red with impressions of blue, but they can also appear with impressions of orange and purple. Beyond its simple beauty, scientists have found many practical uses for ruby too. It was a synthetic ruby that powered the first laser built in 1960. They also aid geologists looking to study the subterranean forces working below our feet.
Further Reading
Federman D. RUTILATED QUARTZ: Inner Beauty. Modern Jeweler. 2008;107(3):40-.
Hurlbut CS (Cornelius S, Switzer GS (George S. Gemology. Wiley; 1979.
Rutland EH. An Introduction to the World’s Gemstones. Doubleday; 1974.
Shulaker DZ, Schmitt AK, Zack T, Bindeman I. In-situ 0xygen Isotope and Trace Element Geothermometry of Rutilated Quartz from Alpine Fissures. The American mineralogist. 2015;100(4):915-925. doi:10.2138/am-2015-4961