Heart Shape Ruby Gems
Ruby is without doubt one of the most valuable gemstones, which has long been famed for remarkable brilliance, vitreous luster and excellent durability, ruby is indeed one of the most important gemstones of all time. In fact, throughout most of history, all red gemstones were thought to be ruby. Ruby is a member of the corundum family, more specifically, it is a red gem-quality variety of corundum. All other colors of corundum are traded as sapphire. Although sapphire is considered rare, red ruby is even rarer. Ruby has a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale, making it the second hardest natural material known to man. Ruby, along with sapphire, emerald and diamond, is classified as one of the 'precious four gems'.
Ruby gemstones can be found in various shapes and cutting styles, including round shapes, oval shapes, cushion shapes, pear shapes, trillion shapes and fancy heart shapes. Heart-shaped gemstones are the perfect shape for those looking for romantic gemstones for jewelry. Ruby hearts are especially rare due to ruby being incredibly rare to begin with. Like other shapes, heart-shaped rubies can be found with various cut-styles, including plain-cut cabochons as well as faceted gems. Most heart-shaped rubies are mixed-cut, featuring angular brilliant-cut facets with rectangular step-cut facets. Fine quality red ruby hearts can be very expensive, especially untreated ruby or heat-only ruby. For those shopping on a smaller budget, fracture-filled rubies hearts are very affordable, but these should not be recut, repolished or repaired. This may not be an issue though, considering the costs to repair a damaged ruby would exceed the costs of replacing it altogether. When replacing gemstones, it's best to select gemstones by size (in millimeters), rather than weight. This is because a 1 carat ruby can range in size depending on its exact proportions.
Almost all rubies will exhibit secondary colors other than red. The most common combinations include pinkish-red, orangey-red, purplish-red, bluish-red and brownish-red. Most experts would agree that good quality rubies should exhibit a medium to medium-dark tone. Today, sources for fine ruby gemstones include Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia, India, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
