Rubies The history of the ruby is steeped in legend. Its fiery red color was thought to be an inextinguishable flame lit from within. High regard was placed on its powers and possession indicated royalty. Ruby became known as the “stone of Kings”. Traditionally ruby has been symbolic of love and passion. Since the 15th century the world’s finest deep red rubies come from the Mooch area of Burma, now called Myanmar. Those gems are now very rare and expensive. Ruby was the first mineral to be produced by commercial Gem synthesis and dates back to the 1880's. Created rubies are identical in beauty and physical properties to their natural counterparts. Only a trained gemologist can tell the difference. Ruby is from the mineral corundum as is sapphire. Only red corundum is called ruby. All other colors are called sapphire. There is no definite color line where ruby ends and sapphire begins. If corundum is light red, pink or violet, it is usually called sapphire and has individual values in comparison with the other colors of sapphire. Some gem dealers contest the borderline between ruby and pink sapphire. Historically, the word ruby referred to shades of red, which technically included pink. But the names ruby and pink sapphire reflect a difference in value. Therefore, given a choice, a gem dealer would prefer to be able to call a corundum gem ruby rather than pink sapphire. Rubies are rarer than sapphires, because the necessary pigment to make corundum red, chrome, is more rare than iron, the necessary pigment for sapphire. Inclusions are common, and are not indicators of lower quality. The type of inclusion can often indicate source area. It is not possible to determine source area based solely on color. Important deposits of ruby are found in Myanmar, (Burma), Thailand, Sri Lanka, African, Vietnam and Tanzania. Ruby is one of the most expensive gems, large ones being rarer than diamonds of comparable size. Ruby hues range from strongly purplish-red to orangy-red. The finest ruby has a slightly purplish-red to pure vibrant red hue. As the hue becomes more purplish or orangy, the ruby moves down the quality scale into good and commercial ranges. Ruby is an excellent choice for jewelry and has a high refraction that produces a bright stone. Ruby's relative density is high, so a one-carat ruby will be smaller in millimeter dimensions than a one-carat diamond. Ruby is the birthstone of July and the 15th anniversary stone.