What sets the price of ruby earrings
- Color comes first. Pigeon blood is the reference red: vivid, pure, with no brown. More intense color increases value, and a trace of blue or purple lifts the red.
- Origin is of utmost importance. Burma prices first and Mozambique second. War and floods have dramatically reduced the supply of Burmese gems reaching the market, and that scarcity now shows in every Burmese pair.
- Treatment sets the bracket. Unheated rubies are scarce and carry a substantial premium, and an unheated matched pair is scarcer again.
- The pairing itself costs money. Two rubies that agree in color, tone and size are far harder to find than one good stone.
Why two rubies can match indoors and not outside
This is the matching problem most buyers never hear about.
Rubies with low iron content, Burmese material especially, fluoresce red in daylight. Rubies with more iron barely do. Two stones that look identical under indoor light can separate in sunlight, with one glowing and the other staying flat.
A well matched pair accounts for this by pairing stones of similar origin and fluorescence, not only similar color. It is one reason a pair with a stated single origin can cost more than two stones of the same grade from different sources.
Choosing the style, shape and size
- Drop earrings hang below the lobe and move with you, which gives the red more light from more angles.
- Halo earrings frame each ruby in diamonds, which makes it read larger and redder.
- Flower designs cluster stones, so evenness of color across the cluster is the thing to judge.
- Unique designs carry the more individual stones in the range.
Shapes run to cushion, oval and round. Weights on earrings are stated for the pair, so a 2.00 carat pair is two stones of roughly one carat each, not two 2 carat rubies.
Metal
White gold keeps the red cool and raises contrast. Rose and white gold combinations warm the setting against the stone, which flatters a ruby with a slightly deeper tone. Choose the pairing that reads best to your eye.
