Without a shadow of a doubt, rubies are by far the most beloved and fabled precious gemstone. They are also known as gemstones of passion, undying love, valor, and intimacy. Apart from being an indispensable part of the BIG 4 club (emeralds, diamonds, and sapphires are the other three), ruby is also the traditional birthstone of July month.
Ruby stone is also known as Chuni Stone. Natural rubies are quite exorbitant in price, thus, roping in them can make a massive dent in your budget or net worth. Those who are capable to splurge money to own a captivating ruby stone must know in advance all the ins and outs of testing the authenticity of a gemstone to ensure they get the best return on their investment.
Like other precious gemstones, there are umpteen to the T imitations of Manik stone and ruby stone rings prevailing in the market. The surplus of picture-perfect imitations of this stone makes it daunting for any individual to differentiate between a real ruby gemstone and its replica. In a nutshell, if you are buying an expensive ruby gemstone, you should be able to distinguish between the real and fake ones.
This all-inclusive blog post revolves around the different time-tested and proven ways to tell whether a ruby stone is real or not. All the below-stated methods are surefire ways to tell if a ruby stone you are going to embrace is real or not. Let’s get started!
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One of the easiest and surefire ways to tell if a ruby gemstone is real or not is by painstakingly checking its color hues and shine. Though it is not the most reliable method to check authenticity, this method will help you to a great extent in differentiating between the real rubies and their imitations.
A supreme quality and real ruby has lush red hues and natural glitter which can be easily distinguished from a fake ruby when placed together. Despite having enhanced appearance and brilliance, a fake ruby will always look lackluster in front of the real one. To differentiate between real and fake rubies, you may need an instrument like a microscope or a powerful magnifying glass to meticulously check color, glitter, and inclusions.
Most imitation rubies lack color depth as well as inclusions that prevail in the natural rubies. Moreover, numerous imitation rubies also reflect pale pink or orange colors when examined closely.
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Another vital and time-tested pointer to check if a Manik stone is real or not. A natural ruby has a way higher refractive index than all of its imitations. It simply means natural rubies bend light in a very different manner. To test the statement, hold any natural ruby to a prominent light source and you will see an intense glitter radiating from within the stone. This emanating light from the stone is a crystal clear indication of the authenticity of an original ruby stone.
Rubies are one of the hardest gemstones in existence with a staggering rating of 9 on the Mohs scale. They lie just below the diamond on the Mohs hardness test. You can include the all-time classic scratch test in your list of tests to check if a ruby is real or not. To conduct a scratch test on Ruby, you need to stick to the pointers below.
Put a ruby stone on a plain surface and use any hard element like an iron key, coin, or an incisive stone to make scratches on the surface of the ruby. If you observe multiple scratches on the surface, the ruby stone is an imitation for sure. If there are barely any scratches on the surface, ruby is undeniably real. One of the best aspects of this test is it is seamless to conduct and tools are easily available.
To perform this test without any hassle, you better rope in the services of a certified gem lab. Apart from testing rubies, you can also use electronic gem tester equipment to test the originality of diamonds, sapphires, opals, and jades.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to use this machine. Just calibrate the machine according to the given guideline and use a pen to tap the surface of the ruby stone. If the needle in the meter reflects after touching the surface, it is a clear indication that the ruby stone is real. Though many gemstone sellers express reluctance when a customer brings this kind of testing equipment together, however, it’s not a grave concern if they are selling authentic gemstones to their customers.
Out of all the tests to check the authenticity of a Original ruby stone, this test is the most subjective one. It is a no-brainer that real rubies with minimal inclusions and utmost transparency can break the bank. On the other hand, lab-grown rubies, glass-filled rubies, or plastic rubies are 80-9% cheaper than the real ones. So, from your instincts and minuscule knowledge of the quality of gemstones and their price, you can effortlessly tell if a ruby is real or not.
The rub test is one of the most prominent and effective tests to check the authenticity of a ruby stone. The approach of this test is quite similar to the scratch test except, you look for a residue while performing the test instead of scratching the surface. To conduct this test seamlessly, you only need a ruby stone, crystal clear glass, and a flat surface.
Clean the glass and place it on a flat surface. Pick up the ruby stone and rub it harshly on the glass surface to check whether it is leaving residue or not. If a ruby gemstone is leaving residue, it is clearly the fake one. Always remember, an original ruby stone never leaves any residue behind on scratching. However, this test is not 100% accurate as many scammers have managed to imitate original rubies to such an extent that they can pass this test.
By leaps and bounds, the refractive index meter is one of the most efficacious methods to tell if a ruby is real or not. All natural rubies have a standard RI (refractive index) value which can be measured effortlessly by using a state-of-the-art RI meter.
No fake or even perfectly imitated ruby can pass the RI meter test as it is next to impossible to achieve a standard RI value that natural rubies encapsulate.
Apart from the RI meter, one can also consider a spectroscopic analysis test that examines the spectrum of light emanated by a Manik stone. This test is par excellent and quite accurate when it comes to determining the originality of a ruby gemstone.
Many gem laboratories also conduct microscopic analyses to check fractures and inclusions that prevail only in an original ruby stone.
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