Ruby$11,800+1.4%Sapphire$86,000-0.4%Sapphire$11,500+1.8%Emerald$34,000+1.3%Emerald$13,200+2.6%Paraíba Tourmaline$42,000+4.7%Paraíba Tourmaline$13,000+3.1%Spinel$6,200+0.6%Cobalt Spinel$21,000+5.2%
WORLDWIDE LAUNCHFebruary 2027
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Ruby

RUBY

The rarest of the great coloured stones

Fine untreated ruby is scarcer than any comparable diamond. Roughly 95% of ruby reaching the market has been heat treated, and of stones submitted for the top red designation only about 5% qualify. East Africa now supplies most of the world’s fine untreated ruby, and the material coming out of it is the reference against which the current market prices.

The reference colour is a narrow window of pure red with a faint blue secondary hue. Montepuez in northern Mozambique, discovered in 2009 and mined commercially since 2012, has proved capable of stones in the finest colour grades at sizes the older deposits rarely produced, and a clean unheated Montepuez stone above five carats with a top-tier origin report is now among the harder things in the trade to source.

Above three carats, untreated ruby stops behaving like a commodity. Clean natural stones at that size are genuinely rare, per-carat prices accelerate faster than for almost any other coloured gem, and each stone is judged entirely on its own merits.

TREATMENT
None accepted
About 95% of ruby in trade is heated. The vault admits untreated stones only.
AUCTION RECORD
Over $1m / ct
The 2015 Sunrise Ruby established a per-carat record above one million dollars.
VAULT TRADE STANDARD

Only the finest ruby: vivid red, from 2 ct, unheated, with a top-four laboratory report.

STOCK TRADE

Everyday ruby, fully declared

Most ruby in commercial jewellery has been heated, and a considerable amount has been glass filled: lead glass introduced into fissures to improve apparent clarity. Both are acceptable when declared. Neither is acceptable when hidden.

The distinction is on every listing. Lead-glass composites sit in a different universe of value entirely, worth a few dollars per carat regardless of size, and they require different care in setting and cleaning. They are labelled and priced as such.

Calibrated sizes, matched pairs, and single stones for manufacture. For untreated East African ruby, see Vault Trade.

Ruby on Vault TradeRuby on Stock Trade