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Ruby stone (also known as Manik) is a valuable and precious gemstone that is always in demand. This dark red stone is one of the most powerful gems in the world. It is known to symbolize love, passion, protection, wealth, and leadership. The gemstone can bring you power and authority as well as good luck and overall well-being.
Because of the benefits of ruby and its beauty, the gem is quite expensive. It is one of the most-priced colored gemstones. Its price range is varied based on the quality of the gem.
Before you buy this beautiful piece of timeless elegance, here is the complete ruby price guide for you so that you can make an informed decision.
No one wants to pay a higher price for a thing than needed. If you're going to buy a Manik stone for the best price, then you should read this complete guide.
Pricing of ruby gemstones depends on a number of factors, from the market demands to demand and supply chain.
The major aspects that change the Ruby stone price are:-
Cut
Color
Clarity
Carat Weight
Origin
Treatment Processes
In this ruby stone price guide, part one, we will discuss the major 4 Cs, which are cut, color, clarity, and carat weight, and how they affect the cost. In the next part, we will discuss how origin and treatment affect the value of Ruby.
Also Read - Natural Rubies: Extraordinary Powers That Enhance Your Life
The per-carat ruby rate depends on the cut of the gem. A gem is cut to make jewelry out of it, but the cut also improves the clarity and color of the stone. Since very few gems have a clear surface and good clarity, cutters try to have a minimum waste of rough crystals.
Cutting the gem needs a lot of precision and accuracy as it is going to be the look of the stone. It should be smooth and the facets must have fineness. Brilliance and symmetry, along with the quality of polish, affect the look of the Manik, which comes from the cutting of the gem.
Indeed, Since the cut enhances the look and clarity, it raises the value of the gem. Mostly oval cuts are preferred since there is less waste of gem. But more faceted cuts are mostly more costly since they need a lot of distinctness.
Some of the best cuts are heart, octagon, cushion, round, pear, etc.
The color of the gemstone is one of the most prominent and essential aspects that determines the real ruby price. The gem comes in red color, but its hue, tone, and saturation can vary based on how it is formed over the years and the amount of trace element chromium present in it.
The most valuable stone is the one with a rich, saturated, deep red hue, which is uniformly distributed without any undertone or overtone. A clear, shiny, transparent, dark red gem is the most loved and desired and so is highly costly.
The hues of the stone can be primary or secondary. The primary gemstone hue is red, but the secondary hue can be orange, pink, black, or purple.
Pigeon blood rubies, which are the most famous around the world, have a purplish overtone, and they cost between INR 25,000 to 3 Lakhs per carat & above.
The tone is the level of darkness of the gem. It can be lighter or darker. Lighter-tone rubies seem dull while too dark look opaque, so medium-dark gems are believed to be of the best quality.
Saturation is the intensity of the color, in rubies, the saturation is supposed to be bright and vivid for a gem to be of fine quality. If the saturation is less, the gem will appear dull.
Here is how the Ruby price per carat changes as per carat:-
| Color Range | Price Range |
| Pigeon Blood Red | INR 3 lakhs upto crores |
| Intense Red | INR 50,000 to 1 lakh per carat |
| Pinkish Red | INR 7,000 to 70,000 per carat |
| Purplish Pink Red | INR 10,000 to 25,000 per carat |
| Purplish Red | INR 10,000 to 50,000 per carat |
| Vivid Pinkish-Red | INR 2500 to 10,000 per carat |
| Orangish Red | INR 1500 to 3000 per carat |
| Brownish Red | INR 750 to 1200 per carat |
| Pure Red | INR 20,000 to 1 lakh per carat |
| Deep Red | INR 15000 to 3 lakh per carat |
How much is a ruby worth?
It depends highly on the clarity of the gemstone. Clarity is one of the most profound aspects that determines the cost of the rubies.
Naturally, there are inclusions in the rubies because of the natural formation of these gems. These imperfections can be feathers, fingerprints, needle-like structures known as silk, etc. The cost of ruby stones with inclusions will vary in national and international markets based on the size, location, type, and number of flaws, which also affects the transparency of the gem.
Rubies with see-through clarity and invisible inclusions are rare and can be very expensive; their cost can be millions.
The ones with very slight inclusions that do not affect the transparency much come in lakhs of rupees.
Meanwhile, the ruby rate of gems with high inclusions is much lower. These are low-quality gems that range between 1500 to 15,000 per carat.
Industrially the clarity is graded as :-
IF - Internally Flawless, that is the gem has no visible flaws.
VVSI - Very Very Slightly Included 1, which means very slight inclusions that are present at the lower part or bottom half of the gem. These are usually not visible and very hard to detect.
VVS2- Very very Slightly Included 2 which means obvious inclusions present anywhere but very slight so their quality is still better than most.
VS1 - Very Slightly Included 1, which means smaller gemstones with less noticeable inclusions. They are difficult to see and so can only be seen by instruments.
VS2- Very slightly Included 2 are usually more inclusions than VS1 but these inclusions are also not directly visible with the naked eye and can be seen by loupe. They are mostly larger in size than VS1.
S1 - Slightly Included are the flaws which can be noticed by the visible eye.
P - Pique which means low quality grade gems in which inclusions are clearly visible to the naked eye and are more in number as well as size.
Natural ruby price also depends on the carat weight of the gem. The gemstones are measured in carats, and large rubies are extremely rare.
Large-size rubies are rarer than diamonds, especially in terms of clarity. Since they are hard to find, the cost of Manik gems above 4 to 5 carats will be more than that of 1 or 2 carats.
For instance, the sunrise ruby, which was the most expensive ruby stone in 2014, weighed 25 carats. It was sold for $30 million.
Learn more about the most expensive gemstones in the world here.
As we have mentioned above, other than the major 4Cs, the origin and treatment processes done on the stone will also affect the price of a ruby stone. We will discuss these two important factors in the next blog post.
So, Stay tuned!
