The Source

BURMA

HISTORY
Burma’s famous Mogok Valley was the primary source for rubies for centuries, and is the best-known ruby mine in the world.

TODAY
While the region produced some of the finest rubies, very few top-quality Unheated rubies have been found there recently.

CHARACTERISTICS
As the highest quality stones ever found, these are the standard by which all others are measured. The best color in Burmese rubies is a vivid “pigeon’s blood” red, and many come with very fine silk inclusions which enhance the color of the ruby.

MADAGASCAR

HISTORY
Ruby and sapphire deposits were only found in the 1990s, and Madagascar now leads the world in sapphire production.

TODAY
Madagascar leads the world in the production of sapphires. Most of the gemstones mined there find their way to Thailand and Sri Lanka, where experienced gem dealers cut, polish, and then trade both locally and globally.

CHARACTERISTICS
Corn flower blue sapphires of extremely high quality are found in Madagascar. While mostly known for blues, other colours such as vivid pinks and purples — as well as padparadscha sapphires — are also found here.

MOZAMBIQUE

HISTORY
As a new gem source, Mozambique's most important history is geological: Located at a junction of complex thermal and deformational events, this land has the perfect combination of temperature and pressure for the formation of rubies.

TODAY
Rubies from Mozambique are very important to the trade; the large quantities and range of qualities and sizes meet almost every market’s needs.

CHARACTERISTICS
Their colour bridges the gap between the classic source of Burma and other African rubies, such as those from Madagascar and Tanzania. A very small percentage of the material, though, has the right combination of colour and clarity and requires no heat treatment.

SRI LANKA

HISTORY
One time known as "Rathna-dweepa" (The Island of Gemstones), Sri Lanka and its incredible natural wealth have a long history with gems, with Persian traders in the 4th century writing about its jewels and Marco Polo claiming the island had the world's best sapphires, topazes and amethysts.

TODAY
The country still has a rich — almost unparalleled — tradition, and remains vitally important to the modern gemstone market, both domestically and internationally.

CHARACTERISTICS
Sri Lankan rubies are typically pinkish-red with a touch of purple, but it's sapphires that made the nation famous. Sri Lanka sapphires come in a wide variety of colours, and are renowned for their transparency and clarity. Unheated padparadscha sapphires from Sri Lanka are extremely rare.

THAILAND

HISTORY
Eastern Thailand was the world’s major ruby source between the early 1960s and the 1990s, when political issues in Burma shut down supply from that country. This spurred big, mechanised mining operations in eastern Thailand.

TODAY
Although the rubies are mostly gone from the ground, a substantial part of the world's supply ends up in the hands of Thailand's expert gemcutters or is traded in the thriving centres of Bangkok and Chanthaburi.

CHARACTERISTICS
Rubies from Thailand have a less-desirable brownish hue, though they often can be heat treated to improve colour. Heat-treating a ruby can also increase its transparency by removing tiny internal flaws.