Are Heat Treated or Enhanced Gold Ruby Earrings Genuine?
If you’re shopping for ruby earrings and have a tight budget but want the best possible quality available, you may be confused by what you’re seeing for sale online. There are heat treated and enhanced rubies, lab created rubies and what appear to be natural gemstones. What’s the real difference and where can you shop for the best buys?
Heat Treated Rubies
First you should know that a pair of ruby earrings that is being sold for under $100 will have a treated or enhanced gemstone. These are real rubies, just that they have very little value due to their natural low luster, high inclusions, poor clarity and dull color. To make them look better and be able to sell as gem-quality stones in jewelry, the natural stones are heated or treated to enhance clarity and color and to mask inclusions and add brilliance. Because these pieces are usually small, used in cluster settings, small stud earrings or as pave or small prong set stones in ruby hoop earrings interspersed with small low quality diamonds, the imperfections and the quality are less obvious. For people who prefer to have something genuine instead of costume jewelry, these items offer a solution. But we must be clear. Enhanced or treated rubies, although it is a normal practice, will not be considered investment quality pieces.
Lab Created Ruby Jewelry
The next term that causes confusion is “lab created”. If you see the word “created” anywhere near an offer for ruby earrings you should be aware that they are not real, however, there are various different qualities of created rubies used in jewelry and some are very valuable, while others are almost worthless, used only in costume jewelry. Check for flux grown rubies that actually are crystals grown over the course of many months in an environment similar to how the gems form naturally. These gemstones are not only beautiful, have high luster and a rich red color, but often rival the Burmese pigeon blood ruby stones and actually have a value that is much greater than genuine rubies of low quality that have been treated.
Shopping For Ruby Earrings Online
If you need to know where to buy good quality and affordable treated gold ruby earrings and ruby diamond earrings that are good value for your money, and are an alternative to costume jewelry, then I can recommend places like Jewels For Me and Angara. However if you want Ceylon, Burmese, or Madagascar rubies that have not been treated and are sold loose or in jewelry creations or customized settings in white and yellow gold, then I suggest the Natural Sapphire Company. What’s the difference in price? You can get a pair of ruby stud earrings that have been treated for about $200, or a good lab created gem in a similar setting for about the same price. For a totally natural stone in a stud setting you will have to pay $600 or $700. So yes, there is a huge price difference.
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