Some fast facts:
- Birthstone of July
- Gift choice for 15th and 40th wedding anniversaries
- Gemstone for the Zodiac sign of Capricorn
- The ruby, as a color of the heart, inspires passion and romance.
- Many of the earliest tales about rubies come from India where the stone was mined as long as 2,500 years ago.
- Ancient tribes used rubies as bullets for blowguns.
- When rubbed on the skin, a ruby was thought to restore ones youth. (worth a try?)
- Ancient lore says that if a ruby is worn on the left hand it will bring good fortune to its wearer
Lucky news for those born in July, your birthstone is the always fascinating and precious Ruby. This magnificent gem is one of the most historically significant colored stones, with four references in the Bible, and often called the “king of precious stones.” From the Latin word ruber, which means “red”, the ruby has been called the most precious of the 12 stones created by God.
Desire and lore surrounding this gem is vast and entrenched in legend and verse. As far back as the first century AD, the Roman scholar Pliny included rubies in his Natural History, describing their hardness and density. Ancient Hindus believed that those who offered fine rubies to the god Krishna were granted rebirth as emperors. Hindus also divided the ruby into four castes, calling the true Oriental ruby a Brahmin. Someone in possession of a Brahmin was believed to have the advantage of perfect safety.
People in India believed that rubies enabled their owners to live in peace with their enemies. In Burma, warriors possessed rubies to make them unbeatable in battle. However, it wasn’t enough to just wear the rubies. They had to insert the precious stones into their skin and make them part of their bodies.
Many medieval Europeans wore rubies to guarantee health, wealth, wisdom, and success in love. In China, a Mandarin’s rank was indicated by the color of the stone in his ruby ring. A red jewel stone meant he was a key figure among the great. In the 1880’s, French jewelers called the ruby the gem of all gems or the dearly loved stone.
It is a gemstone steeped deep in history, since rubies have adorned many houses of royalty with its rich, passionate, and fiery brilliance. The ruby is discussed by Marco Polo in his writings. In prehistoric eastern cultures, the ruby was said to shield its wearer from enemy strikes. Ruby is said to have the ability to inspire courage, and prosperity, while developing one’s gifts of intuition and various psychic gifts.
The color alone is associated with some of our most intense emotions—love and anger, passion and fury. Ruby is associated with objects of power and desire as the lush hue signifies wealth and success.
Today, ruby reigns supreme as a highly coveted gem with countless variations of shapes, size, tones, and price. A flawless ruby can cost more than any other gemstone, including diamonds. Based on the tenure of this gem’s status as best-in-class, it will certainly remain a fixture in fine jewelry for many generations to come.
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