n average to good Natural Unheated Burmese Ruby of around 4 carats which is around 90% clean and has inclusions costs around $50,000/ INR 30,00,000( Approximately 30 Lakhs factoring in currency conversions) at the time of writing this article( 05th June 2015).
This is a general B2B price and logically this Gemstone is out of the price range as well as the weight range of the general person looking at wearing a Ruby for Gem Therapy Purposes. We have Current Ruby Market conditions, prices and economics for the last 5 years and these can be found here.
So what happens in such a situation?
Poor Quality Lead Glass filled Ruby generally manufactured in Thailand goes by the name of New Burmese Ruby
Enter Fraudsters with a definite intent to fool the customer and hand a lollypop to satisfy Client Psyche. There is a particular Kind of Ruby available in the Indian Market that goes by the Name of New Burma Ruby.
Clients are even given certificates by dubious fly by night operating labs citing the origin as New Burma Mines and the treatment column in the certificate will list: Not Specified.
There are two things here:
1) There is no Mine in the world known as New Burma Mines.
2) When the treatment column says Not specified it can mean only the following things:
- The Gem Owner/ Trader did not want the Gemstone to be tested for treatment for some reason.
- The Lab does not have the equipment or the expertise to detect treatment.
- There is a deliberate omission to mislead
It is fraudulent to sell this material without a total disclosure of this treatment to the customer.
So what exactly is the new Burma Ruby?
Poor quality corundum filled with lead-glass to improve clarity with addition of additive chemicals to add colour is the new Burmese ruby. It is just that- Glass- Only,around 10% of the stone would be corundum and rest will be filled by Coloured glass. This process takes places at high temperatures and is basically done to fill up cracks in the rough and improve clarity. Most of the rough used is near colourless lacking lustre and is orangey brown which after the lead glass filling treatment becomes pinkish red and is traded in the market by the name of New Burma Ruby. This is the preferred choice of Ruby for the 5.25 ratti astrologer and the trader.
What is the cost/ price of New Burma Ruby?
Depending on the production process and the end result New Burma Ruby manufactured in Thailand using the lead glass filling treatment typically costs $1/INR 63 per carat to $10/ INR 630 per carat. Typically it is sold anywhere from INR 1500 to INR 3000 per carat depending on the customer and sometimes the impact of the so called Astrologer. It is preferably traded in large sizes especially in North India and areas like Calcutta where astrologers sometimes even recommend weights till 9.25 carats for a person.