Oliver Horner, Jewellery Assistant from Fellows’ London office, has provided his thoughts on the birthstone for July.

Ruby is arguably one of the most beautiful precious gemstones due to its rarity and unmatched intense colour. Throughout history it has been associated with strong emotions such as love, passion and fury. Many pieces of period jewellery are set with rubies, which embody the connotations of these emotions and reflect the popularity of this gemstone throughout history.  For example, ruby heart shaped gemstones were set into jewellery from as early as the Roman period, a tradition which has continued throughout history. We have a lovely Victorian ruby set snake bangle, Lot 197 in the upcoming fine jewellery auction on the 11th of July.

Oliver Horner, jewellery assistant Oliver Horner, Jewellery Assistant from Fellows’ London office.

Important locations for mining rubies include Thailand, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Burma. Burmese rubies are regarded as the finest examples on the planet due to their highly sought-after colour, the finest examples from Burma are describes as “pigeon blood” red and are among the most expensive gem materials ever mined. In our or upcoming Fine jewellery sale on the 11th of July we have some fantastic Burmese ruby examples both period and modern such as Lot 1 “A late Victorian gold Burmese ruby and diamond ring” and Lot 158 “A Burmese ruby three-stone and diamond cluster ring”.