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Ruby rings and other jewelry containing this beautiful blood-red gemstone have been coveted for centuries, both by royalty and by ordinary people who could afford to acquire them. One of the concerns with owning ruby rings however is deciding whether it is genuine or just a worthless imitation. This is a problem that was encountered historically also, and pieces of royal jewelry have been confirmed in recent times as having fake rubies set into them. The usual imposters are garnets and spinels, which can be made to look like rubies, but nevertheless are not the real deal.

So if you own a ruby ring, how do you know if it is real or not? The simple answer is to take it to an expert and have the gemstone tested. This is the only trustworthy way of knowing for sure. There are some things you can bear in mind though to give you more confidence in your ruby.

The first thing to do is a visual inspection. If the ruby is perfect and flawless in every way, without any internal scratches or inclusions, you might have a dud. Without a professional verdict, this is not a foolproof method, but your ruby ring is far more likely to be genuine if the gem has some minor imperfections, or is slightly cloudy in appearence. These may detract from the beauty of the stone, but are more indicative of a ruby that was formed naturally.

Lots of surface scratches are also a dead giveaway that it is a fake, especially if the ring was brand new and perhaps given to you as a gift. Often you will unknowingly catch the ring on surfaces that might cause damage; if the stone is a ruby, it is very unlikely it will get scratches on its surface, as ruby is an extremely hard material. Only other rubies and diamonds will cause surface damage, so if you can rule this out and yours is covered in these tiny scratches, it probably isn’t genuine.

Unfortunately, there are many commercial techniques available now that can make other stones look like ruby, and that can chemically alter sub-standard rubies to make them look superior, and so the best advice is to get an expert to take a look at yours to determine its value – and for most people, they wear their ruby ring because it looks fantastic. So unless you bought it as an investment, maybe it’s best just to enjoy it whether it is real or not!