Are you thinking of proposing over the holidays?  The cheery and giving spirit brought on by the Christmas season make December a great time of year to pop the question and get the answer you hope for.  When shopping for her engagement ring, think outside the box a little, and consider a beautiful platinum or white gold engagement ring setting with a ruby.  The rich red color is loaded with holiday cheer and would be a perfect engagement gift for this time of year.  Proposing with a ruby, as opposed to the standard diamond, also gives your new fiancé a unique engagement ring she is sure to cherish.

The name ruby comes from the Latin ruber meaning red.  The ruby is one of the four traditional gemstones, along with the diamond, the sapphire, and the emerald.  In fact, rubies are the sister stones to sapphires; the only difference is in their color.  The most valuable rubies are the most transparent stones with the purest red, but rubies are found in red colors ranging from orange-red, to purple-red, to brown-red, to blue-red, and a clarity ranging from transparent to opaque.

The most famous rubies, the Pigeon Bloodred rubies, are mined from the Moguk Valley in Burma.  For centuries rubies have been produced from this area; mining tools have been discovered that date back to the Stone Age.  While there have been discoveries in Burma of larger examples of rubies, much of what comes out of the region has been smaller in size.  Historically, the King of Mandalay declared all the large rubies mined in the Moguk Valley to be his property, and violators would be punished by death.  Due to this proclamation, many large rubies were broken into smaller pieces.

The latest ruby to be discovered is called the Winza Ruby, from 2008.  This is mined in Tanzania and produces rubies with excellent transparency that does not require heat treatment.  The supply is yet to be fully understood, but currently the Winza rubies have incredible value and are a great investment.  Many incredibly large size rubies have been discovered here, some up to ten carats!

When purchasing a ruby for an engagement ring, or any other piece of jewelry, care must be taken to be sure that you are not selecting a stone that has been treated, because many of the methods used to enhance the look of the rubies are not permanent and can wear off with normal use of the engagement ring.   Since 1902, synthetic rubies have flooded the market, and it is very difficult to tell the difference, unless you are a gemstone professional.  Most of the natural rubies on the market come from Thailand and have a more brown or blue tint.  When selecting your ruby engagement ring, look for the purest red and the clearest color.