A native-cut stone typically displays an over-heavy bottom and when viewed “face up” has little or no light reflected from the centre of the stone, creating a window. In countries such as Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar, traditional methods of cutting to maximise weight are often referred to as “native cut”. Unfortunately, this tendency often leads to stones that are disproportionately deep or overly shallow for their girdle size, and therefore lack brilliance due to light not being reflected up through the crown of the cut stone.Ī well-cut stone should have pleasing proportions, good internal reflection and a symmetrical girdle regardless of the shape. Weight is important because fine rubies and sapphires at the higher end of the market can command prices in the thousands – if not tens of thousands – per carat. Perhaps more than any other type of coloured gemstone, rubies and sapphires are predominantly cut to retain as much weight as possible, while still aiming to retain a pleasant shape. As they share the same physical characteristics, a similar approach is taken to both when cutting, although differences in the shape of rough material from various locations may mean the lapidary must take into account various other considerations. Ruby is red corundum while sapphire can be all the other colours in which corundum can occur – blue, pink, green, yellow, orange, purple and others. As they both have the same basic chemical composition, their physical characteristics are very similar however, the presence of small amounts of various trace elements creates noticeable differences in colour.

Rubies and Sapphires belong to the same gemstone family, corundum, which is the mineral name for crystalline aluminum oxide.

Ruby sapphire stone