How to Identify Rubies

Ask questions. Is the stone heat treated? Was the stone created in a lab? What is the stone's country of origin? There are stones that masquerade as rubies such as garnet, spinel and pink sapphire. Lab created rubies, while pretty, are not the real thing. If your stone is not from Burma, Thailand, India, North Carolina, Madagascar or Sri Lanka, most likely you have a simulation or a stone that is not authentically a ruby on your hands.

Wash your hands carefully to prevent any skin oil or lotion getting on the ruby.

Choose a faceted ruby. Hold the ruby very close to your eye, almost as closely as you would when putting in your contacts, but do not touch the ruby to the actual surface of your eye. Look through the ruby at a nearby light source like a lamp or a flashlight. You will see a number of small rainbows in the stone.

Look carefully at the rainbows you see. Turn the stone different directions to get the clearest refraction. A ruby will always have double refraction--two rainbows for the price of one.

Check the colors that you see in the rainbow as you hold the ruby to your eye. A ruby will absorb almost all the yellow and green spectrum, leaving bands of red, blue, white and pink. Only a ruby, according to the Gemstone Artist, will have this particular color pattern.