Ruby Or Garnet How To Tell

This is because a ruby s makeup is such that it absorbs yellow and green and will not reflect them in that.

Ruby or garnet how to tell.

If you are mistaking a ruby for a red garnet this is an easy way to distinguish between the two as rubies will not display green or yellow bands. A real garnets will change colors in both lights. Another way to determine if your stone is a ruby or a garnet is to examine the spectrum. Pyrope almandine and andradite are the most common red garnets.

Ruby is one of the four most precious stones in the world along with diamond sapphires and emerald. In terms of their colors while a garnet has a wide variety of colors other than red such as green brown and orange a ruby is usually red. If you are holding a ruby the rainbow image you see will be blurred and appear almost as one rainbow on top of another. If the light reflects a rainbow of colors including bands of yellow and green the odds are you are looking at a garnet.

Starting with their toughness a garnet has only been given 6 5 to 7 5 on the mohs scale while a ruby has been given a solid 9 0. Fake gems are often dull. Rubies red corundums that contains aluminum oxide and chromium generally are more valuable than red garnets so it is important to be able to tell the difference between them when buying gemstones. The rainbow image you see within a garnet will be much more clear due to its singly refractive property.

This simply means that a ruby is a more durable mineral than the garnet. Garnets can be be found in a variety of colors. Since the most common color of garnet is red it is important to know how to spot the difference of ruby and garnet. They are light but not bright if the gem is more of a dark red then it may be garnet instead of a ruby.

A ruby is a doubly refractive stone so it refracts light in a much different way than a garnet which is singly refractive. Real rubies glow with a deep vivid almost stoplight red. Tell by the color and the shine. Even though garnet is also a gemstone it is a semiprecious gemstone with a significantly low value compared to ruby.

Garnets are a 7 7 5 on the mohs scale. View the garnet in both natural and artificial light. Holding up a garnet to the light can assist you in determining whether or not you are looking at a garnet or a ruby. Perform a hardness test.