Know Everything About Ruby Engagement Rings

Why Choose A Colored Gemstone for an Engagement?

Everything You Need to Know About Ruby Engagement Rings

When choosing the perfect engagement ring or meaningful jewelry gift, it's important to consider not only your budget and personal taste — but also the lifestyle of the person who will wear it. For many couples, colored gemstones like rubies and sapphires offer the ideal blend of beauty, durability, and individuality.

Durability for Everyday Wear

Diamonds are known for their superior hardness — they score a perfect 10 on the Mohs scale. However, colored gemstones such as rubies and sapphires also rank high, with a hardness of 9. This makes them extremely durable and suitable for everyday wear. In general, any gemstone with a hardness of 7.5 or higher is considered excellent for daily use, meaning that a ruby engagement ring can stand the test of time just as well as traditional real diamond rings.

Unique Style with Symbolic Meaning

Rubies are more than just striking red gemstones — they carry deep symbolic meaning. Known to represent desire, passion, and protection, a ruby center stone reflects a couple's emotional depth and commitment. As the birthstone for July, rubies also make for stunning birthstone jewelry, especially in pieces designed to celebrate love and life milestones.

When it comes to design, oval ruby stones are particularly popular due to their classic, elongated shape and the way they catch light. Whether set in a solitaire, halo, or a 3-stone setting like Jessica Simpson’s ruby engagement ring, rubies make a powerful statement. A perfect example is the 266 custom made unique oval ruby center stone and trapezoid diamond accent three stone engagement ring, which beautifully showcases the elegance and timeless appeal of rubies paired with sparkling diamond accents.

Her engagement ring featured a ruby center stone flanked by two accent gems — likely either diamonds or the couple’s birthstones — symbolizing their desire for a deeply meaningful, conflict-free piece.

A Budget-Friendly Alternative to Diamonds

One of the reasons rubies are growing in popularity is their affordability compared to diamonds. On average, a high-quality ruby gemstone used in engagement rings can cost around $1,000 per carat, offering significant savings when compared to real diamond rings of similar size and clarity.

This price difference opens up the possibility of creating a larger or more intricate design — such as eternity rings or vintage-style settings — without going over budget.

Choosing the Right Engagement Ring Setting

With so many designs and details to consider, picking the right engagement ring setting can feel overwhelming. But it’s one of the most important steps in the process. Whether you're customizing a ring online or working with a jeweler, consider what fits your style and daily life.

Many brides today are drawn to the idea of building a ring from scratch — selecting a loose oval ruby or other colored gemstone, and having it set in a one-of-a-kind design that reflects their story. Whether you’re honoring a birth month, celebrating a shared milestone, or just looking for something that stands out, colored gemstones make it easy to express your personal style. A stunning example is the 311 custom made unique oval ruby and diamond five stone anniversary ring, which combines bold color and timeless elegance in a design that’s as meaningful as it is beautiful.

Explore Birthstones for All Months

While rubies are a top choice for July, each month has its own symbolic gemstone. Designing rings with birthstones for all months — for partners, children, or special dates — is an increasingly popular way to add personal meaning to your jewelry. Whether it’s a statement eternity ring, a dainty pendant, or a unique engagement ring, birthstone jewelry allows you to carry a story with you every day.

How is Center or Side Stones Held in the Ring?
First of all, you need to make sure that the center stone you choose is held securely and is protected in the ring, it depends on wearer's lifestyle. Channel and bezel settings can hold the stones securely but have less sparkle and resizing can be difficult. Prong, pave, bar and tension settings offer more sparkle are but less secure.

Engagement Ring Settings
How you prefer to present the center stone just as the star of the show or with side stones - it is one of the most important aspects of the engagement ring setting.

Solitaire, halo, three stone, side stone, two stone and cluster settings are all popular but each setting has its own pros and cons.

Ring Band Shapes
Straight, pave set, bypass, split-shank, cathedral and plain metal bands are all popular but each has its own pros and cons. It depends on whether you prefer more sparkle.

Stone Shapes
Round diamonds are the most popular stone shapes but fancy-shaped diamonds or gemstones have their own appeal. Oval, marquise, heart, emerald cut, cushion cut and pear-shaped diamonds or gemstones are usually cheaper and with their elongated shapes can make the stone appear larger.

Ruby: The Best Red Stones for Engagement Rings
For centuries, people have used red gemstones. Red has had strong symbolic associations with love, passion, affection fire, and blood.

In this article, you’ll learn how to know the quality of red gemstones — from the popular to the less known — and which ones are best suited for everyday wear or special occasion wear engagement rings or just reserved for a museum collection.

Judging Quality of Red Gems
Gemologists judge color by looking at color, clarity, tone, and saturation. In red gemstones, the most common secondary hues are purple and orange.

Color
While diamonds are graded by the Four Cs, but color is the most important aspect of ruby.

Clarity
Clarity grades are less important in red gemstones than in colorless gems like diamond. That’s because the darker color helps to mask inclusions in the stone. However, large inclusions or fractures can still make the stone more prone to cracking. In addition, eye-visible inclusions near the center of the gem table can be seen more than those toward the sides.

Red Gemstones Ideal for Everyday Wear
Looking for a red gemstone for an custom engagement ring? These durable red gemstones will hold up to everyday wear, making them ideal for engagement rings. With regular care of your engagement ring stone, they’ll keep looking as good as the day you bought them.

Ruby
Of all red gemstones, ruby is the most famous in the world, the traditional July birthstone and 40th wedding anniversary gem.

Ruby is a gem-quality variety of the mineral corundum that derives its glorious red color from chromium.

Among the rarest gems in the world, most rubies are heat treated to improve their color - and to increase its value. If a natural ruby is out of your budget, you can consider a genuine lab-created red ruby. These have the same durability and beauty as natural ruby stones but at a much lower price.

Red Spinel
If you’ve never heard of spinel, you’re not alone. Some in the gem trade believe it’s one of best-kept jewelry secrets! Natural red spinel's are an affordable red stone alternative to the expensive ruby. In fact, the spinel that is in the British crown, and it's called the Black Prince ruby. This gem has great durability, too, making it an ideal choice for an engagement ring.

Red Diamond
If money is no object, you might be interested in a red diamond. In fact, only a limited quantity of red diamonds has ever been mined.

If you’re not ready to drop millions of dollars on a coveted half-carat red diamond, you do have an affordable option - lab-created red diamond.

Garnet
Another red gemstone with many symbolic associations like ruby, garnets are easily available and affordable even in large carat sizes. The traditional January birthstone is best known for its brown red hues, but garnet actually occurs in almost every color.

Red Gemstones for Special Occasions
Not all red gemstones are perfect for engagement rings, unless you only to wear them on special occasions. They are less scratch resistant and can scratch easily, and are likely to break if you accidentally knocked. While these red gemstones might not be ideal everyday wear in engagement rings, they still make great options for other types of jewelry or for occasional wear in engagement rings. If you do want one of these red for an everyday engagement or wedding ring, use a safe protective setting to keep the gem secure.

Topaz
Although resistant to scratches, topaz are prone to cracking easily. Nevertheless, this November birthstone is a good choice for jewelry. The red topaz colors are rare, and top-color stones can demand a good price.

Fire Opal
The fiery red color in fire opal is due to the gem’s body color, which ranges from yellow to red.

Red Gemstones for Collectors
Some red gemstones won’t hold up to jewelry wear. Whether they’re too soft or too toxic, it’s best to keep the following gems for display only.

A Guide to Choosing a Ruby Engagement Ring Stone
Although, less popular than diamonds, rubies are a popular choice for an engagement ring center stone. These colored gemstones traditionally represent love, romance, protection, and success, a proposal ring worth celebrating for your engagement. Their rarity, beauty, and durability make them most sought-after gems, but they can be more expensive than diamonds. Learn what to look for in a ruby for your custom-made engagement ring stone and how you might save some time and money.

Mohs Hardness Scale
Ranking 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, rubies are the second hardest natural gems in the world, just behind diamonds, which means they are durable enough to withstand the everyday wear that your engagement ring is subjected through.

Like diamonds, rubies are graded using criteria known as the GIA four Cs, namely color, cut, clarity and carat weight. Rubies value is also determined on the basis of their geographic origin.

The Ruby Engagement Ring Meaning

The color red has for thousands of years symbolized love and passion. Additionally, ruby is the traditional July birthstone and an alternative birthstone for non-diamond brides.

Ruby engagement rings are also frequently seen our favorite celebrities and royalty's ring finger. Jessica Simpson’s engagement ring features a ruby center stone, while her sister, Ashlee Simpson wears an Art Deco-inspired ring. Prince Andrew also proposed to Sarah Ferguson with a high-quality ruby ring to match her red hair.

Vintage-Inspired Floral Halo Ruby Engagement Rings
In Victorian times, floral halos were very popular and today they can be a unique way of bringing vintage design into a ruby ring.

Caring For Your Ruby Engagement Ring?
Both rubies and diamonds are durable, so a genuine ruby ring made with heat treated rubies requires no special care. Although, rubies can be scratched, so keep your ring away from any pieces of jewelry containing diamonds.

How To Clean Your Gemstone Jewelry?
Our guide on gemstone care will help you clean your gemstone jewelry safely. Hardness refers to physical quality of gemstones, and those gems that are on high end on the Mohs scale, such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, are popular choices for engagement rings or other fine jewelry. However, a high Mohs score doesn’t make the gemstone indestructible. Hardness measures resistance to scratching and nothing else. For example, diamonds have the greatest hardness of any natural material. However, they can have surface-reaching inclusions and incipient cleaves that can react to heat or mechanical cleaning.

How to Get Her Ring Size?
There are many ways to get her ring size, by using using her ring impression on a soap bar or see if you can get a general finger size by looking where one of her rings fit on you, if she takes out her ring after work.

Ruby Mining
Since ancient times, the majority of the worlds rubies were mined in Myanmar (Burma), specifically the Mogok Valley in the upper region of the country. More recently there has been a considerable amount of mining in the center of Myanmar, in the area of Mong Hsu. Additional sources for rubies have been Thailand, Australia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Namibia, India, Japan, and Colombia.

Myanmar is known to produce some of the finest rubies that exist on the market, although it was not always considered the legitimate source. The sanctions in Myanmar were lifted by President Obama and trading with that country is considered legitimate today.

Often more valuable than diamonds, the most coveted pigeon blood-red rubies have traditionally come from the ancient Mogok mines, or Myanmar. Today, these mines are almost depleted, so the prices of Burmese rubies are well beyond the budget of most modern brides. Add to this the US embargo on gemstones from Myanmar and it is easy to understand why gem collectors have turned elsewhere in their search for the perfect red gem. And so it is that Gemfield's African rubies are increasingly popular and adding their flash of rich purple red color to high jewellery pieces.

Rubies are mined in only a few places in the world, and the ruby’s mine can have a dramatic effect on the price. Some customers might also be concerned about ethical mining, and as a result don't prefer Burmese rubies.

Burma Rubies

The traditional source of ruby is Myanmar, formerly called Burma. Burma rubies, which are much more rarer and expensive than diamond, are found in the Mogok Valley. This mine has produced some of the world’s most rarest and famous rubies.

This mine has produced more rubies with the prized Pigeon’s Blood color than any other source, these fine-quality traffic-stop red rubies are also more expensive than those from other sources.

However, Myanmar is also known for human rights violations, and as result, the US imposed sanctions on import of Burma rubies.

Thailand Rubies

Thailand is another important source of ruby found in engagement rings or fine jewelry. Due to a higher amount of iron, these tend to have a brownish tint to their red and exhibit less glow than Burma rubies. These rubies were popular because of their lower prices and due to the scarcity of Burma rubies.

African Mozambique Rubies

Mozambique rubies contain more iron than the Mogok rubies but have less brownish tint than Thai rubies, and account for a large portion of rubies found on the market.

More Ruby Options

There are more ruby mines that may supply a ruby stone for an engagement ring. Kenya, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Tanzania all produce rubies. A few rubies even come from Australia, and the United States.

Factors Affecting Rubies Value
The quality of a ruby depends on its color, cut, clarity and with carat weight. The brightest and the world's finest red rubies command a large premium over other rubies of similar quality from other mines. Like diamonds, a high clarity stone will command the highest prices, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been color enhanced or treated.

How to Buy a Ruby Engagement Ring Stone
When you’re buying a ruby center stone for an custom made engagement ring, what should you look for? Color is the most important aspect of ruby, but other 4 Cs of diamond quality: clarity, cut, and carat, are also important when choosing a ruby, too.

Color

Color is the most important aspect of ruby. Some rubies tend toward pink, some toward brown or purple, and others glow like a pigeon blood color.

How Dark-Tone Can a Ruby be?

This is a matter of personal preference and your budget. Some prefer darker tones, while others go for a medium-tone pink-red ruby.

Rubies vs. Pink Sapphires: What’s the Difference?

At first glance, rubies and pink sapphires can look quite similar — both belong to the corundum family and are prized for their vivid colors. However, understanding the difference between the two is crucial when selecting a center stone for an engagement ring, birthstone jewelry, or custom eternity rings.

What Makes a Ruby a Ruby?

Rubies are always red — their name even comes from the Latin word ruber, which means "red." This is what sets them apart from sapphires. Any gemstone marketed as a ruby that appears light pink in color is not a true ruby, but rather a pink sapphire.

To be classified as a ruby, the gem must have a deep red color, often with secondary tones of purplish or brownish red. The most valuable rubies in the world are a vibrant, rich red — often described as "pigeon's blood" — and exhibit excellent clarity and a well-executed cut. A beautiful example of this is the 279 custom made unique pear shaped ruby center stone and baguette diamond accent three stone engagement ring, which highlights the depth and intensity of a true ruby, enhanced by the brilliance of its diamond accents.

Color and Color Zoning

Color is the most defining characteristic of rubies. However, many rubies exhibit color zoning, where areas of the gem show lighter and darker shades. While color zoning is a natural occurrence and not always a flaw, poor distribution can affect the gem’s appearance, especially if the zoning is visible through the table — the flat top surface of the stone.

Stones with shallow cuts and large tables can exaggerate this issue, making the color look uneven when viewed from above.

Clarity in Rubies

Like most colored gemstones, rubies often contain eye-visible inclusions. These internal features may include crystals, feathers, or fractures. While some inclusions are acceptable, their location, size, and visibility can significantly affect the stone’s brilliance and overall value.

A ruby with light, well-placed inclusions can still be stunning and highly sought after — especially when paired with a unique shape like an oval ruby in a vintage or modern ring design.

Cut Quality

The cut of a ruby has a major impact on how it looks in your ring. Unfortunately, many rubies on the market have poor cuts. This is because gem cutters often prioritize maximizing carat weight over creating ideal proportions. As a result, many rubies feature shallow cuts and large tables, which can make the stone appear lifeless or washed out.

Look for rubies with well-proportioned cuts that enhance color saturation and brilliance — especially if you're incorporating them into a custom real diamond ring, birthstone jewelry, or personalized eternity ring design.

Rubies vs. Pink Sapphires: Which Is Right for You?

Choosing between a ruby and a pink sapphire comes down to color preference, symbolism, and budget. Rubies, especially deep red ones, are rarer and typically more expensive. They are the official birthstone for July and symbolize passion, strength, and desire — making them a popular choice for engagement rings, anniversary gifts, and custom birthstone jewelry.

Pink sapphires, on the other hand, offer a more romantic, softer hue and are often more affordable, while still being incredibly durable and suitable for daily wear.

Whether you're designing a bold oval ruby ring or exploring birthstones for all months to find the perfect personalized gift, understanding the differences in color, clarity, and cut can help you make a confident, meaningful choice.

Consider A Custom Made Engagement Ring

Designing your own custom ring will allow you to choose a ruby based on the above quality aspects rather than a fixed size.

Carat

Carat, or weight, doesn’t impact quality, but it can the price of an engagement ring drastically. Genuine rubies are rare at any carat size.

What are the Best Affordable Options for Ruby Engagement Ring Stones?

So, how can you get a ruby engagement ring in your budget and style? Rubies are some of the most expensive gemstones in the world, with high quality, untreated rubies reaching prices higher than diamonds.

Heat Treatment

Almost all rubies found on the market are heat treated. This treatment is common, widely accepted in the industry. It improves the ruby’s color and clarity permanently, making lower-quality rubies more affordable and eye-catching.

If you’re thing of buying untreated rubies, you can save around 30% or more compared to a heat-treated ruby.

Natural Rubies Vs. Synthetic Rubies: What's the Difference?
Ask the seller about any type of heat-treatment or other enhancements the ruby gem in the ring has undergone. Keep in mind that heat treated rubies are very common, and unless otherwise specified it should be assumed that the stone has received this type of treatment. Other types of treatments are less desirable and will affect the value of the stone drastically. Generally, if the stone is too good for its price, most probably it is a synthetic ruby. Ruby also has typical inclusions called fingerprints. (An independent lab can confirm if the gemstone has undergone treatments).

Synthetic rubies are on the market since early 1900s, and these rubies are often labeled as laboratory created or laboratory grown rubies. But, some sellers may not reveal that their rubies are actually synthetics. Again, an independent evaluation and a 30-day refund policy can protect you if you have bought a synthetic ruby.

If you see quality ruby engagement rings that are made with rubies that have an excellent transparency, deep red color, and one-carat size for an affordable price, chances are that you are buying a stone that has been heat-treated or which is synthetic. It is important to know that good quality ruby gemstones are at least on average $1,000 per carat, and many fine stones are even more valuable than diamonds.

Lab-Created Rubies

Buying a lab-made ruby gives you a lot of options.

Other Red Color Gemstones

If you’re just looking for a red gemstone, there are many options to choose from, garnets and spinels are durable and less expensive alternatives to ruby.

Guide to Setting Types
Diamonds are by far the most popular choice for engagement rings since De Beers marketing campaigns. A large single diamond solitaire rings are most common setting for engagement rings, which was popularized by Tiffany & Co. Round brilliant cut continues to be the most popular cut for an engagement ring, which achieves the maximum amount of sparkle. Also popular are three stone engagement rings with side stones. These rings usually have a single large diamond set in the center and smaller diamonds on the sides. The three diamonds or colored gemstones on the ring are believed to symbolize the couple's past, present, and future. Settings can change the style of the ring dramatically, taking the ring to another level.

Engagement Ring Settings Can Change The Style of Ring Drastically

As a hard and durable gemstone, rubies will hold up well in any type of setting. You won’t need to take any special precautions.

Since durability isn’t an issue, you’re free to create any design you can imagine for your ruby engagement ring.

While some like the cool look of platinum or white gold with their ruby, many like to set rubies in yellow gold to bring out the stone’s warmth. Remember, you could always pair a yellow gold setting with a white gold band for the best of both worlds.

Rubies Vs Diamonds: What's the Difference?
Ruby engagement ring can vary in price. It depends on the color of the stone, its shape and weight, size, and hue. The deeper and more transparent the red, makes them more desirable. It also depends on the design and style of the ring, whether it contains a precious gemstone or diamond. The price of the colored gemstone depends on the quality of the gem. The average price of a ruby gemstone is $1,000 per carat, but the cost of ruby engagement rings and wedding bands can change drastically according to the quality of the rubies in the rings and the rubies' color, cut, carat, size and clarity qualities. You may choose an engagement ring because of a family tradition, to represent a unique personal style, want blood free diamonds or mercury-free ethical gold, to fit your budget and style. Man made stones and diamond substitutes such as czs are also popular choices for couples.

How Much to Spend on an Engagement Ring
The idea that a man should spend three months salary for an engagement ring originated from De Beers marketing campaigns in the 20th century in order to sell more diamonds. Rubies also tend to be more affordable than diamonds. On average, the price of a ruby gemstone is $1,000 per carat. We will help you find the gem that suits your budget and style.

The Liberty Bell Ruby is the largest and the rarest ruby in the world, found in east Africa in the 1950s. It weighs 8.50 carats. It is a single piece of ruby that was carved into a bell shape, surrounded by a white diamond halo and has an eagle for the United States 1976 Bicentennial celebration. There are 50 diamonds, which represent the 50 states of America. The Liberty Bell was stolen from Jewelers in Wilmington, Delaware during 2011 heist. recovered.

The 100.32 carat DeLong Star Ruby resides in the Museum of Natural History in New York City. The beautiful, deep red ruby with a 6-rayed star gets its name from Mrs. Edith Haggin de Long. She purchased the stone in 1937 from Martin Leo Ehrmann, the renowned gem and mineral collector and dealer. The DeLong Star Ruby was also stolen in a jewel heist. Along with the Star of India and the Midnight Star Sapphire, it was stolen from the museum in what became known as the Jewel Heist of the Century in 1964. Luckily all three stones were ultimately recovered.

This Sri-Lankan stone is renowned for its great colour and well-defined star pattern. Rosser Reeves, an American advertising executive donated this jewel to the Smithsonian in 1965, but he referred as a lucky stone. It is one of the world's largest and finest star rubies clear and more translucent that the Delong Star with a fine six-rayed star.

The famous London luxury jeweler Laurence Graff paid a record $8.6 million for a Burmese ruby, the top lot at a Sothebys Geneva auction. Graff, bought the ruby of 8.62 carats for the second time, having acquired it first at an auction eight years earlier. He had named the pigeon-blood gemstone the Graff Ruby at the time. A cushion cut Burmese ruby with a weight of 8.62 carats set records at the Sothebys Geneva auction of Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels in November 2014.

This 23.1-carat Burmese ruby, was set in a platinum ring with very high quality diamonds, is one of the finest and largest faceted Burmese rubies known in the world. This extraordinary gemstone displays a richly saturated red color, combined with an exceptional degree of transparency. The stone was mined from the famous Mogok region of Burma in the 1930s. The ring was donated to the Smithsonian by businessman and philanthropist Peter Buck.

Non-traditional Engagement Rings: What the Ruby Symbolizes.
For those who are lucky enough to be born in July with a ruby as your birthstone, in the ancient times, ruby - or ratnaraj - means the 'king of gems'. It was highly prized by the royalty thought the ages.

The Burmese rubies are famous for its pigeon blood hue and these gems are considered the finest in the world, but other important rubies are also found in Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Australia.

While diamonds are thought to symbolize strength and eternity, sapphires represent truth and fidelity, and rubies have long been associated with love, passion and protection.

For those who are lucky enough to be born in July with a regal ruby as your birthstone, in the ancient times, ruby was known as the 'the king of the gems'. Rubies have been prized by royalty throughout the ages. Rubies symbolize romance and passion making a perfect gemstone alternative to the traditional diamond engagement ring.

Because red has long been associated with love and passion, a ruby makes a fitting focal point for a romantic non-diamond engagement ring.

Although diamonds previously ruled the engagement ring world, the diamond paired with the ruby in the 17th and 18th centuries in toi et moi ring, in order to symbolize eternity and love.

Tips for Buying Ruby Engagement Rings and Wedding Bands
Start by shopping for high quality ruby engagement rings with retailers who specialize in precious gemstone engagement rings, wedding bands and other jewelry. Look for retailers who offer a risk-free easy refund policy.

To be 100% sure that you have purchased a high-quality ruby ring, particularly if you have paid for a one-carat ring, it is best for you to have the ring checked by a professional third-party laboratory.

Shining bright with the color of love and passion, a ruby engagement ring is the ultimate symbol of romance.

The ruby is known all over the world as a symbol of love, romance and passion. With so many elegant and unique designs to choose from, a ruby engagement ring is a fantastic way to celebrate your love and commitment.