Over the past 30 years, the legendary pigeon blood rubies have become the true star of the gemstone world, rightly taking its position at the top of the heap as the King of Gemstones. A one-carat unheated pigeon blood ruby in 1990 would have been priced between US$1,000 and US$3,000. Today, the same ruby is worth between US$10,000 and US$30,000 owing to its scarcity and the market’s increasing appreciation for its very rare vivid crimson hue, with its name a lyrical reference to the central point of a pigeon’s eye.
Only perfect rubies boasting the exceptional saturation and natural red fluorescence are awarded the description of pigeon blood stones. This has also led to a naturally limited supply of such stones from the depleting mines in Myanmar, with only the mines in Mozambique able to offer comparable significant-sized stones. In other countries where rubies are mined – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia – the rubies contain brownish or pinkish undertones.
In Malaysia, jewellery maison DeGem – with over 40 years in the market – has showcases its strengths as a top regional mine-to-market jeweller with upstream sourcing abilities, allowing it to secure a sizeable cache of pigeon blood rubies for its haute joaillerie masterpieces across time. Its long relationships with ethical mines from Myanmar and Mozambique helps it to attain the top rated stones, while its own lapidary facility provides the mastery of craft in shaping these unheated pigeon blood rubies.
“If one is looking to invest in a ruby that appreciates in value, it is advisable and most reliable to invest in a ruby that is untreated and unheated,” says DeGem’s Creative Director Choong Jiayueh. The scarcity of rubies naturally having the lustre and colour means that: “Only five per cent of the world’s rubies are unheated, which also means that their colour and clarity are naturally beautiful, while the other 95 per cent have undergone treatments to improve their colour or clarity.”
And while sky-high prices of pigeon blood rubies are poised to rise, DeGem’s canny sourcing and adroit use of these stones in its one-off jewellery creations has ensured that one is still able to discover wondrous creations featuring this revered gem in its formalwear, earrings and other scintillating creations, from an auction-grade 8-carat pigeon blood ruby mounted on a diamond ring, to its pièce de résistance – a pigeon blood ruby and diamond butterfly-inspired necklace, with the total carat weight of the rubies alone at approximately 20 carats.
Lead Photo: Unsplash
