Ruby Gemstone Beads

Frequently asked questions

• Is your ruby real, or is it lead-glass-filled?

  Ruby is corundum colored red by chromium. The dominant counterfeit problem in the bead trade is lead-glass-filled ruby — fractures filled with leaded glass to make low-grade rough look better — plus beryllium-diffused and fracture-filled material at the lower price points. Those are different commercial categories from natural or heat-treated ruby. Treatment category should be disclosed (Heated, Natural / Unheated, Glass-Filled, Diffused) — ask before buying if a strand doesn't specify.
• Is the ruby heated?

  Almost all bead-grade ruby is heat-treated. Heat treatment is permanent, stable, and the industry-standard treatment for ruby — it's not a quality knock, but it is information you should have. Treatment status should be disclosed; strands marked "Natural" or "Unheated" are the smaller untreated tier and are priced accordingly. Ask before buying if the page doesn't specify treatment.
• Why is your bead-grade ruby less expensive than I expected?

  Bead-grade ruby is a different category from gem-grade ruby. The transparent, eye-clean ruby cut for fine jewelry is a fundamentally rarer material than the opaque-to-translucent rough used for bead strands. Bead-grade ruby gives designers access to corundum at sizes (2mm–6mm) and per-strand prices that work in production. Bead-grade and gem-grade are different products that share a mineral, not one being a discount on the other.
• What's the difference between Burmese and Mozambique ruby?

  Burmese (Mogok) ruby is marble-hosted, low-iron, and shows the classic "pigeon's blood" red with a slight bluish undertone and strong red fluorescence under UV. Mozambique (Montepuez) ruby is amphibolite-hosted, higher-iron, and tends to a deeper saturated red with sometimes more purple or pink undertone and weaker fluorescence. Burmese carries the weight of the historical-source story and the color register; Mozambique offers comparable material at broader availability.
• How do I tell if a ruby is real?

  Practical signals: weight (real ruby is dense; plastic and resin imitations feel light), hardness (Mohs 9 — won't scratch with a steel pin), color depth under different light sources (real ruby holds color in incandescent and natural light; some imitations shift), and price floor (any ruby strand priced like glass beads probably *is* glass beads). Lead-glass-filled ruby is harder to spot without magnification — under 10x loupe, look for blue/orange flashes in surface-reaching fractures and trapped air bubbles. The most reliable signal is buying from a seller that discloses treatment per SKU.