For thousands of years, ruby has been the world's most valuable gemstone.  Best quality rubies are more valuable and costly and rare than the most valuable diamonds, carat for carat.  The record price for a single ruby was $227,301 per carat for a perfect 16 carat ruby ring.  This ring was sold at Sotheby's in England in 1998 at a cost of over $3,600,000.

Ruby gets its name from the Latin word 'rubeus' which means red.  Ruby is a member of the corundum family of gems which also includes Sapphire. 

The most famous source of fine rubies is Burma, now called Myanmar.  Thailand is the ruby capital of the world, with 80% of all rubies mined cut and marketed there.  Other sources for fine rubies are newly discovered deposits in Viet Nam and even in Thailand.  Rubies are also found in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Afganistan, Pakistan, and Tanzania

Ruby is the birthstone for July