Ruby To Hold Ring

18ct yellow gold To Hold ring set with a ruby.

The setting for the To Hold ring is designed to carry a 5mm round gemstone, 5mm often coming in at around 0.50ct, or, half a carat.

The shoulders either side of the centre stone are deliberately irregular, I like to do this as you become aware of all the aspects of the ring.

This design is available to be custom made in metal and gemstone of choice.

Rubies are a red variety of corundum, an aluminum oxide with a hardness of 9.

Why would one choose a ruby?

Firstly, I think because it is a hard wearing gemstone, 9/10 on the MOHs scale of hardness. This basically means that it will wear well. After 5 years of daily wear, a ruby will look sharper than say a peridot or an amethyst, which are softer stones and take scratches across the surface of the stone more quickly. So can look ‘cloudy’ after years of wear.

I choose to mostly work with sapphires rubies and diamonds because of this fact, they wear better. This property, amongst many other factors (like mineral content and provenance) makes rubies and sapphires more expensive.

Saying that, if someone is rough with their jewellery, stones will consequently reflect the way that they are worn, with chipping and scratches being the most obvious results.

So, a precious gemstone with innate wearability properties, lends itself symbolically to something that will last, like a relationship built on strong foundations.

Rubies are chosen as gemstones signifying love.