The term pigeon blood ruby comes from Asia, Burma (also called Myanmar) to be precise and is considered the best primarily due to the richness of its color. Pigeon blood denotes a ruby that has a vivid deep bluish-purple undertone, almost exclusively found in Asia, and known as a lucky color for the Oriental peoples. Why is a blue undertone better than pink or orange? It’s about what happens when the gems are mounted into a piece of gold jewelry. For example, a ruby wedding band, crafted in Asian or Indian gold that’s really yellow, will tend to counterbalance the bluish or purple hue of the gem, thereby making the stone appear to be the truest red (which is most auspicious in Asian cultures). Despite cultural and traditional fancies about what constitutes TRUE RED that’s fortunate for a wearer, the Burmese pigeon blood ruby has set the color standard around the world due to the quality of the stones found in the Mogok mines. Although at one time the majority of the world’s rubies came from that region, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are also famed for having quality gems nowadays. Stones from other parts of the
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