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Rubyvale Gem Gallery

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Rubyvale Gem Gallery lets you view gemcutting and jewellery manufacturing, and a display of the gemfields finest collection of sapphires and gems.

Australian sapphires have been mined and marketed for more than 100 years and the Central Queensland Gemfields produce a wide range of colours and crystals. Australian sapphire cut in Australia differs significantly from Australian sapphire cut overseas. Australian cut stones are faceted with strict care given to the proper use of angles for the refractive index of sapphire to get the best possible colour and brilliance from the crystal and produce a correctly proportioned gem.

Particularly notable are the rich golden yellow and parti-coloured stones (combinations of blue / yellow, blue yellow / green, yellow / green etc). Along with the orange and pink coloured sapphires, these golden yellows and parti-colours are referred to in the gem trade as "fancy stones". In addition to the rich blue colours, the Central Queensland Gemfields are noted for some of the finest fancy stones in the world.

Rubyvale Gem Gallery

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History: Sapphires are part of our Australian heritage. Australian sapphires have been mined and marketed for more than 100 years. In the early years they were sold to the Germans, Russians, and other European nationals. In more recent times buyers from Thailand have taken advantage of the increased supply of rough sapphire on the market due to the introduction of machinery mining. There are still plenty of sapphires to be found, however most of the remaining ground is restricted to hand mining, consequently the supply is limited.